Thailand Police Arrest Suspect Over Bangkok Bombing

Police in Bangkok say they have arrested one of the suspects in the bombing that killed 20 people earlier this month.

He was found after Police raided an apartment in a northern suburb of the capital on Saturday afternoon and discovered possible bomb-making materials that could have been used in the August 17 attack in Bangkok’s bustling commercial heart.

Police would not confirm where the suspect was from but said he was a foreign national and would be charged initially with possession of illegal explosive materials and held at a military facility.

After the August 17 blast, police had released a sketch of the man seen on security camera footage leaving a rucksack on a bench and walking away.

The suspect wearing a yellow T-shirt on the back of a motorbike taxi leaving the scene.

The blast happened at 7pm near the Erawan Hindu shrine in the downtown Chidlom district, a shopping hub popular among tourists.

The bomb tore through the crowded Erawan Shrine, one of the country’s top tourist attractions and close to high-end hotels and malls, killing 20 people and wounding scores more.

Among the dead were 14 foreigners, including seven from mainland China and Hong Kong, in an attack the military government said was intended to be a strike at Thailand’s troubled economy.

Many of those killed were tourists, including people from China or Hong Kong. They also included Vivian Chan, 19, a British law student who was a Hong Kong resident. At least 117 people were wounded, some of whom lost limbs.

[ChannelsTV]