Three additional suspects charged in Boston bombing case

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Three additional suspects were arrested and charged with destroying evidence and lying to the investigators in the Boston Marathon bombing case, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

The department said that Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both 19, were charged with "conspiracy to obstruct justice" by conspiring to destroy, conceal and cover up a laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks that allegedly belonged to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old suspect accused of conducting the bomb attack.

The two could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars if convicted.

The department added that Robel Phillipos, also 19, was charged with "willfully making materially false statements to federal law enforcement officials during a terrorism investigation." The charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars.

According to the affidavit with the complaint, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are both nationals of Kazakhstan who entered the United States on student visas and lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, while Phillipos is a U.S. citizen who lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Boston Police Department announced that three additional suspects were taken into custody for the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 200 others.

But the police provided no further details, only stressing that "there is no threat to the public safety."

The Boston Globe newspaper reported that the three were all college students connected to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Twin blasts occurred on April 15 near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, causing heavy casualties. The FBI identified two brothers, Dzhokhar and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as suspects in the case. Tamerlan died after a shootout with the police on April 19, while Dzhokhar was charged last week with using a weapon of mass destruction against persons and property.

At a White House news conference on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said that one of the dangers the country now faces comes from "self-radicalized individuals who are already here in the United States -- in some cases may not be part of any kind of network, but because of whatever warped, twisted ideas they may have, may decide to carry out an attack."

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