Bomb explosion in Bangkok

[STEVE G]

One offshoot of this, which has been mentioned in today's BP, is a massive tightening on issuing visas to aliens.

What sort of visa did they have ? I thought that weapons manufacturing was a banned industry under the FBA.

[buksida]

Gen Yutthasak expressed support for proposals to tighten visa regulations, saying the Foreign Ministry has begun reviewing the issue.

"We need tourists to help boost the economy, but we have to start keeping an eye on them," he said.

Immigration authorities said the four confirmed suspects had made multiple trips to Thailand over the past year under tourist visas.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/securit ... ver-blasts

[STEVE G]

I can't imagine that there's a huge amount of tourism between Iran and Thailand.

[buksida]

As stated Thailand tars all farangs with the same brush - I cant see them changing this blinkered outlook, visas are going to get tougher period.

[Roel]

As in more hassle and hoops for law abiding citizens and genuine tourists, whereas whatever changes they implement is surely never going to keep out the bad guys anyway.

But seriously what are they going to do?
Add a "Do you plan to engage in any terrorist activities?" question box on the TM arrival card?
Shorten visa exempt period for Iranians from 30 to 15 days thus minimizing the risk with 50%.

Probably a simple message to the Thai consulates to reconsider issuing a visa if the applicant travels to Thailand frequently.

[MrPlum]

But seriously what are they going to do?
Add a "Do you plan to engage in any terrorist activities?" question box on the TM arrival card?
Shorten visa exempt period for Iranians from 30 to 15 days thus minimizing the risk with 50%.

Wouldn't any terrorist outfit worth a damn be using fake passports?

[Super Joe]

I think most of the African & Middle East countries do not get VE or VOA status when they arrive, they have to apply for a visa in their country. Iranians certainly don't they have to apply for a touristvisa. As Roel said, I can't really see how they will 'screen' the terrorists out, maybe 'every other' male could be a good start Only joking of course, that doesn't account for any women

Joking aside, they do seem to enforce the more stringent criteria for their applications, it says they can only apply for a tourist visa from inside Iran and not more lax ASEAN countries. Plus their website says they enforce the following, which not all countries seem to do... "photocopies of Iranian ID card, passport, /Ticket/Itinerary/Reseavation must be attached to the application forms"


There's frequent updates on the interrogation of these 'suspected' Iranian terrorists, the Israeli's they were targetting, and the hunt for the rest of the group on TAN News...
http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/viewbrowse ... b2_ID=1012
- National Police chief Police General Damapong revealed that after the interrogation of Mohammad Hazai, the Iranian bomb suspect, that the suspect will be handed over to investigators of the Metropolitan Police Bureau after officers of the Immigration Police Bureau complete the questioning process. Priewpan also insisted that Israeli diplomats were targeted by this group of Iranian suspects.
.
- The Malaysian Interior Minister disclosed that an additional suspect in Bangkok's bomb blast, Iranian Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, was arrested in Malaysia while he was attempting to fly back to Iran.
.
- Meanwhile, Commissioner of the Thai Immigration Police Bureau, Police Lieutenant General Wiboon Bangthamai, gave an update on the hunt for a female Iranian suspect, Rohani Lila, who also has an arrest warrant against her. Wiboon said Lila has already fled to the Iranian capital, Tehran.


And contrary to the popular notion that Thai jail cells are not fun places to be...
"The national police chief said the suspect seems to be under great stress and has refused to eat. Authorities invited the suspect's female acquaintance from Pattaya to talk with him and pacify his stress"
I bet she did

SJ

[hhfarang]

Police find bomb gang's motorcycle
NEW LEAD IN VALENTINE'S DAY EXPLOSIONS

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... motorcycle

[hhfarang]

Thailand Fears More Terror – May Change Visa Policy
20 February 2012 | news NewsdeskAfter last week’s bombings in Bangkok and the arrest of a Lebanese-Swede last month the country of smiles are now considering their ‘open-door’ visa policy.

Thailand has annual revenue derived from tourism of $25 billion per year, and the country receives more than 12 foreign tourists. The tourism industry makes for 6 percent of the Thai economy, but according to the Philstar, Thai officials are now considering a tougher visa policy, because of the incidents in the last months.

"We have to admit that there are threats all over the world, and our country is a weak link," said National Security Council chief Wichean Potephosree to the Philstar, without being to precise on how he sees the visa policy in the future.

The statement comes after authorities have found similarities between the bombs in Bangkok and India last week.

Since the bombings the security in all Thai airports, train stations and major streets has been strengthened.

Source: http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?c ... s_id=10186

[richard]

Things are tightening up

Some places (hotels/condos)are being asked to ensure by tomorrow all residents provide reception with their passport for copying for police checking

My condo is to introduce ID cards to prevent outsiders coming in without permission

A new influx of girls/katoeys have hit HH saying Nana and Cowboy are no longer considered safe to work

[wiki]

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227638.html

Thailand’s Shia leader Syedsulaiman Husaini says the suspects detained by Thai authorities with the alleged Iranian passports are members of the terrorist anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

Husaini said on Sunday that the attack was orchestrated by the MKO with the aim of tarnishing Iran’s reputation. The cleric added that Bangkok and Teheran enjoy good bilateral relations.

Last week, a man hurled a grenade at Thai police officers and a cab in Bangkok. The attacker was injured seriously in the blast. Bangkok police say they found Iranian identification documents on the maimed man.

Earlier in the day, a house rented by three men, who police say were Iranians, exploded when a cache of explosives reportedly went off by accident. Soon afterwards, there was a third blast on a nearby road, Thai police said.

