Three more suspects in Boston Marathon bombing to appear in court

Three new suspects have been implicated in the Boston Marathon bombings and were set to appear in a Boston courtroom Wednesday afternoon.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly disposing of a backpack and laptop computer connected to one of the alleged bombers after the attack on Apr. 15, which killed three people and injured more than 250.

Robel Phillipos is charged with making false statements to investigators. All three were to appear before a federal court judge at 3:30 pm.

Earlier in the day, Boston police announced that three additional suspects had been taken into custody in Marathon bombing case. Police said there is no additional threat to public safety and that they do not have additional information to release at this time.

Until now, police had identified only two suspects: Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed during an altercation with police on April 18, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. The younger Tsarnaev brother was transferred to a federal prison where he remains.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.

The Boston Globe quotes a source who says that those arrested were college friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. All three attended the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and are accused of helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after the bombing, a source tells the Globe.

The announcement comes after reports that a third person’s DNA was found on the material used to make at least one of two bombs that was detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The DNA was said to belong to a woman. Reports Tuesday said it was too soon to tell whether the additional DNA indicated that another person was involved.