Police in Kuala Lumpur to question suspect who claims to be shrine bomber

Thai police flew to Malaysia yesterday to confirm that the man arrested in Kuala Lumpur, who has reportedly confessed to being the yellow-shirted suspect in the Erawan Shrine bomb blast, is the man they are looking for.

Late on Saturday night, Malaysian police raided several apartments in Kuala Lumpur and detained a suspect who looks like the suspected yellow-shirted bomber.

Malaysian authorities then sent photos of the arrested man to their Thai counterparts asking them to show the pictures to detained suspects Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Turk for confirmation of the arrested man’s identity.

However, Yusufu and Bilal said they didn’t recognise the man in the photos, reported the Bangkok Post.

But after two days of questioning by Malaysian police, the man reportedly confessed to being the yellow-shirted suspect who left a backpack containing a bomb at the Erawan Shrine on Aug 17. The blast killed 20 people and injured over 100.

Deputy national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda, who is the chief investigator into the bomb blast, flew to Malaysia yesterday to question the suspect and to confirm that he is the yellow-shirted suspect.

The suspect reportedly holds a renewed passport from the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and was about to travel to Turkey when he was arrested. He identified himself as Ari, 31, reported Asia One.

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