Russia asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate Boston marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011, a US law enforcement source says.
On the day police officers arrested the second of two brothers suspected of carrying out the attack, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the source told Reuters that Russia had asked the US agency to intervene.
The FBI said on Friday that its interview of Tsarnaev, following a tip from a foreign government two years ago, and checks of travel records, internet activity and personal associations, “did not find any terrorism activity” at that time.
On Saturday the mother of the Tsarnaev brothers, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, told Russian state television that the pair were being monitored by the FBI, and that she thought they had been framed.
“He (Tamerlan) was controlled by the FBI, like, for three to five years,” she said. “They knew what my son was doing, they knew what sites on the internet he was going to.”
She suggested in the interview that the FBI had visited her home when she lived in the US, and had told her the older brother “was really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him.”
Her interview echoes comments from the boys’ father, Anzor, on Friday. He said: “I do not believe that my sons could have planned and organised the terrorist act, because they knew US national security services were keeping an eye on them.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody shortly before 8:45pm on Friday evening following what has been described by Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge in Boston, as a “truly intense” investigation.
“They got him. He’s in custody,” a state trooper told reporters as a crowd of onlookers applauded the authorities.
Two hours later Barack Obama appeared in the White House briefing room to say that there are still questions which remain unanswered (see video, below).
He said: “Obviously tonight there are still many unanswered questions. Among them: why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and country resort to such violence? How did they plan and carry out these attacks, and did they receive any help?”
“We will determine what happened. We will investigate any association that these terrorists may have had and will continue to do whatever we have to do to keep our people safe,” he added.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said that the Putin “expressed his condolence” and his “readiness to give all possible assistance in investigating Boston terrorist act.”
Tsarnaev was located in a boat in the backyard of a home in Watertown, just outside Boston.
Channel 4 News International Editor Lindsey Hilsum was close to the scene. She said: “When we arrived in the neighbourhood people told us that they heard gunfire – one man said he’d heard about 20 shots.
People told us that they heard gunfire – one man said he’d heard about 20 shots. Lindsey Hilsum
“People crowded at street corners – excited but also on tenterhooks, not knowing if this would be another violent scene or whether it would be possible to arrest the man.”
Read more from Lindsey: Cheers and singing as suspect is caught
Nineteen-year-old Tsarnaev was driven away by ambulance to a local hospital. His condition is said to be serious and he was described as being found “covered with blood”. His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was shot dead in a police shoot-out 24 hours earlier.
Local residents cheered police as they drove Tsarnev away (see video, below).
A Boston police spokesman said: “We’re so grateful to bring justice and closure to this case. We have a suspect in custody.
“But let’s not forget those people along the way.”
Watertown police said on Saturday afternoon that early indications were that the suspects acted alone.
CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.
— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013
Plump woman waving Stars and Stripes in #Watertown #Boston tells me she’s glad suspect captured alive: we want answers.
— Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) April 20, 2013
The hunt for the two men intensified in the early hours of Friday when police were called to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus.
An officer, named as 26-year-old Sean Collier from Somerville, Mass, was found with multiple gunshot wounds.
He was taken to the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The two brothers are believed to have hijacked a Mercedes before fleeing to the Watertown district following Monday’s attacks which killed three people and wounded 176 as explosions went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.