Erawan blast suspect nabbed at airport
Thai-Muslim woman ‘wants to prove innocence’, kin say
The family of a Thai-Muslim woman arrested yesterday at Suvarnabhumi airport for alleged involvement in the deadly explosion at the Erawan shrine at Ratchaprasong intersection in the capital two years ago says she came back to Thailand to prove her innocence.
However, Thai police said the Thai and Turkish embassies had liaised regarding Wanna Suansan, 29, leading to her return to the country.
Ms Wanna has been charged in connection with the shrine bombing, which killed 20 people and wounded 130 others, with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and using war-grade explosives illegally.
According to the police investigation, Ms Wanna was accused of involvement in the August 2015 shrine explosion by providing shelter for the two actual bombers two years ago.
She was apprehended at 5.30pm by Thai police yesterday as she arrived at the airport from Turkey.
Ms Wanna, originally from Phangnga, arrived at the airport with her two sons — one and three years old — and her family wept as they embraced her and her children.
She was not accompanied by her husband, who is Turkish.
Thai police earlier said they had sought cooperation from Turkey to arrest her and her husband for their alleged involvement in the explosion.
Aim-orn Suansan, the 40-year-old sister-in-law of Ms Wanna, said her family was delighted that Ms Wanna had returned to Thailand and she was glad to see Ms Wanna and her children again.
Ms Wanna wanted to come back to Thailand to prove she had nothing to do with the bombing, which she has always insisted on, Ms Aim-orn said.
She had been detained in an unidentified location in Turkey along with her husband since 2015 before being allowed to return to Thailand, Ms Aimorn said.
Police plan to bring Ms Wanna before a military court today.
The charges were read out to her in the presence of a lawyer, her brother and village head.
Ms Wanna is one of 17 suspects wanted for involvement in the 2015 bombing at the shrine. With her arrest, a total of three suspects have been detained.
The two other suspects, accused bombers Yusufu Mieraili and Adem Karadag, also known a Bilal Mohammed, were detained in November 2015, pending trial.
Deputy police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said Ms Wanna’s detention was not considered as an extradition.
He said a warrant was out for her arrest and police proceeded to apprehend her when she returned to Thailand.
Ms Wanna herself had earlier denied any involvement in the shrine blast. She admitted renting an apartment room in Bangkok, though she said she stopped doing so a year ago.
Ibrahim Komkam, a village headman in Phangnga, who was present at the arrest yesterday, said he has known Ms Wanna since she was a child. He said her Turkish husband could not speak Thai.
He said the last time he saw Ms Wanna and her husband was when the couple travelled from Bangkok to Phangnga in May 2015, when she prepared documents necessary to travel to Turkey.
The couple left Thailand on May 17, 2015 via
Phuket International airport, Mr Ibrahim said.
He said he had found out that Ms Wanna continued to contact her relatives in Phangnga for help. She had always told her relatives that she had done nothing wrong, according to the village headman.
Her relatives also tried very hard to bring her back to Thailand, including petitioning the prime minister.
Ms Wanna told police she was the woman in the outstanding arrest warrant.
She is scheduled to be taken to the military court at 8am today.
Meanwhile, police have arrested one of a group of illegal Uighur migrants who escaped from an immigration detention facility in Songkhla’s Sadao district on Monday.
National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said
the escapee was detained and later questioned yesterday, adding details of the arrest must still remain confidential.
On Monday, 25 of the migrants broke out of the detention centre after they climbed out from a hole gouged through a bathroom wall.
Five escapees were detained at the scene while the others managed to flee. Five more were re-arrested in Malaysia.
Pol Gen Chakthip said he has instructed authorities to patrol and inspect areas deemed to be possible escape routes, such as immigration checkpoints and other natural channels.
The escapees would most likely be hiding around the border, he added.
The jailbreak of 20 illegal Uighur migrants from a detention centre in the southern province of Songkhla earlier this week poses a foreign policy dilemma for the military regime. Some have managed to cross the border to Malaysia. Five of them were reportedly re-arrested by Malaysian authorities. The remainder are still at large.
The Uighur are a Muslim minority from the Xinjiang region of China who have fled human rights abuses carried out by the Chinese government. It is well known that they have no intention of living in Thailand or nearby countries. For them, Thailand is just a transit point to a third country, presumably Turkey which has a policy of accepting all such migrants thanks to their Islamic ties.
Some 100-200 Uighur are reportedly still being held in detention centres. Most of them were apprehended by Thai authorities when sneaking onto Thai soil in early 2014 in the hope of a new life elsewhere. Instead, they ended up in detention centres.
It is known that Beijing, claiming that some Muslim migrants are associated with terror attacks in the restive Xinjiang region, wants all the Uighur back for trial. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said if those migrants face charges in their country, they will be sent back. Yet deportation, as mentioned by Gen Prawit on Tuesday, does not seem to be a choice right now.
Back in July, 2015, Thailand decided to deport 109 Uighur to China, at its request, disregarding concerns by human rights groups. Just weeks after the forced deportation, Bangkok became the target of a deadly bomb attack which several observers believed was retaliation for handing the Uighur back to China. Twenty, mostly Chinese tourists, died when a bomb was detonated at the popular Erawan shrine.
The regime, in particular Gen Prawit, who is believed to be the key man behind the deportation order in exchange for closer ties with Beijing, ruled out any connection between the Erawan shrine bombing and the Uighur deportation as the trial of the bomb suspects continued at a snail’s pace. Yet there is no information to counter the Uighur theory. The arrest of a wife of a Turkish man suspected to have a role in the Erawan bombing only complicated the matter.
Many observers believe this is the high cost of friendship with Beijing. Every August, authorities are ordered to tighten up security, especially in the area around the Erawan shrine.
It’s sad that innocent people seeking a new life in a place where they can freely practise their religious beliefs have to end up in custody for years.
Detention centres that accommodate these illegal migrants are designed for their temporary custody pending deportation or a transfer process, should returning them to their place of origin prove to be life-threatening as with the Uighur. They are not equipped with facilities for longtime detention.
Under Thailand’s immigration law, authorities have no obligation to hand over illegal migrants to their country of origin. The migrants, like the Uighur, have breached the law but their period behind bars has exceeded the penalty for the crime they committed under immigration law. Forced deportation is out of the question since these people are at high risk of being deprived of their basic rights.
It’s time for the Thai state to end the dilemma, and counter China over this difficult issue on an equal footing. The burden of proof falls on Beijing if any Uighur migrants are wanted for their alleged roles in attacks in the country.
Yet the Thai state has the full power to consider the evidence and may seek help from international organisations in deciding the process. In principle, those without a terrorist background must be given the chance to start afresh on a humanitarian basis.
People seeking a new life have ended up in custody for years.