Boston Police announced that they have arrested three college friends of suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
None of them have been connected to the pre-bombing planning or the detonation of the bombs that killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15.
One of the suspects is American Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge. According to the criminal complaint, he is suspected of knowingly making false statements to law enforcement.
PHOTO: Robel Phillipos, 19, charged with lying to investigators on.rt.com/xu5c1htwitter.com/RT_com/status/…
— RT America (@RT_America) May 1, 2013
The other two suspects are identified as Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, 19, of Kazakhstan. They will be charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to law enforcement.
UPDATE: FBI: New Suspects In Bombing Case Disposed Of Evidence To Help Tsarnaev 'Avoid Trouble'
Here's what else we know about the two Kazachs:
- The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth told the AP that Tazhayakov is enrolled while Kadyrbayev was last a student in the fall but is no longer enrolled. All four men started at the school in the fall of 2011.
- A Boston attorney who represented the men told the AP that they were detained on April 20 on allegations that they violated their student visas.
- The attorney confirmed the suspects now face separate federal charges and have a federal court appearance related to the bombing case at 3:30 in Courtroom 19.
- The two men lived at an off-campus apartment in New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston, and the complaint says Tsarnaev spent a lot of time there. The police raided an off-campus apartment in New Bedford on April 19 and found Tsarnaev's computer in a nearby landfill on April 26.
- Kadyrbayev's license plate says "Terrorista #1." His lawyers said it was a joke.
- Here is what appears to be Kadyrbayev's Vkontakte (VK) social media page and Facebook page.
- Journalist Laura Rosen notes that Kadyrbayev "at least seems to have lied on his VK page that he's an MIT student, he's not, never was registered."
- Attorney Robert Stahl told CBS that they were drawn to Tsarnaev because he also spoke Russian. (The Tsarnaev brothers lived in Kyrgyzstan, which neighbors Kazakhstan.)
Here's a photo showing Kadyrbayev being detained:
NEW PHOTO: Dias Kadyrbayev, college friend of Dzohkhar Tsarnaev, being taken into custody on April 19 twitpic.com/cnetyu - @scottisaacs
— NewsBreaker(@NewsBreaker) May 1, 2013
Here's a photo, now deleted from from Tsarnaev's VK page, of Kadyrbayev and Tsarnaev:
In light of today's news, a New York Times report published on April 26 and titled "After Attack, Suspects Returned To Routines, Raising No Suspicions" is particularly interesting.
More to come as information becomes available.
SEE ALSO: Photo Shows Boston 'Suspect 2' Behind The 8-Year-Old Victim
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