CHACHOENGSAO - Police found 1,900 ping-pong bombs ready for delivery after raiding a damaged house in search of clues into the death of a six-year-old girl after two explosions on Friday.
The ping-pong bombs found by police at a house in Muang district of Chachoengsao are usually used by farmers to scare birds away from rice fields. (Photo by Sonthanaporn Inchan)
Authorities on Saturday searched the home of Warawut Penjawattana house in Plaeng Yao district, where firecrackers and ping-pong bombs were being assembled.
The ping-pong bombs found at the house are usually used by farmers to scare birds away from rice fields.
About 1,000 bombs were packed into two sacks and another 900 in two bags. Officers also found more than 100 boxes of firecrackers. The exact number of firecrackers was unknown.
Mr Warawut was not in the house during the search but his younger brother, whose name was not revealed, showed documents authorising Mr Warawut to produce the explosives.
Severe damage resulted from two blasts believed to have been caused by ping-pong bombs on Friday. (Photo by Sonthanaporn Inchan)
Mr Warawut had a Por 5 permit issued by the Bang Bo district office in Samut Prakan on March 10 to make explosives for one year.
His brother said Mr Warawut bought the house six years ago to keep raw materials, make firecrackers and explosives and store them as it is four kilometres from Bang Bo.
Several people in the neighbourhood helped make parts of the firecrackers and ping-pong bombs to earn extra income and all parts were brought to be assembled at the house, he said.
The search was part of an investigation unto the death of a six-year-old girl in the house on Friday after two explosions. Her body was found several metres away from the blast site.
Jirawas Chueachantha-at, deputy chief of the Muang district police station in Chachoengsao, said a preliminary investigation found two blasts had taken place less than one minute apart. Ping-pong bombs were suspected of being the cause of the explosions, which severely damaged the house.
The first blast was not loud and forced Wassana Phasuk, the mother of the girl, and her two other daughters to seek shelter under the bed in the room, according to the police.
But the six-year-old girl went to the kitchen during the more powerful second explosion, said Pol Lt Col Jirawas.
A crater one metre deep and two metres wide was found in the kitchen, said Pol Capt Wetcha Chanthasi, chief of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit at the Phraya Surasee Border Patrol Police camp.
Investigators have yet to file charges against the house owner.