File Photo: Police inspects the cordoned-off site of a bomb blast at the popular Erawan shrine in Bangkok.(Agence Frane-Presse)
A man arrested in Bangkok in connection with a recent deadly blast at a religious shrine is a Turkish national who was found with multiple passports, a senior military officer said today.
"He is a Turkish national," Colonel Banphot Phunphien, spokesman of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) told AFP.
"He carries many passports. It's unusual how he carries so many passports," Banphot added.
Police and military seized the 28-year-old man during a raid at a flat in an eastern suburb of Bangkok today, discovering bomb-making components as well as dozens of passports.
During a televised press conference at 6 pm (1100 GMT) national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said officers had found "several passports belonging to one country" at the suspect's flat but declined to say which nation.
However as he was speaking, pictures of dozens of Turkish passports wrapped in rubber bands were broadcast as well as the photo passport page of a 28-year-old Turkish national named Adem Karadag.