DNA tests reveal Bangkok bomber remains at large: Thai police

Bangkok: Thai police on Friday announced DNA tests revealed a foreign man arrested near the Cambodia border is not the yellow-shirted Erawan shrine bomber, but was “definitely involved in the bombing”.

Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters today that DNA samples from Turkish national Yusufu Mieraili, 25, did not match those found in the suspected bomber’s taxi, on a banknote or on shreds of the bomb-containing backpack the suspect carried, the Bangkok Post reported.

“There’s no evidence to confirm he is the yellow-shirted man. However, he is definitely involved with the bombing,” the spokesman said.

According to Prawut, Mieraili’s fingerprints matched those collected from a container of explosive material found at an apartment in Nong Chok district and from a nail clipper at a rented apartment in Bangkok’s Min Buri district.

The revelation follows an earlier negative result from DNA testing of Adem Karadag, 28, who was arrested at his northern Bangkok apartment on 29 August. Karadag was released from military custody and was handed over to police.

The ruling-out of the two foreigners in custody means that the man seen wearing a yellow shirt while leaving a rucksack at the Erawan shrine on August 17 minutes before the explosion that killed 20 people and injured over 150 others, remains at large despite two arrests and the naming of seven other suspects in recent days.

IANS