Posted on 07/06/2008 9:35:49 AM PDT by Brilliant
A car thief who broke into a van - parked in a residential Brooklyn, New York City neighborhood - discovered that the van was loaded with explosives.
Reports say the thief realized that he was driving a potential bomb, so he drove the van out of the residential neighborhood it was in to a remote waterfront area, then called the police. According to the New York Daily News, he told police that he thought the explosives may have been planted by terrorists to coincide with the Fourth of July celebrations.
However, police are investigating a possible connection between the van and a known bomb maker, Chinese National, Yung (Mark) Tang, 38, who has been behind bars for the last five months after being found with explosives in his vehicle while traveling from New York to Massachusetts.
The van was parked blocks from Tang's home when the thief took it on Thursday night, and the homemade bomb inside was similar to what Tang had been found with before. Styrofoam cups, 10-ounce water bottles, cans of WD-40 and five-gallon jugs filled with gasoline were found inside the red Ford Econoline.
Besides the recent arrest, in May Tang was charged with a 2002 explosion that resulted in one of his tenants losing a foot. Reports say he staged the explosion near a rental property where he was trying to evict the commercial tenant.
Tang's attorney told local reporter's that his client was not connected to this case, as he has been in jail since January.
Tang's estranged wife, who Federal prosecutors say he has threatened to kill, recently sold the house the couple lived in together, near where the van had reportedly been parked for a month.
Yes, it is disturbing that the van has been sitting their for 5 months, but at least they caught the perp (apparently) before he detonated the bomb. I would like to know what the circumstances were that brought about his arrest, and why it was that they did not have him in jail to begin with. It seems that there were ample warnings about this guy before they arrested him.
I wonder if they’ll deport the Chinese national after he gets out of prison?
The van owner’s name reminds me of the joke:
The Chinese have a space program now. It’s not like the US program, because in the Chinese program TANG is one of the astronauts.
Probably not. They'll give him amnesty, free medical, welfare to get back on his feet, etc... You get the picture.
I hope they release the thief without charges. We need to encourage everyone to report suspicious objects that they find; and the next time a thief finds something suspicious, I don’t want him to have any hesitation in reporting it.
I guess there is honor in thievery.
Tell him that he gets a pass on this vehicle only.
Amazing, isn't it? He's a thief, but he did the right thing afterward. He could have just left it somewhere but he called the police and warned of the van's contents. He should get a pass on this one incident -- just this one...:-)
—more on the story—<it wasn’t a bomb—incendiary device would be more like it)—
bttt
I imagine the thief made the call anonymous, why risk jail time?
Sounds like he should be friend with Obama.
The story doesn’t say the thief was arrested. He parked the vehicle and made an anonymous call to the police.
Actually, I'm surprised that this wasn't in the story, but the intersection of 53 St and 2nd Ave is just a couple of short blocks from Lutheran Medical Center.
T”he story doesn’t say the thief was arrested. He parked the vehicle and made an anonymous call to the police.”
According to yesterday’s NY Post the thief called a cop he knew and reported it to him. The story went on to say that the thief would NOT be charged.
You need to back track... (this is what I get from the article)
Tang has been in jail since January.
In May while in jail, Tang was finally charged with setting the bomb that blew his neighbors foot off.
The van had been sitting for about 1 month in the spot in which it was stolen from.
Put police think Tang is connected to the van, because the “bomb” type is like what Tang likes to make and because it was sitting near Tang’s ex’s (now sold) home when it was ripped off by the car thief.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041280/posts
There were 3 vans full of incinderies. This van on the street. The one that he was arrested with. and another at his home.
Think this story needs wider play.
Muslim? China has disaffected muslims too. Uighrs or something like that.
Seems that the story I quoted above said something about one of them parked outside a mosque. Not real sure about that though.
I imagine it would be easy to prove it’s Tang’s, if it is. Even if the ownership of the van can’t be traced to him, I would imagine that there are fingerprints and traces of his DNA on the van.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.