BANGKOK // The investigation into last week’s bomb blast in central Bangkok has been hampered by broken security cameras along the main suspect’s getaway route, said Thailand’s police chief on Monday.
National police chief, Genral Somyot Poompanmoung, said authorities were trying to “put pieces of the puzzle together” but had to use their imagination to fill holes where street side security cameras were broken and unable to record his movements.
One week after last Monday's bombing at the capital's revered Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people dead and injured scores, police appeared no closer to tracking down suspects or determining a motive for the attack.
Police have released an artist sketch of the prime suspect who is seen in security camera footage from the open-air shrine leaving a backpack at a bench and walking away. The explosion takes place 15 minutes later.
But the images are blurry and after the suspect leaves the scene, the security cameras were broken at key spots along his suspected path, Gen Somyot said.
“Sometimes there are 20 cameras on the street but only five work,” Gen Somyot said. “We have to waste time putting the dots together.”
“The footage jumps around from one camera to another, and for the missing parts police have to use their imagination,” he said, adding that the Thai police lack the sophisticated equipment needed.
He said Thailand has “asked for cooperation from countries with better equipment and technology.”
Meanwhile, Thai police on Monday found and defused a bomb at a construction site in Bangkok.“We received reports this afternoon of a bomb in Sukhumvit 81,” Kamthorn Aucharoen, commander of the police’s explosive ordnance team, said referring to a road off of one of Bangkok’s main thoroughfares.
Police could not immediately confirm if the device was linked to the attack last Monday, and a second explosion at a pier on Bangkok’s river on Tuesday that caused no casualties.
* Associated Press and Reuters