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Bangkok Blast: Suspect set to lose passport
Thai soldiers inspect the scene after a bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in central Bangkok late on August 17, 2015 killing at least 10 people and wounding scores more
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Thai soldiers inspect the scene after a bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in central Bangkok late on August 17, 2015 killing at least 10 people and wounding scores more. Body parts were scattered across the street after the explosion outside the Erawan Shrine in the downtown Chidlom district of the Thai capital. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul) (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)
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span class="inline inline-center">Thai soldiers inspect the scene after a bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in central Bangkok late on August 17, 2015 killing at least 10 people and wounding scores more. Body parts were scattered across the street after the explosion outside the Erawan Shrine in the downtown Chidlom district of the Thai capital. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)
Police have asked the Foreign Ministry to revoke the passport of a female suspect wanted in connection with the deadly bomb attack at the Erawan Shrine in August.
Police spokesman General Prawut Thavornsiri said the whereabouts of Wanna Suansan was not known.
Wanna had broken her promise |to surrender, Prawut said.
An arrest warrant was issued for Wanna, a native of Phang Nga, as she had rented flat rooms in Bangkok's Min Buri district to bomb suspects. Explosives and bomb-making |materials were found in those flats.
Her Turkish husband, Emrah Davuloglu, is also wanted under an arrest warrant.
Wanna, believed to be in Turkey when the warrant was issued, denied any involvement in the blast and told the media in telephone interviews that she would surrender and come back to Thailand to fight for her innocence.
Meanwhile, Chuchart Kanpai, the lawyer of alleged Erawan Shrine bomber Adem Karadag, remained adamant that his client was not the bomber and he did not believe Karadag had confessed as police claim.
He will meet Karadag, whose nationality is still unclear, at a special prison today along with representatives of the Turkish embassy in Bangkok.
Police led Karadag - now known as the yellow-shirt man - on a re-enactment of the crime on Saturday to try to substantiate his alleged confession.
"I am sure that Karadag is not the bomber as he has different body type from the yellow-shirt guy seen on the surveillance camera. The yellow-shirt guy is tall and has broad shoulders but my client has a smaller build," Chuchart said.
He revealed that he tried to visit his client in prison several times but was denied, having been told Karadag was being treated for flu and high blood pressure.
The lawyer admitted that he was worried Karadag would be tried in a military court as it would rule out an appeal option.
A police investigator meanwhile revealed that one of the bomb suspects, Yongyut Pobkaew, had a record related to his alleged involvement in many bomb-related cases and had an arrest warrant issued against him for alleged explosives possession.
Yongyut met Wanna many times at a house and had conversations with Mieraili Yusufu, a prime suspect in the case, on numerous occasions.
Mieraili was arrested at the Thai-Cambodian border province of Sa Kaew on September 2.
The shrine blast killed 20 |people and wounded more than 100.
In a related development, Vice Admiral Krisda Charoenpanich, deputy judge advocate general, said a bomb-squad team found nothing suspicious about reports that a suspect-looking man with a backpack and wearing sunglasses entered the Bangkok Military Court compound on Friday. The man went onto the roof of the building and left.
Krisda said the initial investigation revealed that the man may be a tourist or was looking for a toilet. It is common for people to enter the court's compound to use its toilets, he said.
Meanwhile, police spokesman Prawut said the alleged blast |"mastermind", Abudustar Abdulrahman or Isan, was now in Turkey after fleeing Thailand one day before the blast.
He said police were checking reports that he was on the move again, in a bid to locate Isan.
In a related development, Lt-General Srivara Rangsibrah-|manankul, the metropolitan police commissioner, has issued an order to transfer three police colonels at Lumpini Police Station to inactive posts at police headquarters.
The order cited that the transfers were needed to prevent damage to the authorities.
But a source said it was because the officers had failed to spot the suspected yellow-shirt bomber in CCTV footage at Lumpini Park after the bomb went off.
It was discovered recently that the suspect change into a grey shirt at a toilet at the park. (k)
