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 The unidentified man, arrested less than a kilometer from the
Cambodian border on Tuesday, had told police he was not the bomber,
but was in same area when a massive explosion killed 20 people.
"It's natural that the suspect will deny he did it, but we still
have to continue to look into that," deputy national police chief
Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters. "Right now the case has
progressed about 70 percent already."
The latest suspect had stayed in the same Nong Chok area of Bangkok
as another man arrested in a raid on Saturday that found stacks of
fake passports, TNT, C4 and fertilizer.
An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday for a Turkish man who
police believed was in his home country. He is married to a Thai
woman currently in Turkey who was in contact with Thai authorities.
She had rented a room in a second Bangkok building raided by police,
where bomb-making materials were found.
 Police have received a torrent of criticism for leading a patchy
probe and statements from top officials about possible perpetrators,
motives and information extracted from suspects have been
contradictory, speculative and often cryptic.
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said the latest suspect's prints
were found on explosives in the same room.
"The man... may be the person who took the bomb out of the room or
brought the bomb to the location of the incident," Prawut said on
TV.
Prawut also said biometric systems would now be used at immigration
checkpoints to catch any suspects.
The investigation has gained momentum since the weekend raids,
before which the authorities had little more than a low-resolution
surveillance camera video of a man in a yellow shirt leaving a
rucksack at the popular Erawan Hindu shrine moments before the
blast.
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With no claim of responsibility, speculation has centered on
sympathizers of Uighur Muslims, opponents of the military
government, southern ethnic Malay rebels and foreign extremists.
Thailand's forced repatriation of 109 Uighurs to China in July
caused international outrage and saw protesters smash windows and
ransack parts of the Thai consulate in Istanbul. Many Uighurs
transit through Southeast Asia to try to get to Turkey, which has a
large diaspora.
Though many details remain unknown, a connection with Turkey has
been established. It is unclear if the two detained men are Turkish
but police have been interrogating them though a Turkish translator
and fake Turkish passports were seized in one raid.
Turkey's embassy in Bangkok issued a statement expressing concern
about "speculative new reports" on the nationalities of those
arrested and said it had asked for clarification.
Thailand's army chief and defense minister left for a three-day
visit to China on Wednesday but said it was a scheduled trip
unrelated to the investigation.
(Additional reporting by Aukkapon Niyomyat and Panarat Thepgumpanat;
Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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