Khaosod English
30 August 2015, Last update at 12:08:00 GMT
Nation TV Airs Fake 'Suicide Vest' Image in Arrest Report
An image taken from Nation TV as tweeted by Thailand blogger Richard Barrow.
BANGKOK — For the second time since the Erawan Shrine bombing, Nation TV is being criticized for its coverage after it broadcast an image yesterday of an unrelated suicide bomber vest in a story about the arrest of a suspect.
Ten days after apologizing for staging an incident criticized as insensitive, the media outlet today broadcast used an image of a bomb vest taken from a U.S. security agency in a report about bombing suspect Adem Karadag, a device authorities quickly pointed out was not in the suspect’s possession or residence.
“There have been photos of suicide bomb vest,” said police Col. Kamthorn Uicharoen, commander of the Royal Thai Police explosives unit. “We didn’t find it at the crime scene where we collected evidence. I don’t know where that photo is from. I insist that we didn’t find it at the scene.”
According to media reports, the image was of a fake suicide vest posted to the blog of the Transportation Security Administration, a U.S. agency created after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York to secure public transportation.
The image was reportedly of a fake suicide bomb vest confiscated from the luggage of a passenger. Thai government officials have insisted they were not the source of the image.
Creating the impression it was found at the scene, Nation TV showed the image in a report on yesterday’s arrest in the eastern outskirts of Bangkok of a suspect police said was involved in the 17 Aug. shrine bombing which killed 20.
On 20 Aug., Nation TV president Adisak Limprungpatanakij apologized for sending someone disguised as the suspected shrine bomber into the shrine for a reenactment three days after the attack.
Nation TV has yet to make a statement.
Related stories:
Nation TV Sends 'Bomber' Impersonator into Erawan Shrine