Suspicious bomb-like devices found in Phuket and Krabi

TNR Staff

10 months ago

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A FEW suspicious bomb-like objects were found at Phuket and Krabi today (June 26) after two suspects who were arrested in Phang Nga on Tuesday (June 24) with a bomb stashed in their sedan confessed to have planted four bombs in Phuket, Naewna newspaper and MNG Online said.

At 10 a.m. Pol. Maj. Gen. Lertchai Champathong, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, Region 8, led an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team and police dogs to inspect important tourist spots in Krabi and found a bomb-like object behind the Haad Noppharat Thara – Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park sign.

Then at 2 p.m. police were notified of suspicious objects found abandoned at the embankment near Noppharat Thara beach and initial inspection showed that it was set to explode in 145 hours’ time.

After that another set of suspicious objects was found at a sculpture park on Uthakit road consisting of chemical powder in a plastic bag, a timed detonator similar to the one found in the vehicle of the two suspects earlier arrested in Phang Nga. EOD officers successfully recovered them.

Later, officers inspected the fourth location, that is Krabi’s Central Mosque and found a suspicious motorcycle that one of the suspects had confessed to have ridden from Pattani province. Officers cordoned off the area so that the EOD team could check if there were any explosives in the vehicle.

Meanwhile at 11 a.m. today Phuket’s EOD team along with officers from Patong police station blocked the area behind a hotel on Patong Beach, approximately 100 meters from the Bangla police station, after sniffer dogs detected a suspicious object buried in the sand.

The EOD officers shot to destroy the object under safe controlled conditions, with a loud noise heard in the surrounding area.

However, upon examining it again the team found that it had not reacted to the shot, and it was then taken for further investigation of its origin.

Another suspicious object was found buried in the sand of Patong beach and has been shot and destroyed under security control before being examined by the Forensic Science Institute.

Last evening an explosive device was found in a motorcycle parked 200 metres from Phuket Airport’s passenger terminal and this was detonated with flights not disrupted.

This followed the arrest of Mr. Muhamad (surname withheld), 29, and Mr. Sulaiman, 27, both from Pattani, at a Phang Nga police checkpoint as they were driving through the coastal city in the wee hours of Tuesday morning .

They were then taken to Hat Yai police station, Songkhla province, after which they were sent for interrogation at Police Operations Centre, Yala police station.

During the journey Muhamad confessed that he and three other accomplices had brought bombs to Phuket and planted four of them there.

One bomb was stored in a motorcycle at left at Phuket Airport car park, one at Phromthep Cape and two at Patong beach.

CAPTION:

Police busy detonating and recovering suspicious bomb-like devices in Phuket and Krabi today, June 26, 2025. Photos: Naewna