Two suspected masterminds behind the bomb attack on the Bhum Jai Thai Party headquarters yesterday denied any wrongdoing.
"We know nothing about the plot," Kobchai Boonplod said at a press conference.
His wife, Warisriya Boonsom, claimed the couple had left the country on June 23, the day after the blast, only because they wanted time to calm down and think about what they should do.
"Back then, we didn't know arrest warrants had been issued for us," Kobchai insisted.
He said he and his wife had been in contact with Dejpol Puttajong, who confessed to staging the bomb attack. |"But we don't know what |he was up to," Kobchai said.
Warisriya lamented that she and her husband were now being charged for a crime they had not committed.
"We did nothing wrong. We just happened to provide accommodation for those staging the bomb attack. We offered accommodation because these red shirts said they wanted to attend the cremation ceremony of Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdiphol [in Bangkok]," she said.
Khattiya was a prominent red shirt shot at a red-shirt checkpoint in downtown Bangkok in May.
Warisriya said she had attended the red-shirt rally in Bangkok and had also stepped in to help with the House No 111 Foundation.
"That's how I know a lot of people. I have also extended help to many of them," she said.
"We know this group of red shirts [suspected bombers], but we don't know what they intended to do. Are the red shirts ready to fight? I think all red shirts are ready to do anything to make people aware of our pain.
"But really I don't know about the plot to carry out the bomb attack. I have no motivation to join in the plot. I am a woman and I have a job, a business to take care of."
Warisriya is a jewellery designer with a degree from Silpakorn University. Her husband is a jewellery trader.
She has also sat on a committee to raise funds for the construction of a memorial hall to commemorate Their Majesties the King and the Queen's wedding anniversary.
Assistant national police commissioner Assawin Kwangmuang yesterday said there was incriminating evidence against Warisriya and Kobchai in the bomb-attack case.
"The couple bought a cart that was used to carry explosives," he said. "The couple also provided accommodation to self-confessed bombers."
In addition, Assawin said Dejpol clearly told police that the couple had paid for the bomb attack.
"The couple had also planned to meet up with Dejpol in Siem Reap," he added.
Warisriya admitted that she had indeed planned to seek help from red-shirt leaders in Cambodia, but denied meeting Arisman Pongrueangrong there.
Arisman, a hardcore red-shirt leader, has been on the run since May 19. He is wanted on terrorism charges.
Warisriya and Kobchai are now facing terrorism charges, too.
According to Assawin, the couple said they were arrested because prominent red shirts Kanyapak Maneejak, known as DJ Aom, and Payap Panket, had betrayed them.