35 year old arrested over Pattani Big C bombing and other insurgency-related crimes

PHOTO: Remnants of a car bomb that exploded in front of a Big C in Pattani on May 9,2017

A suspect has been arrested by Thai security forces in Songkhla’s Thepa district. The man is believed to be a wanted insurgent – the subject of four arrest warrants in relation to violent incidents in the deep South. He’s been identified as 35 year old Ismael Morsu.

On Thursday, riding from his home in Thepa, police allege he saw an army checkpoint and immediately turned around, raising the suspicions of security police who chased him in a pickup truck. They managed to stop Morsu in Ban Tapaed village and took him into custody for identification and questioning.

The troops discovered that the suspect was a wanted felon being sought for alleged involvement in the car bomb attack at a Big C department store in Pattani province on May 9, 2017, the alleged killing of Mr. Chamnong Jiamjan in Thepa district on April 20, 2006, the alleged killing of assistant district chief Mr. Somsak Rakchart in Thepa district on January 9, 2005 and illegal possession of firearms.

Two other suspects in the Big C car bomb attack, who were caught earlier, have been sentenced to life in prison by the Pattani provincial court. Read The Thaiger story HERE.

SOURCE: Thai PBS