NEW YEAR BLASTS ANOTHER EXPLOSION COMES TO LIGHT

[Braveheart]

Extracted from the Bangkok Post: Bangkok Post

 

WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

 

Nine bombs, not eight, exploded in Bangkok and Nonthaburi at the New Year, the chief of the Bangkok bombing investigation team Pol Lt-Gen Panupong Singhara na Ayudhya admitted yesterday. The latest finding was unveiled as the organisers of a Rain concert decided to postpone the show set for Feb 3. It was the first postponement of an international event after the blasts.

 

Rain, whose real name is Jeong Ji-Hoon, is one of the most popular South Korean pop singers in Thailand.

 

Pol Lt-Gen Panupong, also assistant national police chief, said investigators had learned about the ninth bomb after the owner of the premises where the bomb exploded reported the blast to police a few days ago. Fearing that news reports about the blast could hurt his business, the owner also pleaded with police not to disclose information about the ninth bomb, said Pol Lt-Gen Panupong.

 

The owner was concerned that panicked customers might shy away from his premises, added the chief investigator.

 

Pol Lt-Gen Panupong declined to unveil further information about the ninth bomb, saying he was not authorised to give information to the media.

 

Only the Internal Security Operations Command was authorised to release information about the Bangkok bombings.

 

The latest finding was forwarded to the Council for National Security yesterday.

 

Previously, police had concluded that seven bombs hit Bangkok and another one exploded in Nonthaburi on the night of Dec 31 and the early hours of Jan 1, killing three people and injuring 42.

 

A source in the Metropolitan Police revealed that the ninth bomb blast was at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in the Phahon Yothin area.

 

A cinema and shopping complex security guard found a suspicious black bag left unattended in a fast food outlet and then removed the bag from the outlet's front area and placed it in a back room, while waiting for further investigation.

 

After a short time, the bomb exploded, damaging the outlet's electrical circuit breaker and causing a blackout in the cineplex's retail area but not in the cinemas. There were no casualties, and none of the customers were alarmed as they mistook the noise for an exploding power transformer, said the source.

 

The owner only alerted Phahon Yothin police on Monday, the source said.

 

A CNS source said six suspects were captured by one of the security cameras at the premises and all would be brought in for questioning.