The three explosions in Bangkok happened one day after bomb attacks targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of orchestrating the attacks.

Iran has rejected the accusation as baseless and a publicity ploy, adding that they are part of Tel Aviv’s psychological warfare against the Islamic Republic.

MYA/MB/HJL

[hhfarang]

More clues on Iranian bomb plot

More signs possibly relating to planned bomb attacks and prepared by a group of Iran nationals have been identified on Bangkok streets, apart from the stickers reading "SEJEAL" which police discovered earlier, a police source said yesterday.

Messages reading "SHOCKETHER", "NINER", "GAMI" have been found spray-painted on many walls along a Bangkok road heading to the JW Marriot Hotel, like the SEJEAL stickers which were pasted along the same route.

Police suspect the SEJEAL stickers - allegedly prepared by the bomb suspects - were intended to indicate a route used frequently by Israeli diplomats who are possible targets of the bomb attacks.

A former head of a Thai-Iranian alumni association, Saiyid Sulaiman, said the SEJEAL stickers could have been made up and posted at several locations in the capital to finger Iran and spoil good relations it had with Thailand.

Saiyid claimed he learned about the SEJEAL stickers on the day of the incidents. He did not give more details. He explained that SEJEAL was an Arabic word cited in the Koran, which means hot stones or fire stones. The word is also used to name a long-distance rocket in the Iranian military's inventory.

A suspect, Iranian national Mohammad Khazaei, has been placed in court custody after the Bangkok South Criminal Court denied his request for temporary release, which police opposed. Khazaei, in handcuffs and wearing a bulletproof vest, appeared grim and tense.

A special cell and heightened security have been provided for Khazaei at the Bangkok Remand Prison where he will be held for the first 12 days, and given special meals as part of his basic rights as an inmate.

Persian-speaking inmates will meet and chat with him occasionally to make him comfortable in a solitary cell monitored by security cameras, said prison commander Sophon Tuethammaphruek.

A police source said not all the five suspects may have known each other and entered Thailand to perform their roles on separate trips. The source said flight details showed that Norouzi Shaya Ali Akbar, 57, the alleged bomb-maker, and Laila Rohani, the alleged logistics officer, flew directly from Tehran to Thailand.

The three other suspects: Saeid Moradi, 28, who lost both legs after being caught in the blasts, Khazaei, and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh - now facing extradition from Malaysia - entered Thailand from Malaysia, after taking a direct flight from Tehran, through a transit flight to Phuket and then to Bangkok.

The explosives and devices could have been smuggled from Malaysia, before they were assembled into three radio bombs in Thailand, the source added. The SEJEAL stickers were not printed in Thailand and were possibly smuggled by Rohani, because they were found in her room.

A weekly meeting on progress in the police investigation into the blasts has been ordered by the prime minister, who appointed Deputy Prime Ministers Chalerm Yoobamrung and Yuthasak Sasiprapha as joint chiefs of operations.

A coordination committee working on the case has also been appointed, comprising the National Police chief and head of the National Security Council and immigration police and a Foreign Ministry representative.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 76508.html

[hhfarang]

"Three more Iranians arrested in Feb 14 bomb probe"

Three more Iranians were detained by the police yesterday on suspicion of involvement in the bombings on Sukhumvit Soi 71 on Feb 14.

The three detainees _ two men and one woman _ were identified as Madani Seyed Mehrded, Rahimi Rad Iraj, a chef at a hotel in Soi Nana, and his wife Mahboobh Tasbehi.

They all live in the Naza Vegas building in Watthana district, where fellow Iranian suspect Leila Rohani also lived.

Mr Mehrded, 33, was detained yesterday afternoon when police raided a room on the 14th floor of Naza Vegas.

The police seized a computer, a mobile phone and some other objects from the rental apartment for inspection.

Mr Mehrded did not respond to police officers who spoke to him in English, so he was detained for interrogation at a later time when police can appoint an Iranian interpreter.

Police tracked him from information found in the Sim cards of Saeid Moradi, 28, and Mohammad Khazaei, 42, the first two suspects detained in connection with the Feb 14 bombings.

Mr Moradi was badly injured in one blast and is being treated at Chulalongkorn Hospital, while Mr Khazaei, 42, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport later the same day as he tried to leave Thailand.

The call logs on the Sim cards showed Mr Mehrded had regularly communicated with the two suspects by mobile phone, police said.

On Feb 14, he allegedly was waiting for the other suspects in front of the Israeli embassy on Asok Road, police said.

The man entered Thailand on July 27 last year and had overstayed his visa by almost five months.

His visa expired on Sept 29, 2011.

Police investigations also showed he had lived at the apartment since his arrival and rarely went out or met people. He survived on food delivered to his room by an Iranian who worked as a chef at a hotel in Soi Nana, off Sukhumvit Road.

Rahimi Rad Iraj, the chef, and Mahboobh Tasbehi, his wife, were apprehended late yesterday afternoon at room No. 21122 on the 11th floor of the same building, police said.

In another development, deputy police chief Pansiri Prapawat said police had obtained pictures of a number of people who posted stickers bearing the word "Sejeal" along a road in Klong Toey district.

Police believe the stickers are linked to the bomb suspects.

Security camera footage showed the sticker-posters at work, Pol Gen Pansiri said.

He said he could not go into detail regarding the suspected posters as police were still testing DNA samples collected from some of the Sejeal stickers.

The origin of the stickers remains unknown, he said.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/ ... bomb-probe