Thai police had earlier said neither of two men in their custody were the main suspects for the 17 August attack.
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Yusufu Mieraili (C), one of the suspects in the Bangkok bombing, makes a crime re-enactment under escort of Thai police officers at a shopping center near Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, September 9, 2015.
Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang said this evening he’s convinced Bilaturk is the same man seen in the park’s CCTV footage.
The video showed the man caught on CCTV in a yellow T-shirt before and after he entered the toilet.
Meanwhile, according to a police source, investigators went to question the suspect again at the 11th Army Circle where he is being detained, but Mr Karadag was ill and could not be interviewed.
The Bangkok Post quoted an anonymous security source this morning who said that Karadag allegedly admitted to being the yellow-shirted man and claimed he disguised himself in a wig and glasses.
Karadag’s lawyer Chuchart Kanphai told AFP on Saturday he was denied access to his client earlier this week by officials at the military barracks in Bangkok where he is being detained because the suspect was “sick”.
Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said in a late-night news conference that with evidence gathered from witnesses and surveillance cameras, the suspect can be charged in court.
Thailand has suggested that those behind the blast may have been from a gang involved in smuggling Uighurs from the Chinese region of Xinjiang, while others speculate they may be separatists or Islamist extremists angry that Thailand repatriated more than 100 Uighurs to China in July.
When questioned, the suspect changed his account day by day, added Pol Gen Somyot. After detonating the bomb, he threw the phone into Klong Sansab canal during the escape back to his apartment room in Minburi.
Karadag’s lawyer has previously said his client was born in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, but moved to Turkey in 2004 where he received Turkish nationality and found work as a truck driver with his brother. They are widely considered as scapegoats for a police force that failed to execute a competent investigation.
“It’s a technique many defendants use”.
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“Many of the suspects named by Thai police have Muslim-sounding names, prompting speculation that they may be linked to jihadist networks or to Uighur separatist militants from China”.
