Thai police chief rewards officers after mysterious bomb suspect nabbed

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's police chief praised officers investigating the country's deadliest bombing and promised on Monday to hand out $83,000 among them as a reward for catching a suspect they have yet to tie directly to the attack.

Standing behind a podium topped with three bundles of banknotes, Somyot Pumpanmuang commended the detective work after the arrest of a foreigner whose name, nationality and affiliation remain a mystery.

"The accomplished work that led to the arrest is truly the work of the authorities and their investigative abilities," Somyot told a news conference, which opened with him pulling the wads of cash from a black holdall.

"This was the work of the Thai authorities, there were no tip-offs."

Police have been criticised for a patchy investigation which until the weekend had uncovered little more than a grainy surveillance video of a bearded man in a yellow shirt with shaggy hair leaving a bag at the site of the Aug. 17 blast.

Police gave contradictory statements on Saturday about whether the man arrested that day was the chief suspect caught on security footage the night when 20 people were killed, 14 of them foreigners.

Police have yet to say if the man has provided any information or if his DNA samples, seized explosives, fake passports or telephone records connect him to the bombing at Bangkok's most famous shrine two weeks ago.

Somyot, who together with his wife made an assets declaration of nearly $10 million last year, said a third of the 3 million baht reward was from his personal funds and the rest donated by an anonymous businessman.

Panthongtae Shinawatra, son of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said on his Facebook page on Sunday that he was ready to hand out a reward of 7 million when the group behind the bombing was caught.

Police issued arrest warrants for two more suspects on Monday.

(Reporting by Aukkapon Niyomyat; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Simon Webb, Robert Birsel)