Sources close to the FBI investigation claim that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev did not act alone and were part of a 12-man terror sleeper cell.
According to a source, the FBI was working furiously to track down the cell amid concerns that further attacks on American soil are being planned and carried out.
On Saturday afternoon, two 19-year-old men from Kazakhstan named by neighbors by their first names Azmat and Diaz and thought to be friends of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested – as it was revealed the pair drove around in a black BMW with vanity plates that read “Terorrista#1”.
Sources close to the FBI investigation claim that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev did not act alone and were part of a 12-man terror sleeper cell
“We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were highly sophisticated and not the kind of thing people learn from Google,” said the source to the UK’s Daily Mirror.
“They were too advanced. Someone gave the brothers the skills and it is now our job to find out just who they were. Agents think the sleeper cell has up to a dozen members and has been waiting several years for their day to come.”
However, the Boston Mayor Tom Menino says the briefings he has been privy to assure him that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing acted alone.
Tom Menino told ABC’s This Week that he agreed with the decision to lock down Boston all day Friday, based on what officials knew at the time.
He did admit though that a pipe bomb has been found at another location and that another person has been taken into custody, although at this time he would not elaborate.
Azmat and Diaz, who are said to be friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were taken into custody again on Saturday.
This time the two foreign nationals were arrested over alleged immigration violations in the Massachusetts town, New Bedford, where police say the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have once lived.
Two students, named by neighbors by their first names Azmat and Diaz, who own a BMW with the license plate “Terrorista #1” and who are said to be friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were taken into custody for the second time on Saturday.
This time the two foreign nationals thought to be from Kazakhstan were arrested on immigration violations in the Massachusetts town, New Bedford, where police say the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have once lived.
Azmat and Diaz drive a black BMW 330XI with Terrorista#1 personalized plate and a sticker on the back which reads: “F*** you, you f****** f****”.
They had not been seen since the bombings until Friday night when their ground floor apartment in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was raided by a dozen FBI agents at gunpoint.
One of their girlfriends was also arrested. All three are in their late teens or early 20s.
Dzhokar Tsarnaev had tweeted pictures of himself with Azmat and Diaz’s car on his account
The three were subsequently released on Friday night before Saturday’s arrest of Azmat and Diaz.
Their apartment was raised because police say the younger Boston Marathon bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have lived at their address.
It also appeared that Dzhokhar Tweeted pictures of the BMW on his Twitter account J_tsar.
In one picture the car is next to another dark colored sports car with the caption: “Place your bets” as if they are about to race.
In another a group of boys stand by both vehicles and a youth can be seen making a gesture that looks like a gun towards the camera.
The three arrests took place at the Hidden Brook housing complex in New Bedford.
A neighbor claimed that Azmat and Diaz had said the BMW was stolen or that they claimed they had rented it and were not paying the rental fee.
Two students, named be neighbors by their first names Azmat and Diaz, arrested Friday night in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings drive a car with the licence plate “Terrorista #1”.
The two men reportedly drive a black BMW 330XI with the personalized plate and a sticker on the back which reads: “F*** you, you f****** f****”.
Azmat and Diaz are thought to be from Kazakhstan and had not been seen since the Boston Marathon bombings until last night when their ground floor apartment in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was raided by a dozen FBI agents at gunpoint.
One of their girlfriends was also arrested. All three are in their late teens or early 20s.
The three arrests in connection with Boston Marathon bombings took place at the Hidden Brook housing complex in New Bedford
Their apartment was raised because police say the younger Boston Marathon bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, may have lived at their address.
It also appeared that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev posted pictures of the car on his Twitter account J_tsar.
In one picture the BMW is next to another dark colored sports car with the caption: “Place your bets” as if they are about to race.
In another a group of boys stand by both vehicles and a youth can be seen making a gesture that looks like a gun towards the camera.
The three arrests took place at the Hidden Brook housing complex in New Bedford.
One of their neighbors claimed that Azmat and Diaz had said the BMW was stolen or that they claimed they had rented it and were not paying the rental fee.
Inside the car was a receipt from a Ralph Lauren store, a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, a receipt from a shipping company, a prescription, lots of crushed water bottles and a number of parking tickets.
It is thought that Azmat and Diaz were students at the University of Massachusetts and had been living in the apartment for around a year.
Their neighbor said that they used to have parties until three or four in the morning with “drinking and dancing and the police would come”.
When the police raided the apartment last night there were armed officers on the tennis court out the back on a tennis court lying down with their guns pointed towards the apartment.
The FBI later brought a U-Haul truck to the rear of the apartment but did not take anything away.
They were led away with their hands in zip ties.
Two Russian speaking men in their early 20s later arrived at the apartment and told reporters they were journalists from the Boston Globe.
The so-called journalists then entered the apartment through an unlocked patio door.
