A key suspect in last month’s deadly Bangkok blast paid a $600 bribe to illegally enter Thailand, police said on Friday, highlighting widespread corruption at the kingdom’s borders.
Adem Karadag, one of two foreigners arrested in connection with the August 17 attack, was detained at a flat in eastern Bangkok late last month.
Police say he was found in possession of bomb-making paraphernalia and dozens of fake Turkish passports.
Karadag’s role has not been explained by police, but say they now know more about how he came to be in Thailand.
“The first man (Karadag) said he travelled through Vietnam to a neighbouring country where he then paid for transportation,” police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters, without specifying which neighbouring country.
“At the Thai border he paid $600 (to cross into Thailand),” he added, without revealing the identity of the official who took the bribe.
A second man, Yusufu Mieraili, was detained two days later on the border with Cambodia. He was allegedly found in possession of a Chinese passport which police believe is genuine. Police say Mieraili has confessed to delivering the backpack bomb to another man who left it at the Erawan Shrine minutes before the explosion.
Thailand is a notorious sanctuary for on-the-run foreigners and visa over-stayers, with officials often willing to take a bribe to turn a blind eye to illegality. In recent days Somyot, himself a former deputy commander with immigration police, has railed against the ease of buying off border officials.