Free air ticket home for woman bomb suspect

Free air ticket home for woman bomb suspect

Can get ticket at embassy 'if really in Turkey'

Bombing suspect Wanna Suansan could contact the Thai embassy in Turkey and get a free ticket back to Thailand to answer questions in relation to the Bangkok bombings in August, police chief Somyot Poompunmuang said on Wednesday.

In a telephone interview with TV Channel 3 on Wednesday morning, Pol Gen Somyot said Ms Wanna, 27, had told police she was innocent and ready to return and answer questions, but she needed an air ticket to come home from Turkey.

"Ms Wanna can contact the embassy if she is really in Turkey," the police chief said. Police were arranging for a ticket to be available at the embassy.

Ms Wanna is one of seven suspects named on arrest warrants in connection with the bomb explosions at the Erawan shrine on Aug 17 and Sathon pier the following day. Two male suspects have already been caught.

Wanna Suansan

The Min Buri court on Monday approved a police request for an arrest warrant for Ms Wanna, who earlier rented a room at an apartment building in Bangkok's Min Buri district.

A combined police and military force searched the room on Saturday night and seized several items used to make bombs. She was not there and later claimed she had been in Turkey since July.

Police said the joint force raided the room after obtaining information from a foreign man they arrested on Saturday and seized bomb-making materials and numerous forged Turkish passports, at an apartment in nearby Nong Chok district.

Pol Gen Somyot said investigators had yet to confirm the identity of the second male foreigner arrested at the  Cambodia border in Sa Kaeo province on Tuesday. They were checking fingerprints, DNA samples and questioning eyewitnesses.

At this stage, police thought he was the suspect in the yellow T-shirt believed to have placed the bomb at the Erawan shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection on Aug 17, he said.

It would take time to confirm the identities of all suspects in the Bangkok bombing cases, because all of them held forged passports and might not tell truth, the police chief said.

The Erawan shrine bombing killed 20 people and injured 131 others. On Aug 18 the second bomb exploded harmlessly in the water at Sathon boat pier. 

The family of Ms Wanna in Phangnga province has defended her against allegations she was involved in the bombings.

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