Sister of Boston bombing suspects, Ailina Tsarnaeva, charged over bomb threat

A SISTER of the Boston bombing suspects has been arrested in New York on suspicion of making a bomb threat against a woman who previously had a romantic relationship with her boyfriend.

Ailina Tsaaeva, who lives in North Bergen, New Jersey, made the threat against an upper Manhattan woman via telephone on Monday, police said. She tued herself in at a Manhattan police precinct, and police charged her with aggravated harassment.

Several media outlets reported Tsaaeva told the Harlem woman she had “people who can go over there and put a bomb on you”.

Officers gave Tsaaeva an appearance ticket and released her pending a September 30 court date.

A telephone number linked to Tsaaeva was disconnected. Her lawyer, George Gormley, said he had left his office and would speak on Thursday.

Under siege ... Dzhokhar Tsaaev and his brother Tamerlan were the subjects of an intense manhunt in Boston days after the deadly April 2013 marathon bombing. Source: AP

Tsaaeva has been required to check in with Massachusetts probation officers since prosecutors said she failed to cooperate with a 2010 counterfeiting investigation.

Prosecutors said Tsaaeva picked up someone who passed a counterfeit bill at a restaurant at a Boston mall and “lied about certain salient facts during the investigation.”

At a hearing last October, Gormley said Tsaaeva was pregnant with her second child and was unlikely to flee.

Bomb accused ... Tamerlan Tsaaev died after a gun battle with police. Picture: AP Photo/The Lowell Sun/Julia Malakie Source: AP

Tsaaeva once lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at an apartment linked to her brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsaaev, who were the subjects of an intense manhunt in the Boston area in the days after the deadly April 2013 marathon bombing.

Records show Tsaaeva now lives with a sister, Bella Tsaaeva.

Dzhokhar Tsaaev is charged with building and planting the two pressure cooker bombs that exploded near the marathon’s finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. He has pleaded not guilty.

Tamerlan Tsaaev died after a gun battle with police.