Update 3 - Thai Police Arrest Foreign Suspect Over Bangkok Bombing

Thai police arrested a foreign national Saturday in connection with a Bangkok blast that left 20 people dead.



Police spokesperson Prawut Thavornsiri confirmed to Anadolu Agency that a special mission is ongoing in the Nong Chok area of Bangkok where the suspect was arrested in an apartment.



Police Chief General Somyot Pumpanmuang told the Bangkok Post that the 28-year-old detained foreigner, whose nationality remains undetermined, will be charged with "possession of explosives".



Bomb-making materials were reportedly found at the apartment, similar to those used in the bomb that exploded Aug. 17 at the Erawan Shrine, leaving 20 dead and more than 120 others wounded. 



A police source who was not authorized to speak with media told Anadolu Agency that ball bearings, wires and several passports were found at the site.



Thavornsiri later confirmed on national television that a joint task force between police and soldiers had carried out the operation.



"We arrested a foreign national who had in his possession bomb-making materials including fuses, ball bearings and a pipe," he said.



Authorities had earlier said that the suspect was using a Turkish passport; however, Thavornsiri later confirmed the documentation to be fake.



An image provided of the passport shows a misspelled Istanbul birthplace, a Turkish name and two dates of expiry in English.



"We found numerous passports belonging to one nation in his possession," he added, showing a stack of forged Turkish passports that he said were also found in the apartment.



Prawut said that the suspect is being detained for questioning at an unspecified military camp.



Police are trying to locate accomplices as the suspect had rented five rooms in the apartment complex.



Earlier in the day, the deputy-police chief, General Chakthip Chaijinda, had told local reporters that "it is most likely that the suspect is related to the bombing at Rajprasong" -- the commercial area of central Bangkok where the bombing took place.



Chaijinda, who will become police chief starting Oct. 1, added that it was not "yet clear" if the detained foreigner was the same suspect caught on security camera images leaving a backpack at the Erawan Shrine a few minutes before the explosion.



Thavornsiri reiterated Saturday the need to avoid making assumptions about the citizenship of the suspect until solid evidence is provided.



Earlier this week, a well-respected security consultant for IHS Jane's Defense -- which offers coverage and analysis of global defense activity -- had said that one of the most likely scenarios for the Bangkok blast was a link to some violent groups sympathetic to the cause of Muslim Uighur -- 109 of whom Thailand had deported to China in July.



Anthony Davis suggested to journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Monday that the most likely scenario was that a Turkish organization called the "Gray Wolves" was behind the attack, which he described as a "pan-Turkic, extreme right wing, fascist group".



The movement Davis refers to could be one of the many nationalist outfits that existed in Turkey in the 1960s and 1970s that described themselves as "Gray Wolves". They did not, however, consider themselves fascist, instead describing their leanings as "Turkish nationalist".



On Friday, the Thai ambassador to Ankara, Tharit Charungvat, had stressed that Bangkok did not believe there was any involvement from Turkey in the bombing.



Referring to media reports that Turkish citizens might be involved, he expressed to Anadolu Agency his concern of a potential "misunderstanding".



He stressed that the allegation had not come from the Thai government, proportioning the blame at media sensationalism.



"Matters can easily be exaggerated and misconstrued by media and press," he said. 



*Anadolu Agency correspondent Yusuf Hatip in Ankara and Nilay Kar in Istanbul contributed to this report. - Krung Thep