Three friends of Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are now in custody, two of them charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by destroying evidence and another charged with knowingly and willfully making false statements to investigators.
Authorities have charged Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both Kazakh nationals with conspiring to destroy evidence, but not lying to federal officers. Tsarnaev’s third friend, Robel Phillipos, arrested on Wednesday, has been charged with making false statements to officials in a terrorism investigation.
Authorities say, the 19-year-olds disposed of materials, including a backpack filled with fireworks, a container of vaseline and a lap top, to assist Tsarnaev in covering his tracks.
The Kazakh nationals could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, if convicted. Phillipos, an American, faces up to eight years behind bars as well as a fine of $250,000.
All three have waived their bail hearings and have agreed to remain in jail, according to news reports.
Earlier today, police first announced on the Boston police Website, three additional suspects had been arrested by federal authorities in connection with the Boston bombing attack, but had not identified the teens.
Police emphasized that there is no threat to public safety.
The three suspects are students believed to be connected to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving bomb suspect, at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev was a student, according to boston.com. It is alleged that the three students helped Tsarnaev after the bombing.
“Additional details will be provided when they become available,” said police in a statement. A press conference has not been scheduled.
Dzhokhar’s brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, also a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was killed in a fierce shootout with law enforcement on April 19th.
Relatives of Tamerlan will claim his body now that his wife Katherine Russell, has agreed to release it, an uncle said, it has been reported.
The April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, killed three people and wounded more than 250.
