Mykyta Panasenko Arrested At New Jersey Train Station With 2 Bombs, 8 Days Before Boston Bombings

[Tx4obama]

Source: HuffPo

A Jersey City, N.J. man was arrested at a Hoboken train station carrying two homemade bombs, 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.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/mykyta-panasenko-arrested_n_3158241.html

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Note to LBN Hosts: I've checked four other websites/articles and it appears the news broke today.

Edited to add...

-snip-

Although the arrest was made more than a week ago, it was not reported by authorities. The Jersey Journal learned about the incidents when Panasenko appeared in Central Judicial Processing court to hear the charges Wednesday.

-snip-

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/04/jersey_city_man_arrested_on_tr.html

[dhol82]

1. not sure where all this is going

saw the name and immediately thought it was ukrainian. i'm a ukie too so it was not a great leap. have no idea if this is a nutjob or just some ordinary guy with homemade bombs. jeeze. what is going on the northeast us of a??


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315007/Ukrainian-Rutgers-student-arrested-taking-IEDs-New-York-just-week-Boston-Marathon-bombing.html

[appal_jack]

4. Have any Ukranian groups allied with any Chechen separatists?

Have any Ukranian groups allied with any Chechen separatists? Not trying to lead the discussion, just genuinely curious. I confess to a pretty serious ignorance of the region as a whole. Would love to learn more, whether there is any connection between this (likely) Ukranian fellow and the Tsarnaevs or not.

-app

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I'm another one

I 'know' about the situation abroad but I don't understand the details and depth. For me? This came completely out of left field. Glad to know I'm not the only one just coming up to speed.

[dhol82]

10. Not any link that i am aware of

I do know that there is a strong right wing in Ukraine and there has been resurgence of 'Cossack Pride.' Don't think that has any bearing on Islamic terrorism. Chechnya is not that close - there's a bunch of Russia in between.

Ukies are, generally, either Eastern Rite Catholic or Russian Orthodox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Ukraine

[Posteritatis]

12. The name itself doesn't mean anything, really

There's no reason a person with a Ukrainian name can't have any of a variety of sympathies with one cause or another, since foreign populations aren't monolithic entities and names aren't restricted to specific groups.

[freshwest]

2. So a lot has been under watch for a while now. Ignorance is bliss for those not in LE. What a job.

[VWolf]

3. My daughter takes that train every day

[harmonicon]

5. Doesn't he have a second amendment right to keep and bear arms?

OMG!! The government is coming after your weapons!! Just look at this law-abiding bomb owner. He didn't hurt anyone with his bombs, and the government took them anyway.

[4bucksagallon]

7. According to the story..

His "bombs" contained Pyrodex which is not considered an explosive. Whether the bombs would have worked or not I am not sure. I have used Pyrodex in my black powder pistol and it works fine, however it is still not classified as an explosive.
http://www.chuckhawks.com/difference_black_powders.htm
"Pyrodex is not classified as an explosive as is black powder, and is sold at many chain stores due to this fact."

[treestar]

8. What has it got to do with Boston?

So they caught this one terrorist. Where was he going to plant his bombs?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. And he says they're fireworks

But the devices were fireworks — not bombs — Mykyta Panasenko of Jersey City told the Daily News on Thursday. Panasenko said he detonated them April 7 in the woods outside Suffern “for fun.”
...
Panasenko said he appeared in court Wednesday to hear the charges against him. Officials said he was released on his own recognizance and a search of his home found explosive components but no completed devices.

“There is no indication at this point of the investigation that he intended to detonate a device in his building or on the transit system,” Jersey City cops said in a press release.

Law enforcement learned about the explosives after a roommate saw the devices, “freaked out” and told one of Panasenko’s co-workers, the defendant said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nj-man-busted-carrying-bombs-aboard-train-authorities-article-1.1327864

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. Wait, what?

Did they catch him with the de vices, or did he detonate them in Suffern on April 7th?

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. He detonated them in Suffern; he was questioned the next day, and arrested a week later

"Law enforcement learned about the explosives after a roommate saw the devices, “freaked out” and told one of Panasenko’s co-workers, the defendant said."

They must have decided they were too dangerous, and especially too dangerous for him to take them on public transport. Since he was released on his own recognizance, they can't think he's much of a danger, now he's been told not to do it.

To clarify:

Contrary to some media reports, Panasenko was not arrested on the train, and no completed explosive devices were recovered on the train or in Panasenko's home, according to a news release from the Jersey City Police Department.

Officers did, however, recover components of an explosive device at his home, according to Gene Rubino, spokesman for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

He did not comment on what officials believe became of the devices Panasenko is alleged to have taken on the train.

Panasenko "did recklessly create a risk of widespread injury or damage to a building" by constructing the devices at his home, Rubino said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/26/justice/new-jersey-train-explosives/

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. Thanks for the update.

Hrm.

[Beacool]

15. Yep, he was arrested in my town.

Great, I go through that terminal every single day to get to my job.

Aside from the danger to people, the waiting room of the terminal is lovely and has a Tiffany stained glass ceiling. I can just imagine what an explosion would do to it. For many years the ceiling was covered in black paint (it was painted during WWII). It was renovated some years ago, but Sandy did a lot of damage and it's still not fully functional.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoboken_Terminal

[Tx4obama]

16. Wow! That station IS lovely. Thank you for sharing the photo :) n/t

[Beacool]

17. You're welcome.

I love that waiting room. It's not in the pic, but there's also a beautiful clock on one wall. When the sun shines through the stained glass it's just a stunning sight. They have used the room in movies, most recently in "Julie & Julia" with Meryl Streep.



This is how the station looked after Sandy.