Thai police say Bangkok shrine bombing has been solved, give themselves cash reward money

Thai police at a news conference Monday.
(Image credit: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images)

During a news conference on Monday, Thai police said they have a motive for the deadly bombing at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok in August: Human trafficking.

Police Chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said authorities had "destroyed" a human trafficking network, and the bombing was revenge for that — not for Thailand sending Muslim Uighur people back to China in July, Reuters reports. For the second time in a month, Somyot showed off thick bundles of money totaling 3 million bhat, or $83,000, that he said is a reward for police investigators.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.