By Max Constant
BANGKOK
A key suspect in the Bangkok bombing has claimed that he has no connection whatsoever with the attack and was solely passing through the country to travel to Malaysia, where he intended to find work as a chauffeur.
The man's lawyer, Chuchart Kanphai, told local media Tuesday that his client had "confessed to illegal entry and claimed he simply wished to head further for a job as a driver in Malaysia".
"He has said he is not involved in the bomb plot," he added.
The man was arrested during an Aug. 29 police raid on an apartment block in an eastern Bangkok suburb.
He was found in possession of a fake Turkish passport bearing his image and the name "Adem Karadag".
A large amount of bomb-making materials -- similar to those used in the Aug. 17 Bangkok bombing in which 20 people were killed and over 130 injured -- were found nearby.
Around 200 fake Turkish passports were also discovered in the room.
Kanphai underlined that although his client had in his possession a fake Turkish passport, he was still claiming to be a Turkish citizen.
“He has said he is Turkish," he said, but gave no explanation as to why he had resorted to using a fake document, or chose to illegally enter Thailand.
On Monday, Thai website Khaosod reported the lawyer as saying that Karadag had arrived in Thailand Aug. 24 -- a full-week after the bombing -- having travelled from Turkey via Laos and Vietnam.
Kanphai said his client had paid a broker called "Abdullah Abdullahman" for the passage. An arrest warrant -- the 10th in this investigation -- was issued by Thai authorities for "Abdullahman" on Sept. 7.
The lawyer said the broker had ordered his client to remain inside the apartment where the passports and bomb-making materials were found.
"He [his client] has insisted that he had nothing to do with the materials found in the apartment," said Kanphai. "The news that the materials belonged to him may have been because of miscommunication."
