Friend Who Helped Boston Bomber Get Rid of Evidence Deported to Kazakhstan

A friend of one of the Boston Marathon bombers has been deported to Kazakstan after serving time in federal prison.

Dias Muratovich Kadyrbayev, a 24-year-old Kazakh citizen, and two of bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s other close friends were arrested shortly after the April 2013 attack. Kadyrbayev was convicted in June 2015 for removing and disposing of evidence from the dorm room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding hundreds of others. Two police officers were also killed in the subsequent search for the brothers.

After the bombing, Kadyrbayev and another friend, Azamat Tazhayakov, got rid of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s computer and a backpack filled with fireworks missing their explosive powder, the Associated Press reported. A third friend, Robel Phillipos, lied to law enforcement officers during the federal investigation.

Kardyrbayev was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, ICE said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities took Kardyrbayev into custody on Aug. 29, according to ICE. He was escorted airport on Oct. 23 and released in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Oct. 24.

Tazhayako was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for conspiracy and obstruction of justice and was released in May 2016. Phillipos was sentenced to three years of prison and was released this February.

A judge sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death in June 2015.