The men behind the August 17 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured another 120, are part of a human-smuggling network, Thai police chief Somyot Poompunmuang said at a press conference on Monday.
The police held a press conference in Bangkok to announce their hunt for the "yellow shirt bomber" was over, having extracted a confession from the two men currently in custody for the bombing.
Police Chief: the case is now conclusive. Perpetrators are from human smuggling network as retribution to gov crackdown.— Panu Wongcha-um (@panuw) September 28, 2015
On Friday, the police said Bilal Muhammad -- also known as Adem Karadag -- confessed to being the "yellow shirt bomber" whose CCTV-captured image was broadcast across media worldwide after the bombing.
Another man in custody, Yusufu Mieraili, has also confessed to triggering the bomb after Bilal placed it at the shrine, said police. Mieraili had earlier confessed to handing the bomber a backpack carrying a large bomb.
The police said they suspected the bombing was carried out by Uighur and Turkish groups seeking revenge on Thailand over its forced repatriation of ethnic Uighurs to China.
With the confessions, the police chief confirmed Monday that exacting "retribution" was the motive behind the attack. Bilal has a Turkish passport, and Yusufu is from Xinjiang in China, where the largest community of Uighurs in the country live.
Uighurs are an ethnic group of Muslim people with ties to Turks. In July, Thailand forcibly sent 109 Uighurs back to China.
On Monday, Poompunmuang revealed updated drawings of the bomber, saying that Bilal wore a disguise and matches the depiction.
นำภาพท่ีพยานจยย.ชี้มาถอดแว่น/ผมสั้น/มีเคราจะเหมือนมากครับ pic.twitter.com/ICfqMEfoOB— Pol.Lt.Gen.Dr.Prawut (@Dr_Prawut) September 28, 2015
At the press conference, the police chief also presented the $83,000 reward money to itself. It was earlier held as an incentive for anyone to come forward with information about the bombers, but the police said in August it would keep the money since they did all the work themselves.
Thai police presser: Police chief praises all officials in bomb probe, present reward money to officials involve pic.twitter.com/3H3dF4BA9A— Panu Wongcha-um (@panuw) September 28, 2015
During Friday's briefing, Poompunmuang claimed that the strength of the evidence across CCTV footage, physical evidence, witness accounts and DNA matching had forced the two suspects to confess.
Police chief: 2 arrested suspects confessed because of witnesses and evidences we've gathered. we did not force them pic.twitter.com/EynE0uYvKI— Panu Wongcha-um (@panuw) September 28, 2015
With the new police findings that the two arrested men were believed to have actually carried out the bombing, the charges against them, which previously involved the possession of military materials and explosive substances, were upgraded to murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to use explosives to kill, police said.
However, the police refused to release the DNA results last week, saying it could affect the then-ongoing investigations.
The police have also not said if the bombers were the masterminds behind the bombing, or if they were hired to carry it out.
They are still seeking another 15 suspects tied to the attacks.
Thai police: There're 17 suspects, 2 arrested. 2 are Thai national, 1 linked to separate bombing in Minburi in 2014 pic.twitter.com/ulZ530544p— Panu Wongcha-um (@panuw) September 28, 2015
Lawyer for #BangkokBlast suspect Bilal tells us he's been unable to question his client today since his apparent confession— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) September 28, 2015
Additional information by The Associated Press.