SAMUT PRAKAN - Police arrested a man at a rented room in Bang Sao Thong district on Monday on suspicion of planning to detonate three car bombs in Greater Bangkok late this month.
The man's identity was not revealed.
His arrest followed a search by police, soldiers and local officials of room 207 on the second floor of dormitory number 4/226 on Bang Sao Thong 35 Road in Karnkheha Muang Mai Bang Phli community of tambon Bang Sao Thong.
They were acting on information that car bomb attacks were being planned at a shopping centre, a parking area and a location frequented by tourists in greater Bangkok between Oct 25 and 30.
Police seized phones, wires and four boxes of what were believed to be bomb components from the unidentified suspect's room.
They also advised local shopkeepers to remove trash cans from the front of their premises and to watch out for vehicles that were parked unattended for a long time.
Sources said two other men of Narathiwat province had rented the room but left it with rucksacks last Wednesday. Authorities were hunting them.
Another bombing suspect Tanmichi Totayong who was arrested in Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng area last week said he and the two other men had hidden plastic pipes and detonation caps above ceiling tiles in the rented room in Bang Sao Thong.
In the search there Monday morning, authorities did not find the objects and authorities believed they had been destroyed or moved.