Mykyta Panasenko Arrested At New Jersey Train Station With 2 Explosives, 8 Days Before Boston Bombings
A Jersey City, N.J. man was arrested at a Hoboken train station carrying two homemade explosives, The Jersey Journal reports, eight days before two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
27-year-old Mykyta Panasenko was arrested on April 7th aboard a NJ Transit train bound for Suffern, New York. He was carrying two improvised explosive devices, according to police.
Jersey City Police Deputy Chief Peter Nalbach said Thursday that authorities also found material at Panasenko's home "that may have been used to make an explosive device."
Panasenko is also charged with "recklessly creating widespread risk of injury or damage to a building which normally contains 25 or more persons by constructing the explosive devices," the Journal reports.
According to Panasenko's Facebook page, he lived in Jersey City but is originally from Kiev, Ukraine.
And according to his Linkedin page, Panasenko attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick and worked as a mathematician at High 5 Games, a company that makes casino games.
Police did not publicly report Panasenko's arrest. The Journal learned of it on Wednesday, when he appeared in court to hear charges.
News of the arrest comes after revelations that the Tsarnaev brothers, the two suspects in the Boston bombings, had plans to set off bombs in Manhattan.
UPDATE: Jersey City cops now say, according to a press release, that “There is no indication at this point of the investigation that [Panasenko] intended to detonate a device in his building or on the transit system.”
Panasenko also tells the Daily News that that explosives were in fact fireworks, not bombs. “They were fireworks,” he said, adding, “Obviously, it was a bad idea.”
Panasenko was released on his own recognizance, The Daily News reports, after investigators searched his home and found material to make explosives, but found no completed devices.
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