Multi-millionaire police chief hands reward to his men that he says came from him and ‘businessmen friends’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Clutching three thick wads of cash, Thailand’s police chief said he was handing his officers a reward of 3m baht (about £55,000 or $84,000), for making an arrest related to a bomb attack two weeks ago.

Somyot Poompanmoung said the money would be distributed among his men for their work locating a 28-year-old foreigner with bomb-making materials near Bangkok on Saturday, who has yet to be charged.



“One million baht comes from me, the other two million baht came from my businessmen friends who do not want to be named,” he told journalists at police headquarters on Monday.

Thai police have said a bomb attack at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok, which killed 20 people and wounded 120, may have been launched by a people-smuggling gang in response to a crackdown on the trade.



On Monday, authorities issued arrest warrants for two suspects, a Thai woman and a man in his 40s, after a raid on another suburban apartment block uncovered possible bomb-making materials.

In response to the attack, Thai citizens raised a similar sum of cash for information leading to the arrest of suspects involved in the blast – the most deadly peacetime bombing in the country. Somyot did not say whether the money he held was from the same stash.

“It is clear that it was the authorities alone,” he said. He added that the public had not provided any solid information.

The authorities have been criticised for releasing contradictory information in the days after the attack. The reward comes as suspects are still at large and questions over the motive behind the bombing remain unanswered.

Somyot, who is a multi-millionaire, previously said the man was “taking personal revenge for his comrades”, without giving further details. “It’s unlikely to be terrorism. It’s not an international terrorist act,” he added.

Police have not publicly declared whether their detainee is the same man as the prime suspect, who was captured on CCTV on the night of the bombing, wearing a yellow T-shirt and dropping a black rucksack off at the scene minutes before the blast.