Category: Thailand

The AP reports today:

Thai investigators questioned three more Iranian citizens Monday for possible links to an alleged bomb plot that was discovered in Bangkok on Valentine’s Day.

National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Piya Uthayo said that two men and one woman were found Sunday during a search of an apartment in the capital that had been rented by an Iranian woman who is also wanted in the case.

And:

One of the those questioned was 33-year-old Madani Seyed Mehrded, Piya said. He said Mehrded had been in contact with other detained suspects, including an Iranian man who blew his legs off by mistake as he fled police on Feb. 14.

Immigration police chief Police Lt. Gen. Wiboon Bangthamai later told reporters that two of the three questioned Monday had been released. Mehrded is still being held, but Wiboon said he had denied being involved in a bomb plot.

Elsewhere, the Bangkok Post reports today:

Three more Iranians were detained by the police yesterday on suspicion of involvement in the bombings on Sukhumvit Soi 71 on Feb 14.

The three detainees — two men and one woman — were identified as Madani Seyed Mehrded, Rahimi Rad Iraj, a chef at a hotel in Soi Nana, and his wife Mahboobh Tasbehi.

They all live in the Naza Vegas building in Watthana district, where fellow Iranian suspect Leila Rohani also lived.

Mr Mehrded, 33, was detained yesterday afternoon when police raided a room on the 14th floor of Naza Vegas.

The police seized a computer, a mobile phone and some other objects from the rental apartment for inspection.

And:

The call logs on the Sim cards showed Mr Mehrded had regularly communicated with the two suspects by mobile phone, police said. On Feb 14, he allegedly was waiting for the other suspects in front of the Israeli embassy on Asok Road, police said.

MCOT also has a story today along with some images, presumably of Mehrded.

The AP ran a story yesterday that said:

Unwinding with bar girls at a beach town came first. Building bombs was allegedly for later.

The three Iranians detained in Bangkok and accused of plotting to attack Israeli diplomats set priorities during their trip to Thailand. They spent several days at a seaside town in the company of prostitutes, soaking up the sun and sin that has attracted many of the world’s unsavory characters.

The “Land of Smiles” has long been a favorite haven for criminals — from Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to gangsters, drug smugglers and pedophiles — drawn by its open-door visa policy, lax law enforcement and huge variety of white sand beaches.

Thailand’s tourism industry rakes in more than $25 billion in revenue a year, accounting for more than 6 percent of the economy. But officials are now questioning if they should roll back the welcome mat a little.

And:

Within days of the terror scare, the Thai Tourism Ministry put on hold a plan to allow visas on arrival to citizens of Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.

Indeed, you can see the much-discussed image of the Iranian men hanging out with their Thai “escorts” — as the Bangkok Post put it — in Pattaya in my previous post.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday that police found a motorcycle — pictured above — they say was purchased by one of the Iranian bombing suspects:

Iranian bombing suspects may have been planning to use a motorcycle to attack their targets in Bangkok.

Police on Saturday found a motorcycle that had been left in Sukhumvit Soi 71 since Tuesday when three bomb blasts rocked the area.

(Image: Bangkok Post.)

Three stories to mention today:

1. Today’s Bangkok Post has this story and photo:

PATTAYA : Officials at the Immigration Department’s Chon Buri office yesterday identified a Thai woman in Pattaya who had escorted the Iranian bomb suspects during their stay in the resort town.

Her account, and photographs taken with her mobile phone, could help authorities confirm whether the suspects know one another.

2. In another story on Thailand’s international airports, the Post says:

Security is being beefed up at the country’s six international airports which could become possible new targets for acts of sabotage following a terror warning by Israel, national police chief Priewpan Damapong says.

Pol Gen Priewpan yesterday told the Transport Ministry to place the international airports, under the Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), on high alert as Israel has warned terrorists may be targetting them.

A government source said Israel had advised police directly to boost security at airports, based on intelligence reports it had received.

3. And finally, The Nation says a bomb expert in his 50s could be connected to the men:

One of the four Middle East men captured by security cameras during the blasts in Bangkok on Valentine’s Day was suspected to be a bomb expert who passed on his bombmaking skills to the other three, police said yesterday.

And:

According to a source at the national security agency, prior to the first explosion at the suspects’ rented house near Sukhumvit Soi 71, witnesses said they saw an Iranian man in his 50s and 150160cm tall going out of the house with a large luggage case at about 7am.

(Image: Bangkok Post.)

The Bangkok Post reports this evening:

Police will seek an arrest warrant for a fifth suspect in Tuesday’s bomb explosions in Bangkok based on information from eyewitnesses and security camera footage, deputy police chief Pansiri Prapawat said on Thursday.

Pol Gen Pansiri said the fifth suspect was also a man of middle-eastern appearance. The other four suspects have been identified as Iranians, one of them a woman.

Police were checking if he was still in the country.

(Image: Bangkok Post.)