Five teenagers were brought to Samrong Tai police station for questioning, and then released, after one of them was seen hurling a ping pong bomb into the compound of a school in Phra Pradaeng district on Monday.
Nobody was hurt in the explosion.
Nathawut Chankimha, a teacher at Wat Yothinpradit School in Moo 3 village in tambon Samrong, said that at about 12.45pm he heard the sound of an explosion. He first thought the power transformer in front of the school had exploded.
He and a janitor ran out of the school to look for the origin of the noise.
People at shops in front of the school said a ping pong bomb had been thrown into the school compound by a group of five teenagers who rode two motorcycles past the school entrance.
One of the teenagers jumped off, threw a ping pong bomb into the school, and then jumped onto the other motorbike. All then rode away.
The ping pong bomb landed near a row of sinks for hand-washing in front of a kindergarten class. The bomb went off, but nobody was hurt. The schoolchildren were playing some distance from the spot.
The recording from a security camera in front of the school clearly showed what happened.
A complaint was subsequently filed with Samrong Tai police.
Police examined the CCTV footage and questioned witnesses to help track down the teenagers.
Later – at 10pm on Monday – all the teenagers were found and brought to Samrong Tai police station, accompanied by their parents. Four are only 15 years old and the other 17. All were students at a school in Bang Phli district.
Pol Lt Col Veerachon Wongnakhon, a police investigator, said the 15-year-old boy admitted he was the one who threw the bomb into the school. He said he acted impulsively and wanted only to make a loud noise rather than intentionally hurting anyone.
With consent from the school administration and their parents, the five boys were not charged but placed on probation and then released.
