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Three Additional Suspects Arrested In Connection With Boston Bombing
By: Associated Press
Posted on:
UPDATE 5:12 p.m. Lawyers for two men charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in the Boston bombing case say their clients had no idea the attack was being planned.
The lawyers for Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev held a brief news conference Wednesday after their clients' initial court appearance.
Attorneys Robert Stahl and Harlan Protass say their clients were just as shocked as everyone else and didn't have anything to do with the attack.
They are accused of removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to keep him from getting into trouble.
A third man, Robel Phillipos, is charged with making false statements to federal investigators. He awaits a court appearance
UPDATE 4:10 p.m. Two men who attended college with the Boston Marathon suspect and are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice have waived bail.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev appeared in court Wednesday and agreed to voluntarily detention.
Their next hearing is scheduled for May 14.
A third man, Robel Phillipos, is charged with making false statements to federal investigators. He awaits a court appearance.
An FBI affidavit says the three men removed bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's backpack from his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth three days after the bombing.
UPDATE 3:50 p.m. Authorities say three college friends of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect didn't want him to get in trouble for it.
They say the three students concluded from news reports three days after the bombings that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was one of the bombers. According to court papers, they went to Tsarnaev's dorm room and found a backpack with fireworks that had been emptied of powder.
The FBI says the three removed the backpack and a laptop from the room, and went to an apartment to watch news reports featuring photographs of Tsarnaev.
According to the affidavit, one of the men told authorities that the three then decided together to "throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get into trouble."
Two of the men, from Kzakhstan, have been held in jail for more than a week on allegations that they violated their student visas.
The three aren't accused of any direct involvement in the bombing. But according to court papers, the FBI said that about a month before the bombing, Tsarnaev told two of them that he knew how to make a bomb.
UPDATE 12:43 p.m. A lawyer says two of the three people newly arrested in the Boston Marathon bombing case are men originally from Kazakhstan who were friendly with the main suspect.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev appeared via video for a visa violation hearing in immigration court in Boston on Wednesday.
Boston attorney Linda Cristello represented them and confirmed they now face separate federal charges and have a court appearance this afternoon related to the Boston Marathon bombing.
She says lawyers don't know what the charges are and won't until later.
The two have been held in a county jail for more than a week on allegations that they violated their student visas while attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Cristello did not say who the third suspect was.
UPDATE 12:31 p.m. Two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation say two of the three people newly arrested in the Boston Marathon bombing case are originally from Kazakhstan, and were friendly with the main suspect.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev appeared via video for a visa violation hearing in immigration court in Boston on Wednesday.
The officials who said they were in custody spoke to The Associated Press Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation.
One of the officials said the third suspect was a man.
The two have been held in a county jail for more than a week on allegations that they violated their student visas while attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
UPDATE 12:19 p.m. NPR is reporting that law enforcement sources familiar with the situation say an indictment is expected to be unsealed Wednesday that implicates three more individuals.
According to NPR reports two of them, are students from Kazakhstan who were arrested over a week ago on immigration charges.
They are going to be charged with obstruction of justice.
Sources say they believe the two young men, who were students with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at the University of Massashusetts' Dartmouth campus, may have helped him in some way after the attacks.
NPR is reporting the third person is an American citizen and is not Katherine Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife.
Boston police say three more suspects have been taken into custody in the marathon bombings.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, the police department says only that three more suspects are in custody and more details will follow. Police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca confirmed the tweet but referred all other questions to the FBI.
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line.
Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police several days later. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured and lies in a hospital prison.
Both are Russian natives who lived for several years in the U.S. They are accused of using a weapon of mass destruction.