8 held in Malaysia for questioning on Thai blast

Eight persons, including four Uighurs from China’s restive Xinjiang, have been arrested in Malaysia in connection with a major human trafficking network which allegedly helped a bomber in carrying out Thailand’s worst attack at a temple, police said on Wednesday.

The arrests were made here four days ago, Deputy Inspector-General of police Noor Rashid Ibrahim said.

“All eight are in their 30’s and the four locals are human traffickers who smuggled foreigners into the country,” he said during a press conference.

Four suspects were believed to be minority Uighur, who may have come from China’s western Xinjiang region, he said. While there is no evidence they were directly involved in the bombing they are being investigated to see if they had any role in other activities surrounding the blast.

“Right now, there is no concrete evidence to show that they are directly involved,” Rashid said.

He said Thai police have been notified, and he hopes they can aid in identifying the men. Thailand will need to provide basic proof of their involvement in the bombing if it wants to extradite the suspects, he said.