Bangkok bombing suspect ‘flew to Beijing via Bangladesh’ two weeks after deadly shrine attack
Suspect left Thailand on eve of blast, heading to capital after two weeks in Bangladesh: police
The suspected mastermind of last month's deadly bomb attack in Thailand travelled to Beijing via Bangladesh on a Chinese passport in late August, Bangladeshi police said on Friday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the August 17 attack at a Hindu shrine in Bangkok, which killed 20 people, including seven from mainland China and Hong Kong.
The suspect, Abdusataer Abudureheman, also known as Izan, fled on the eve of the blast to Bangladesh and spent two weeks there, Bangladeshi police said. The man Thai police believe organised the plot is said to have taken a flight from Dhaka to Beijing on August 30, when the capital was under heavy security for the massive military parade.
"We verified the message and found that he came to Dhaka on the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight NoBG0089 and flew out to Beijing on August 30 on a Jet Airways flight," Bangladeshi police spokesman Nazrul Islam said. "He was travelling on a Chinese passport."
The police were looking for the suspect's hotel in Dhaka.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said at Government House yesterday morning that his government had already requested Chinese help in tracking Izan down, according to Thai media.
The foreign ministry gave no immediate comment.
Jet Airways said the company did not have direct flights from Dhaka to Beijing.
If the suspect left for Beijing on a Jet Airways flight as the police suggested, he would have needed to transfer twice - in New Delhi and Hong Kong.
The investigation gained momentum after information was given by one of two detained suspects, who was arrested with a Chinese passport bearing the name Yusufu Mieraili. Mieraili admitted to giving a bag containing the device to the bomber.
He also said Abudureheman had given orders to the plotters.
Thai visas were issued in Kuala Lumpur to both Abudureheman and Mieraili in October 2014 and February 2015 respectively, according to a diplomatic source.
The use of Chinese passports, at least one of which stated Xinjiang as a birthplace, adds fuel to speculation the bombing may have been a revenge attack by sympathisers of Turkic-speaking Uygur Muslims.
Thailand was widely condemned in Turkey for forcibly repatriating 109 Uygurs to China in July, though Uygurs say they are persecuted in Xinjiang.
Many Uygurs from the region have travelled via Southeast Asia to Turkey.
Beijing has accused the group of fleeing abroad illegally and claims some of them have joined terrorist groups overseas.
Additional reporting by Andrea Chen
