Cops defuse devices after Pak Kret blast

A low-power improvised device exploded yesterday afternoon on a roadside in Pak Kret district of Nonthaburi, without report of injury.

Police were informed about a suspicious box on a roadside in Wat Salak Nua about 2.05pm.

Bomb experts found two improvised devices inside the cardboard box. One of them had exploded, but no-one was injured.

The devices contained gunpowder, gravel and glass fragments and were wrapped with black adhesive tape. Bomb experts defused the remaining bomb and handed the evidence to Bang Bua Thong police station.

In the case of the citywide bomb attacks on Friday, police yesterday revealed they had taken DNA samples from two suspects from the South for testing to find out whether they have been involved in other violent incidents in the deep South.

Pol Maj Gen Thiwathawat Nakhonsri, chief of the Central Police Forensic Science Division, said the samples were taken at the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre in Yala where the pair are being detained for questioning.

Forensic police will also compare DNA of arrested duo to that collected from the sites of the bombings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi, Pol Maj Gen Thiwathawat said.

The test results are expected to be known in the next few days and the details will be handed to the investigation team, he said.

He added that forensic experts had obtained DNA samples and fingerprints of a number of people from the bombing sites which were being examined and compared with records in the police database.

The two men, both from Rueso district of Narathiwat, were apprehended on an inter-provincial bus at a police checkpoint in Chumphon province last Friday.

A security camera had captured images of one of two men dropping a suspicious-looking object near the fence outside RTP headquarters on Rama I Road on Thursday evening.

The object was found to be a time bomb set to go off at 8am on Friday, but it was defused by bomb disposal officers.

Seven bombs were reported in five locations in Bangkok and Nonthaburi yesterday, with five of them going off, hurting five people.

The blasts included one at Chong Nonsi BTS station near the King Power Mahanakhon building, the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road, and the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters.

Fires also broke out at three locations in Bangkok’s Pratunam area on the same day.

Of the blazes, one was suspected to be arson and objects resembling bomb fragments were said to have been found in the wreckage.