Three Suspect Arrested, Two Kazakhstan Men and One from Cambridge Charged With Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice & Making False Statements in Boston Marathon Bombings

Three suspects were arrested today, 19 year old Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev of Kazakhstan were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and 19 year old Robel Phillipos of Cambridge, MA was charged with making false statements to law enforcement officials in a terrorism investigation. They were classmates of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev They are accused of disposing of a backpack and computer in a dumpster after the bombings from Tsarnaev’s room at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The three 19-year-olds were not accused of any role in the Boston Marathon bombing, but in a footnote in the court papers outlining the charges, the FBI said that about a month before the tragedy, Tsarnaev told two of them that he knew how to make a bomb.

Two men from Kazakhstan and a man from Cambridge were arrested and charged today in the Boston Marathon bombings investigation, federal prosecutors said.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and of New Bedford, were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice by plotting to dispose of a laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks belonging to bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge was charged with making false statements to law enforcement officials in a terrorism investigation, prosecutors said.

All three were, or had been, students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev, 19, was also a student.

The Weekly Standard:

Here’s the Boston police department’s press release: “Please be advidsed that there is not threat to public safety. Three additional suspects have been taken into custody in connection to the attack on the Boston Marathon. Aside from the aforementioned, there is no additional info to release at this time. Additional details will be provided when they become available. No info available at this time relative to a press conference.”

UPDATE I: Two of the roommates were already in custody over immigration violations.