Reading the news about a bomb suspect that fitted his profile, a cooking gas store employee Nikhom Saenon, 23, went to the Sam Sen police station in the afternoon to clear his name.

He told reporters he was at the scene because a Sam Sen policeman investigating an accident he had on November 14 had asked him to draw a depiction of the incident, which left him with the neck scars and a broken front tooth.

Sitting near the guard booth from 12.30pm to 1pm as he was drawing it, Nikhom said he saw Pornlert talking with a tall dark man aged about 30 to 35 years old, wearing a shortsleeve brown shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers.

The former war veteran offered the man a drink which the man refused saying in a central Thai dialect that he had quit drinking five years ago. Nikhom said he did not know anything after that because he then left the scene.

Police took Nikhom into an investigation room while reporters waited outside.

Earlier yesterday, Colonel Preecha Thimamontri, head of the metropolitan police investigation team, said police were sifting the bomb scene for every possible shred of information as it was a tough case.

The bomb was homemade and could have been assembled by anyone, thus it was different to the ones used by southern insurgents, he said.

The investigators will hold another meeting early this afternoon with Metropolitan Police Commissioner LtGeneral Wiroj Chantharangsri, he said. The demolished security booth was being rebuilt and would be completed in 20 days.

While police and Army officers had boosted security around Prem's residence, DirectorGeneral of the Signals Department LtGeneral Nipon Theerapong said on Friday he would seek funds from the Army to install security cameras around the premise for better protection.