Malaysia detains 8 in connection to Bangkok blast

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Police have detained eight people in two Malaysian provinces who are believed to have links to the Aug. 17 bomb blast that killed 20 people in Bangkok.

Police Deputy Inspector General Noor Rashid Ibrahim told reporters Wednesday that some of those detained were Uighur Muslims, who Thai police have said they suspect to be prime suspects in the deadly blast.

"Four are foreigners of Uighur origin. Four of them are locals. Those locals arrested [were] involved in human trafficking, having brought these foreign nationals from Thailand into Malaysia,” he told a packed media conference.

Uighur living in China's western region of Xinjiang claim their cultural and religious rights are being curtailed by Chinese authorities, and thousands of them have fled with the aid of people smugglers, some to settle in Turkey.

Ibrahim said the police have been unable to confirm if those detained are linked to the blast, as there has not been any confession.

"There is no concrete evidence till now to prove their direct involvement. So we are detaining them and Thai authorities also know about the arrests to help them further their investigations."

He added that if Thailand would like the suspects extradited, they would have to go through proper legal channels.

“The Thai police need to have at least basic proof to request for them to be brought back to Thailand," he said. "There should also be a request that they need to put in which will go have to go through the legal processes. The case is still in its investigative stages."

On Tuesday, Thai Police Chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said that he could not "confirm or explain" the arrests.

“At this point, I cannot confirm that information, because I have not been contacted. At the same time, we don’t feel like we can confirm this information… But in details, I cannot explain or confirm any information.”

He also told reporters that no police have been dispatched to Malaysia.

“There is no Thai police officer in Malaysia for coordination of this investigation, because in order to send any official or any agency, there must be a request first.”

So far, Thai police have arrested three suspects for the explosion at Bangkok's Erawan shrine that killed 20 -- a 28-year-old man, who has told his lawyer that he was born in Xinjiang, but has since become a Turkish citizen; another man, arrested Sept. 1 near the Cambodian border and holding a Chinese passport with Xinjiang as birthplace, and a Thai national from the country's south who is suspected by police of being a “key person” in a people smuggling network.

Bangkok deported 109 Uighur to China in July, separating families, troubling human rights groups, and infuriating Uighur organizations worldwide.

Thai police chief General Somyot Pumpanmuang has told reporters that there is a connection between the deportation and the bombing, but later backtracked after reportedly being brought to heel by junta chief-cum-prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

He has since repeated an earlier narrative that the attack was an act of revenge by people smugglers whose interests were affected by a crackdown on human trafficking.