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Man Charged With Possessing Explosive Materials

POSTED: 12:06 am EST January 31, 2008
UPDATED: 12:33 am EST January 31, 2008

A man already facing charges in a 2002 pipe bomb attack in New York was arrested in Connecticut after police found homemade explosives in his car, federal authorities said.

A Wallingford police officer on a routine patrol early Tuesday morning said he spotted Yung W. Tang napping in the parking lot of a KinderCare just off of Interstate 91. Authorities said Tang indicated he was driving from Boston to New York and had pulled off the highway to sleep.

Tang, 38, is a a citizen of China who lives in Greenwood Lake, N.Y.

When questioned by police, Tang showed officers a suspended license. Police said the marker plates on the car belonged to another vehicle, and he could not produce registration or insurance information.

Officers then searched his car, finding a black duffel bag containing two improvised explosive devices and two radio-controlled detonators, according to police. Police said officers also found large bundles of cash, a fake mustache, makeup, gum remover and bomb-making materials, including a digital time, caps and wires.

Tang was charged with transporting explosive materials without a license and possession of an improvised explosive device not registered to him in national records.

Federal authorities are investigating why Tang had the materials. Police searched his Brooklyn home on Tuesday. Authorities said they did not find anything new in the search.

A public defender representing him declined to comment.

In the 2002 case, a pipe bomb placed in Brooklyn next to the van of local businessman, Yisroel Halberstam, blew off part of his right leg. The 46-year-old Halberstam, who also goes by the first name Israel, had to have his right leg amputated below the knee.

The incident stemmed from a landlord-tenant dispute, according to detective Kevin Czartoryski, a police spokesman. It was not immediately clear which man was the landlord in the case. Phone messages were left with New York authorities.

Halberstam owned Audio House, an electronics store in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. He has had financial business problems, having been cited in several civil court judgments for failing to pay debts of nearly $45,000.

Yang was arrested after he allegedly admitted to the crime, according to the arrest records.

Yang was charged in December in the New York case with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, first-degree arson and criminal possession of a dangerous weapon. His bail was set at $50,000.

After his arrest in Connecticut, an investigation revealed that Tang allegedly possessed two improvised explosive devices, two radio-controlled initiators that could be used to remotely activate an IED, and two firearm silencers, police said.

Tang also had "multiple large bundles" of cash in his pockets, ranging from $700 to $880, and a pair of clear plastic gloves, authorities said. He also had a medicine bottle containing a black power substance that appeared to be gun powder and a knit hat that can cover an entire face, according to an affidavit.

The affidavit described other apparent bomb-making materials in the vehicle, including a cylindrical tube with threaded ends, and plastic foam coffee cups with a hard white substance inside.

An FBI agent who is the weapons of mass destruction coordinator for the New Haven division wrote in the affidavit that the devices "reflect a significant level of sophistication and experience with assembling and constructing bombs and explosive devices."

Wallingford police referred comment to federal authorities.

"We just think he got off the wrong exit and got picked up by the right police officer," said Lt. Marc Mikulski, who said the suspect was questioned by officer Brad Marshall.

Tang appeared in federal court in New Haven on Wednesday and was detained pending a hearing Feb. 5.

Both charges against Tang each carry up to 10 years in prison.

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