On Monday, the FBI and federal prosecutors were still reviewing the case against Vladislav Miftakhov, the 19-year old Russian national who was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania and charged with “possessing a weapon of mass destruction,” according to the Associated Press.
Miftakhov remains incarcerated in Blair County Prison on several state felony and misdemeanor charges, unable to post the $500,000 bail. Federal charges had not been filed against Miftakhov as of Monday morning.
“Our office is reviewing the matter thoroughly and remains in close contact with federal, state, and local investigators,” David Hickton, the United States Attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Lieutenant Jeff Pratt, the public information officer for the Altoona Police Department, said Monday that agents of “the FBI out of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are all out with our detectives attempting to interview [Russian national WMD suspect Vladislav Miftakhov’s] friends and associates.”
When asked if the felony bomb-making charges filed Friday against Mr. Miftakhov represented a serious national security threat or were instead the isolated actions of a confused 19-year old, Pratt said “tinkering with explosives is not a normal human activity.”
FBI spokeswoman Kelly Kochamba told the Associated Press the FBI was “actively working alongside the Pennsylvania State Police and Altoona police.”
On Sunday night a woman who identified herself as Vladislav Miftakhov’s mother at a residence in San Carlos, California told NBC Bay Area television reporter Monte Francis that she planned on travelling to Pennsylvania to be with her son.
Breitbart News reported Saturday that, according to the San Carlos Patch, Miftakhov graduated from Carlmont High School in San Carlos in 2013.
If convicted of the felony charges, Miftakhov could face deportation.
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