Police in Thailand said that the Bangkok bombings might have been politically motivated. Thai police said the Aug. 17 Bangkok bombings at the Erawan Shrine were retaliation against the government's crackdown on human smuggling cartels in the country, reported Xinhua news agency.
"A motive was the authorities' crackdown on a Uighur human-trafficking racket. Investigators believe that there are people who hired the perpetrators. Different groups of people were involved and they shared the same objective and desire," Police Chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang said in a press briefing on Monday, according to Asia One.
"We have yet to establish these [political] links. It might have been a contract crime. A group might have hired another already bent on taking revenge to commit the crime so both got what they wanted," said Somyot, according to Bangkok Post.
Thai police have arrested two foreigners Bilal Mohammed (alias Adem Karadak) and Mieraili Yusufu in connection with the bombings at the Erawan Shrine and at Sathorn Pier. They are among the 17 bomb blast suspects wanted for the deadly Bangkok bombing in August that left 20 people dead and more than 100 wounded.
Investigators said on Friday that key suspect Bilal Mohammed had confessed his involvement in the bombing, reported Coconuts Bangkok. He was reportedly the yellow-shirted man with backpack seen in security footage at the shrine moments before the blast.
