Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon yesterday dismissed reports that former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was involved with the April 10 car bombing at Central Festival Samui in Surat Thani.
"Who mentioned him? No one. Who said he was involved?" said Gen Prawit, who is also defence minister.
"Brother Jiew probably happened to be in the South around the time of the attack. But I don't have any reports on this matter yet. So I don't know why he was there," Gen Prawit said.
"If police investigators think someone is involved with the attack, they will ask him or her to come in for questioning," he said.
Allegations of Gen Chavalit's alleged involvement went viral on social media after authorities insisted that politicians were involved in the bombing.
Gen Chavalit was accused of meeting insurgents in the South while attending the Khao Chong Chang memorial ceremony in Surat Thani earlier this month.
One of the general's aides this week said all the former premier did at the ceremony was lay a wreath and give a speech to former communist defectors. He did not meet insurgents.
Meanwhile, former Matubhumi Party MP Najmuddin U-ma yesterday lodged a complaint with police in Narathiwat province accusing Choksuk Nakniyom of defaming him by suggesting he was involved in the attack.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Mr Najmuddin said Mr Choksuk on Tuesday posted a picture of him on his Facebook page along with the message, "Who masterminded the Samui bomb?"
More messages posted on the same Facebook page suggested a political group was colluding with a southern insurgent movement to discredit the government, Mr Najmuddin said.
The photo of him posted on Mr Choksuk's Facebook page was also widely shared and attached to another incriminating message, he added.
Another photo, posted with a circle around it, showed Mr Najmuddin and Mazae U-zeng, a key leader of the BRN-Coordinate separatist movement, he said.
Mr Najmuddin said this picture was taken in 2000 when he led a group of village headmen, kamnan and members of tambon administration organisations on a study trip to Phuket.
Mr Mazae was then a member of tambon Chuap in Cho Airong district of Narathiwat province, he said.
Aside from the defamation allegation, Mr Najmuddin accused Mr Choksuk of violating the Computer Crimes Act by posting the messages and photos.
Abdulroning Dueramae, a second-hand car dealer who was detained by the military in Pattani for allegedly providing three cars used in the Samui blast, is still in military custody, said Pol Lt Gen Prawuth Thawornsiri, National Police Office spokesman.
The suspect admitted the three cars had been bought from his used-car shop. But he said they had been re-sold to someone else at least 10 days before the Samui blast, Pol Lt Gen Prawuth said.
Police intend to arrest six more suspects believed to be members of the Samui car bomb gang in the next couple of days, he added.
Police believe the six, as well as the three cars suspected to have been used by them, are still somewhere in the deep South.
A source said Abdulraza Dumidae, a driver with a tambon administration organisation in Yala's Yaha district, was detained for a sixth day yesterday.
He reported the pickup truck that contained the car bomb stolen, but authorities believe he provided it to the bombers.
Despite his claim that a group of people stole his car, police have information Mr Abdulraza was seen speaking to two suspects for a while before he lodged a complaint of car theft with police.
