Feds say bombing suspect had van filled with explosives
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A New York man arrested in January with homemade explosives and a disguise in his car also had a van packed with explosives in New York near the home of his estranged wife, according to pretrial court documents filed Thursday.
Prosecutors said they discovered the explosives-laden van in Brooklyn three days after Yung W. Tang was arrested in Connecticut on weapons charges. The van had improvised explosive devices connected to remote detonators, a pistol and matching silencer and multiple containers with explosive materials, prosecutors said.
Tang, 38, was already charged with a 2002 pipe bomb attack in New York that blew off part of a man's leg. The bombing victim was Tang's commercial tenant and was behind in his rent, attorneys said.
Tang was arrested Jan. 30 in Connecticut after he was found asleep in a car in a preschool parking lot in Wallingford. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The explosives found in the van, if detonated, would have caused a large fireball that would have incinerated the vehicle and caused extensive damage in the area, authorities said.
Tang's wife had accused him of assaulting her and threatening to throw her overboard during a family cruise, and the location of the van makes it likely that he had a plan to kill or intimidate her, prosecutors said.
"Stated simply, the status of the defendant's relationship with his wife, including the divorce, the claims to the marital property and the defendant's being restrained from proximity to his wife and children, all provide a motive for the defendant to have loaded a van with a highly dangerous and destructive mix of prohibited explosives, and parked it in close proximity to where his wife lives -- and where she could most easily be found and abducted inside the van; and the prior, alleged threats and assaults show that the defendant was quite capable of seeking to inflict such harm upon his wife," prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Tang has not been charged in connection with the explosives in the van, but prosecutors say he could face new charges if a plea agreement is not reached related to the original Connecticut charges.
A telephone message was left late Thursday for Tang's federal public defender in Connecticut, Sarah Merriam.
Yang's attorney in the New York case, George Farkas, denied that Tang had any plan to harm his wife, saying he owned the property where the van was parked.
"To draw this inference now is unfair and it probably emanates from the wife who has been known to exaggerate and lie," Farkas said.
Laurence Olive, who represents Tang's wife in a pending divorce, said his client was worried about her security and checked with authorities on her husband's whereabouts after his arrest in Connecticut.
Tang denies the bombing charges, which are based on a claim by Yang's wife, Farkas has said.
Tang, a citizen of China who lives in Greenwood Lake, N.Y., was charged in Connecticut with four counts of possession of a firearm, specifically two improvised explosive devices and two silencers, and one count of transporting explosive materials without a license.
Tang indicated he was driving from Boston to New York and had pulled off the highway to sleep in the parking lot. A search revealed a black duffel bag containing what appeared to be the components of a pipe bomb; another bag containing a fake mustache, makeup, and gum remover; a digital timer and a bag containing wires and caps, authorities said.
Tang also possessed two improvised explosive devices, two radio-controlled initiators that could be used to remotely activate a bomb, two firearm silencers, "multiple large bundles" of cash in his pockets, ranging from $700 to $880, a pair of clear plastic gloves, a knit hat that can cover an entire face and what appeared to be gun powder, investigators said.
