Before he left his post as national police chief, Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang dropped a political bombshell by implicating the anti-government red shirts in the Erawan shrine bombing.
In a press conference on Monday on the bombing probe, the former police chief, who retired yesterday, insisted the bombing was motivated by revenge against the government's crackdown on human smuggling networks, in collaboration with those having political motives to undermine the government.
Despite the government's reconciliation talk, tying the Erawan shrine bombing to the anti-government camp and the red-shirt movement shows that colour-coded politics remains as divisive as ever. The red-shirt theory in the Erawan bomb blast is not new. "Actually, I'm not surprised," said red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan, chairman of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
Right after the Aug 17 shrine bomb blast which killed 20 people, government spokesman Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd quickly pinned the blame on "people who lost political power" even before any investigations began, and without any evidence to support his claim.
Police finally concluded that the first arrested suspect Bilal Turk, or Adem Karadag, was indeed the bomber in the yellow T-shirt who was captured in CCTV footage. He was arrested on Aug 29 at an apartment where police said they also found bomb-making materials. "No police officer thought he looked similar to the bomber then. Neither did they think this during nearly a month of his detention," said Mr Jatuporn.
After Mr Karadag's arrest, police continued to look for the bomber. Another suspect, Yusufu Mieraili, was arrested, but then cleared as the bomber. So were the suspects caught in Malaysia.
"It is strange that a Thai prison can make him look like the yellow-shirted bomber all of a sudden. When other efforts failed, Mr Karadag just had to be the bomber," Mr Jatuporn said cynically.
Any doubts over Mr Karadag being the bomber carried less weight when he yesterday told his lawyer he was the culprit. Now, the police face the challenge of proving the red-shirt theory.
Regarding the red-shirt ties, police said Yongyuth, or Yuthapong, or "Odd" Pobkaew, one of the 17 suspects facing an arrest warrant, was involved in the bombing of a Min Buri police station in 2014 and received a suspended one-year jail sentence. But there are many questions over this police claim.
"If this man was indeed arrested, found guilty, and received a court sentence as claimed, why is his record not in the police and court systems? They don't even have his 13-digit identity number in their records. This is impossible," said Mr Jatuporn, adding that the court system must have fingerprint records of all convicts.
Police also linked Mr Odd to the bombing at Samarn Metta Mansion in 2010. They said he was the person who arranged bombing materials for both bomb blasts at the mansion and at the bombing in Min Buri district.
There were four casualties in the Samarn Metta Mansion blasts, including the bomber himself, injured while making the bomb. But the Min Buri bombing, according to Mr Jatuporn, has yet to enter the court system.
"No one knows who this Mr Odd is. Yet the media labelled him a hard-core red shirt although we in UDD do not know him at all," Mr Jatuporn said.
It is a pity that Pol Gen Somyot chose to end his tenure with such allegations, triggering new political conflicts for the new police chief to defuse, he added.
"What would political factions get from being part of the Erawan shrine bombing? Nothing. You would only get hatred for the senseless cruelty. There is no explanation for the bombing motivation."
According to Pol Maj Gen Chayapol Chatchaidej, the police conclusion on the yellow-shirted bomber came from testimonies from 200 witnesses. As for the Sathon pier incident, the conclusion came from 20 witnesses.
As well as witness testimonies, police and military investigations led them to conduct raids on Rooms 412 and 31 at the Pool Anant apartment, where they found Adem Karadag along with bomb-making materials and many fake passports.
Pol Maj Gen Chayapol insisted the evidence suggested that other people were involved and the bomber was hired to carry out the attack; hence the arrest warrants for 17 suspects. The bomb materials used for the Erawan bomb blast and those found at Sathon pier were also linked to the materials at the Pool Anant apartment, he said.
To dispel criticism, police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri yesterday revealed that police had CCTV footage of a meeting between Mr Odd and Wanna Suansan, a female suspect.
Mr Odd, he said, had committed several crimes involving drugs and gambling from a young age. He also had an arrest warrant issued for him over the Min Buri bombing last year. Police have all the evidence against him, he said, except for his real name and identity. Each time he was arrested, he used different names for himself and his parents, as well as different birth dates and home addresses. He did not give a personal 13-digit identification number either.
Controversy over the alleged bomber aside, it cannot be denied that the former police chief's handling of the bombing investigation, and his conclusion that it had nothing to do with the deportation of Uighur migrants back to China, was satisfactory to his top boss. Whether or not it is satisfactory to the public -- or if the police can eventually nab the big fish behind the bomb blast -- remains a major question.
Nattaya Chetchotiros is Assistant News Editor, Bangkok Post.