Two men arrested transporting bomb from Songkhla to Phuket

TWO men driving through Phang Nga province in the wee hours of this morning (June 24) were arrested at a checkpoint after police found a suspicious object in their sedan which turned out to be a bomb, Amarin TV said.

At approximately 3.30 a.m. a team of policemen who had set up a checkpoint at the bypass intersection in front of Phang Nga Provincial Hall spotted a suspicious sedan with Surin licence plate driving towards the bus station so stopped it for an inspection.

The sedan was driven by Mr. Muhamad (surname withheld), 29, from Pattani province while Mr. Sulaiman, 27, also from Pattani, was the passenger.

Upon searching the vehicle, the policemen found what appeared to be a stopwatch connected to a circuit board, tightly packed in a plastic bag and hidden among the suspects’ belongings.

They collected the suspicious object and placed it in a car tire for safety and later when the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team inspected it, they found that it was attached to a bomb.

Initial investigation revealed that the two suspects had been hired to drive this car, with the explosive device that was also linked to a smartphone and a Pocket Wifi within, from Thepa district, Songkhla province, from 7 p.m. following a GPS route their employer had set for them.

This took them from Songkhla to Phatthalung, Trang, Krabi, then into Phang Nga and heading for Phuket before being intercepted and arrested.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Surapong Thanomchit, commander of Provincial Police Region 8, ordered relevant police agencies to inspect the area and collect more evidence in conducting a detailed investigation.

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The two suspects who were arrested and the vehicle they were driving with a bomb within. Photos: Amarin TV