Fleeing Patong bombers dump grenade

PATONG: Police suspect that two young men who dumped a hand grenade in a garbage bin around midnight last night had been on their way to bomb an entertainment venue in Soi Bangla. A tuk-tuk driver alerted police after seeing a passenger on a motorbike holding the grenade. Officers were dispatched to cut off the men’s route into Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd, but the riders escaped. Pol Maj Sanguan Muangtham, Inspector of Kathu Police Station, said the pair dumped the grenade in a garbage bin outside the 7-Eleven in Soi Sansabai before fleeing. Police theorize that the target of the bombers was a bar in Soi Bangla, a conclusion they reached after speaking to people in the area who told them of trouble among rival entertainment venues on Patong’s busiest bar strip. Police retrieved the grenade from the bin and took it away for a fingerprint check and forensic examination.