Malaysia probes Uighur suspects' link to bombing

Noor Rashid Ibrahim, deputy inspector-general of police, said |all the suspects, who are in their 30s, were arrested in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan on September 19.

“The police are conducting further investigations regarding the involvement and role of the four suspects in the bombing incident in Bangkok,” he said.

A lot of things have to be scrutinised such as facial recognition, their body physique, witnesses and DNA testing if necessary, Noor said. No concrete proof so far points to their involvement and no confessions were recorded from the four suspects arrested, he said.

“In addition, police are scrutinising their passports and personal identification documents,” he said.

“I have also informed the Thai authorities of the arrest of the four men and they said they will collaborate to trace several more suspects believed to be involved in the incident.”

He said the four suspects are being investigated in Malaysia before their extradition to Thailand, bringing the number of suspects arrested over the Bangkok bombing to eight.

Noor said eight people, including four Malaysians, were being detained. The detained Malaysian nationals were also suspected of trafficking foreigners into the country, he said.

Three others suspects were arrested earlier this month in connection with the August 17 bombing, but Noor said that investigators had not established a link between them and the Bangkok attack.

Meanwhile, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, director of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism unit, said the four suspects were believed to be minority Uighur Muslims, who hailed from China’s far western Xinjiang region.

However, Ayob said the suspects were not directly linked to the bombing but to a human-trafficking gang.

“We believe they facilitated the movement of the yellow-shirted man but we cannot confirm since it is an ongoing in-vestigation,” Ayob said. Malaysia’s arrests are the latest pieces in a |puzzle pointing to a connection |to Uighurs that Thai authorities have sought to play down.

Noor was speaking one day after Pol General Jakthip Chaijinda, deputy national police chief, flew to Kuala Lumpur to check reports that Malaysia may be able to arrest the prime suspect in the blast, known as the yellow-shirted man. The suspect was captured in security camera footage entering the shrine with a backpack and left without it minutes before the explosion. Thai police believe the suspect already left Thailand for Malaysia with the assistance of the Thais and foreigners.

Jakthip returned to Bangkok on the same day and the details of his meeting with Malaysia’s national police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, were not revealed.

Thai police have focused their inquiries on a belief that the Erawan blast was caused by human-trafficking gangs who were badly affected by the government’s serious crackdowns on the network. 

Yesterday, a court in Bangkok’s Min Buri district agreed to a police request to issue an arrest warrant for a man, about 30 years of age, who police said bought bomb-making equipment including pipes at a shop in the capital’s Klong Toey district on August 14. Police described in the warrant that the man appeared to be a foreigner.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday updated diplomats from more than 50 countries and seven international organisations about the ongoing investigation into the Bangkok bombings. The ministry’s spokesman Sek Wannamethee and police spokesman Pol Lt-General Prawut Thavornsiri provided the updates.

As of yesterday, two suspects were arrested and 16 arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the shrine bombing. The bombing killed 20 people – including five Malaysians from the same family – and injured more than 100 others.