Staff Reporter :
Police said that the mastermind behind the bomb blast in Thailand had arrived in Bangladesh a day before the August 17 blast and left for China after two weeks. The bombing in a Bangkok shrine left 20 people dead.
Police said the suspect arrived in Bangladesh on a Chinese passport. Bangladesh Police have already informed Thai authorities about the development.
“We got a message from Thai police that Bangkok blast suspect Abudureheman Abdusataer, also known as Izan, came to Bangladesh. He was traveling on a Chinese passport,” national police spokesman Nazrul Islam said.
“We verified the message and found that he came to Dhaka on the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight No. BG0089 and flew out to Beijing on Aug. 30 on a Jet Airways flight,” he said. Police refused to give further details about where the man stayed in the capital after arriving on Aug. 16 and who he met with during his two-week stay.
Thai local media reports have focused in recent days on a suspected bomb mastermind known as “Izan” or “Ishan”, saying he commissioned and guided the attack but left the country a day before it was carried out.
Thai police confirmed Thursday that the man was a suspect but played down his status, however.
“Do not conclude Ishan was a big fish,” Thai police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said. “You might be surprised.”
Asked about Izan’s whereabouts during his stay in Bangladesh, Nazrul said, “This is part of our ongoing intelligence activity and I have limitation to disclose the information right now. We’ll disclose it later on.”
The man emerged as a key suspect in the Aug 17 bombing following interrogation this week of one of two foreigners being held in Thailand, who police say admitted to giving a backpack with explosives to a man they are certain was the bomber.
The suspect told police a man called “Izan” played a lead role and assigned responsibilities to others plotters during a Bangkok meeting.
“This man called Izan – and I don’t know if this is his real name – is a very important person in this network,” deputy police chief Chakthip Chaijinda told Reuters.
“I don’t know what his nationality is … Let’s just say Izan is one of the foremost wanted individuals.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast at the Erawan Shrine, a tourist attraction close to hotels and shopping malls. Twenty people were killed, including 14 foreign tourists.
Chakthip said police would be coordinating with Bangladeshi counterparts where the suspected leader had traveled on Aug. 16. An immigration official said he had used a Chinese passport, but it was not known if it was authentic.
National police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang reiterated the attack was “not an act of international terrorism”.
The most progress has been a suspect admitting to delivering a backpack to a man caught on security footage leaving it at the shrine before the blast.
Meanwhile, the use of Chinese passports has raised speculation the attackers could be sympathizers of Uighur Muslims from Xinjiang, who complain of persecution. Thailand in July forcibly returned 109 Uighurs to China, which denies persecuting the community. Seven of those killed in the blast were from mainland China and Hong Kong, according to sources.
