Speaking at a police press conference yesterday morning, Pratya Preechavej and Yutthaphong Kittisriworraphan said that they only looked like the suspects.

On Thursday evening, the two men told reporters at The Nation that they were in fact the men in police photos, but definitely not the bombers. They then went to a hotel on Sukhumvit Road along with several senior officers to have a meeting from 10pm to 2am to discuss an undisclosed topic, before they returned home at 4.30am yesterday early morning. And their story changed.

In the press conference at Prawet police station, whose jurisdiction covers the Seacon Square complex in Suan Luang district, Pratya said he did go to the complex on December 31 to watch a film at 6pm along with Yutthaphong but said he had not worn a black jacket like one of the men in police photos.

Pratya said he had a ponytail, and almost never let down his hair - unlike the man in the photo - and had been accompanied by his sister. The police believe the team comprised two men and a woman.

Deputy Bangkok police chief Maj-General Jate Mongkhol-hatthee, who is investigating the nine bomb attacks and was present at the press conference, said neither man was a suspect. Jate said the two men in the photos were still suspects and a Bt1-million bounty for each remained on offer.

Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin later said it was a case of mistaken identity and not a police mistake that both men looked similar to the suspected bombers.

Acting national police chief General Seripisut Temiyavej also said that Pratya and Yutthaphong were not the culprits but merely resembled the suspects seen in footage from security cameras.