Arrest warrant out for Hua Hin bombings suspect

Arrest warrant out for Hua Hin bombings suspect

Surveillance camera footage shows the three suspects walking through the bombed area on the morning of Aug 10, before the explosions in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan, over the next two days.(Photo by Chaiwat Satyam)
Surveillance camera footage shows the three suspects walking through the bombed area on the morning of Aug 10, before the explosions in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan, over the next two days.(Photo by Chaiwat Satyam)

PHETCHABURI -- The Military Court of the 15th Military Circle has approved a warrant for the arrest of the second of three suspects in the bombings in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district on Aug 11-12.

The court issued the warrant as requested by Pol Gen Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul, a deputy police chief in charge of the investigation into multiple arson and bombings in seven provinces - Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district, Trang, Phuket, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat - on Aug 11-12, which killed four people and injured 35 others.

Pol Gen Srivara identified the suspect as Asmin Katemmadi, 29, a native of tambon Anoru in Muang district of Pattani, who faces charges of illegally having military explosives in possession and attempted arson.

Mr Asmin is also wanted on two other arrest warrants, one issued by the Yala Court on Apr 23, 2015 for violating the emergency decree and the other by the Kho Samui Court on May 18, 2015 for alleged attempted murder, illegal possession and use of explosives and causing explosions that harmed other people, in connection with the car bomb detonated at Central Festival department store in Koh Samui district of Surat Thani on April 10, 2015.

Pol Gen Srivara said investigators concluded Mr Asmin was responsible for laying all the bombs in Hua Hin and that only three people were involved in the Hua Hin blasts.

A warrant was earlier issued for the arrest of Ruslan Baima, of Songkhla's Chana district, for the Hua Hin bombings.  A case was also being compiled for the arrest of the other suspect, who appeared on footage taken by a security camera, and an application for a warrant would soon be filed with the military court, Pol Gen Srivara said.

Although Mr Asmin had been involved in several incidences of violence in the South, it was not known if the Aug 11-12 incidents in the seven provinces had anything to with insurgency in the three southern border provinces, because the militants usually operated only in their areas of immediate interest.

Mr Asmin had apparently spread his activities outside the three provinces, he said. The question to be answered was why.

According to Pol Gen Srivara, those behind the arson and bombings in the seven provinces worked in teams, one team in each province.

Apart from the fact that the suspects were all from the three southernmost border provinces, there were also other links between the teams which could not be disclosed at this stage.  It was not known whether the attacks were political or carried out with other motives, he said.

Police have so far obtained arrest warrants for three suspects - Ahama Lengha for the Phuket attack and Ruslan Baima and Asmin Katemmadi for the Hua Hin incidents.


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