Three more Iranian suspects in the Bangkok Valentine’s Day bombings have been arrested by Thai police.
One of the suspects, Mr. Rahimi Rad Iraj, is a chef at a hotel on Soi Nana. The other two suspects are Iraj’s wife, Mrs. Mahboobh Tasbehi, and Mr. Madani Seyed Mehrded. All three lived in the Naza Vegas building on Ramkamhaeng Road, along with another suspect, Leila Rohani, who is still at large.
Mehrded was arrested yesterday Feb. 26 in a raid on the 14th floor of the Naza Vegas, where police seized a computer, mobile phone, and other objects, the Bangkok Post reported. Police tracked him down through the mobile phone SIM cards recovered from the first two suspects arrested, Saeid Moradi, 28, and Mohammad Khazaei, 42. Information from the SIMs showed that Mehrded regularly communicated with Moradi and Khazaei.
Police said that on the day of the bombings on Sukhumit Soi 71, Mehrded was waiting for the other suspects in front of the Israeli Embassy on Asoke Road. He had entered Thailand on July 27, 2011 and overstayed his visa by five months, rarely leaving his apartment in Nana, the police investigation revealed. Food was often delivered to his room by the chef Iraj, who was apprehended along with his wife on the 11th floor of the same building.
Nasa Vegas is located right next to the Airport Rail Link Ramkamhaeng Station and promotes itself as being just 11 minutes from Suvarnabhumi by the train. In fact, the proximity to the Airport Link seems to be the hotel and serviced apartment’s top marketing point, as demonstrated by the promotional video embedded below from the Nasa Vegas website.
The video actually opens with the seal of the State Railway of Thailand, which built the Airport Link. Perhaps they built the Nasa Vegas as well?
Regardless, the location seems like it would have been good for a speedy exit to the airport.
