A Narathiwat man has been arrested in connection with last month's Ramkhamhaeng bomb blast, but authorities are split on whether the suspect has ties to violence in the far South.
Police and military authorities, however, deny the attack in Bangkok was related to the southern insurgency.
Idris Sapator: Arrested in Narathiwat, but his ties to militants, if any, remain unclear.
Idris Sapator, 24, was arrested at his house in tambon Khok Khian of Narathiwat's Muang district on Monday during a raid by a combined team of special cases police and southern border provincial police. He was detained in connection with the bomb blast near Soi Ramkhamhaeng 43/1 on May 26 which wounded seven people.
A source at a southern security agency said Mr Idris was suspected to have been involved in a motorcycle bomb attack on a military bus in Narathiwat's Muang district on Aug 7 last year.
- Earlier report: Caught in the South
The military bus was used to transport children to school. No warrants were issued for Mr Idris's arrest at the time.
The suspect was being held at the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre Tuesday for questioning.
Authorities plan to search his home in tambon Khok Khian for evidence.
National police chief Adul Saengsingkaew Tuesday said an initial investigation found the suspect was neither a member of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group nor a member of any other insurgent groups in the far South.
Mr Idris confessed he was persuaded by his friends to carry out the Ramkhamhaeng bomb attack, Pol Gen Adul said. The suspect assembled and planted the bomb, he added.
Police were investigating whether the suspect was the same man captured on security camera footage.
However, a check of Mr Idris’s history showed he had never been subject to an arrest warrant or linked to the southern unrest, Pol Gen Adul said.
He found no links between the southern unrest and the Bangkok bomb blast.
There were several motives other than the insurgency behind the violent attacks in the far South, he said.
The national police chief said the Ramkhamhaeng bomb was built differently to those used in deep South attacks.
Police were looking into other possible motives for the bomb attack in Bangkok, including conflicts between street vendors.
Mr Idris is among four suspects wanted in connection with the Ramkhamhaeng bombing.
Police were still hunting for the three other suspects.
Supreme Commander Thanasak Patimaprakorn Tuesday confirmed the arrest of the suspect in Narathiwat.
He said the Bangkok blast had nothing to do with southern unrest and insisted Mr Idris was not linked to any southern attacks.
Gen Thanasak reiterated that the Bangkok bomb was likely due to a business conflict.
Flashback: Authorities comb the evidence on the morning after the bomb exploded on Ramkhamhaeng Road on May 26.