Thai prime minister says main suspect in shrine bombing arrested

Thailand’s prime minister says authorities have arrested a man they believe is the main suspect in a bombing at a shrine in central Bangkok two weeks ago that killed 20 people. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Tuesday the man is a foreigner and was arrested in eastern Thailand near the Cambodian border. He described him as the main person in the bombing but did not directly say he is suspected of actually planting the bomb. Prayuth said officials knew from their investigation that people involved in the bombing were about to flee the country and had traced the man to Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo, a major crossing point to Cambodia.

We have arrested one more, he is not a Thai.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha

Security officials on Saturday arrested a man during a raid on a Bangkok apartment that contained some bomb-making materials, and Thai military authorities have been interrogating him. He has been linked to the shrine bombing, but the authorities have not yet released his name or nationality. Arrest warrants were issued Monday for two more suspects, a Thai woman and a man of unknown nationality. Twenty people died in the blast near the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok, including 19-year-old London law student Vivian Chan.

World Bangkok arrest