FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev: The FBI apparently interviewed slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev two years ago at the behest of a foreign government, a law enforcement official said Friday. Later, his mother alleged the FBI was “controlling” him.
The official, who was not named, said the FBI shared the information with the foreign government, which was also not identified. The official did not say why the government wanted Tsarnaev, 26, was interviewed, according to The Associated Press.
His brother, 19-year-old Dzhokar Tsarnaev, was captured on Friday night after a massive police manhunt.
CBS News later reported that the FBI failed to find that Tsarnaev had any ties to extremist groups.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother of the two suspects, said her son became involved in “religious politics” in 2008 but he never mentioned anything about “jihad,” according to an interview with Russia Today.
“He was controlled by the FBI, like for three, five years,” she said in the interview. “They knew what my son was doing, they knew what actions and what sites on the Internet he was going [to], they used to come...and talk to me...they were telling me that he was really a serious leader and they were afraid of him.”
“How could this happen?...They were controlling every step of him, and they are telling today that this is a terrorist attack,” she continued.
Tsarnaeva later alleged that her sons were framed by the FBI, saying they were both innocent.
“They were talking to my son, and they called me officially and they told me that my son is an excellent boy and they have no problem with him,” she said. “At the same time, they were telling me that...he is getting information on really extremists...sites, so they were very, very afraid of him. So that’s why I think that this is a setup.”
