Thai police say they found bomb materials in 2 Bangkok apartments

Thai police search an apartment for bomb materials on Sunday, Aug. 30

(Image credit: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images)

published 31 August 2015

On Monday, Thai police said they found bomb-making materials at an apartment in the Min Buri district of Bangkok, the second such discovery since Saturday, when they arrested an unidentified foreigner and seized detonators, ball bearings, a metal pipe, and other equipment they said was intended to build a bomb.

The second raid uncovered fertilizer, digital clocks, remote control cars, and gunpowder. "These are bomb-making materials," said national police spokesman Prawuth Thavornsiri. "Nobody would keep urea fertilizer and gunpowder unless they wanted to make a bomb."

Police say they believe the foreigner arrested Saturday was part of a network that set off the deadly Aug. 17 bomb blast at Bangkok's Erawan Shrine. Reports online have suggested that the suspect entered Thailand on a Turkish passport, but Prawuth said they are working with "a number of embassies" to figure out the man's nationality. And the interrogation isn't proceeding very fast. "He is not cooperating much," Prawuth said. "From our preliminary investigation, we think he isn't telling us the truth."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.