Eight people have been detained in Malaysia for questioning in connection with last month’s bombing of a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people, a senior Malaysian official said on Wednesday.
National deputy police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim said they were detained in the past week in Kuala Lumpur as well as in the north-eastern Kelantan state.
Four of the eight were Malaysians involved in human trafficking, while the other four were believed to be Uighur (pronounced WEE-gurs) men who entered the country illegally, he said.
Right now, there is no concrete evidence to show that they are directly involved.
— Noor Rashid Ibrahim, National Deputy Police Chief
According to Noor Rashid, Thailand will need to provide basic proof of their involvement in the bombing if it wants to extradite the suspects.
The August 17 blast at the Erawan Shrine in the Thai capital also injured more than 120 people. Many of the victims were foreigners as the shrine is a popular destination for tourists and Thai people alike.
In Bangkok, Thai police chief, Somyot Poompanmoung, said he has not received any confirmation from the Malaysian police that the suspects were involved in the blast.
Thai authorities have arrested two suspects they say were linked to the bombing, but believe the actual bomber and the mastermind of the plot have fled the country.
(With inputs from AP)
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