Page 3 - William Plotnikov News Today

everything. good evening. we begin with something new in the case of the boston bombings. abc news has learned investigators believe they have located a possible seed bed of extremism. a mosque overseas, and two men, radical militants, who may have inspired the older brother to pull off that attack. abcs chief investigative correspondent, brian ross, has the latest details and the new clues. >> reporter: u.s. authorities now believe a turning point for tamerlan tsarnaev came last yea...

sales and damage to infrastructure are taken into account. >> theres also news on the investigation. for that were joined from washington by abcs devin dwyer. good morning, devin. >> reporter: good morning, diana and john. authorities believe theyve now identified a turning point when tamerlan tsarnaev, an american resident, allegedly became radicalized. this russian mosque, a known gathering spot for extremists is the new focus of the bombing investigation. its there u.s. officials be...

New developments, because were so early in the investigation and the investigation is so well publicized. what i find most interesting about the developments youve covered thus far in the program is this possible connection that was revealed in this russian newspaper between william plotnikov, canadian-born boxer, converts to islam, joins the jihad in dagestan. seems like a pretty familiar story when you look at the story of tamerlan. whether they met or not, it will be very interesting to know ...

Pamela brown in massachusetts. while the investigation continues here in boston, around new england. federal investigators want to know if tamerlan tsaranev knew a man named william. we have more details. what do we know about this man? >> reporter: good morning. william plotnikov. a boxer turned jihadist. its a similar narrative if you like what is believed to have happened to the accused bomber. he was born in russia. moved to canada as a teenager with his family. and some time after that, his...

>> well, it certainly is a coincidence. i mean, the fact of the matter is that most plots dont have necessarily a foreign connection. but almost all plots do have some sort of group, some sort of local group that are involved in some way in radicalizing the individuals concerned, or in discussing with them perhaps their plans. even not getting directly involved. one cant rule out that tamerlan met people in dagestan, or even went to dagestan to meet people who in some way increased his radicaliz...

Only days before tamerlan tsaranev left russia and returned to the united states. so, investigators have said they are looking into whether there is any connection between these two men. the possibility that they met, and the possibility that william plotnikovs death somehow influenced or inspired or was a factor in tamerlan tsaranevs decision to depart russia and return to the united states. john? >> that timing is awfully coincidental, just days before. authorities also exploring if tamerlan h...

Possible sort of cause and effect there. now both men shared the fact that their families had moved them to north america. tamerlan to the united states, plotnikov had moved to canada with his parents. both of them were now following this sort of radical branch of islam. the question is, did they share anything else more than that on the ground here? and thats something -- that is what the investigators are focusing on. there is another connection here, a potential connection with a possible rec...

Seems like every day on this case, new twists and turns. but just from where im looking at it, more and more focus back to dagestan, back to the six-month period that tamerlan tsarnaev spent over there where he now, according to some russian authorities, may have had direct contact with some militant jihadists. >> well, piers, i think we can expect that its going to be like this for some time, were going to continue to get these new developments, because were so early in the investigation and th...

>> they are still trying to make a link between the canadian boxer, william plotnikov. the reason they are looking at him. he was in russia in dagestan, the same time period when tamerlan tsavraev was making that visit in july of 2012. and he was a russian militant, and he was killed and just a couple days later, the older brother flew back from dagestan from russia to the united states, so investigators are looking to see whether there was any interaction between the two, whether its possible t...

More of that. richard barrett, the soufan, former director of mi6. thank you so much for being with us this morning. lets stick on the possible russian connection because there is this potential new development overnight that federal investigators want to explore. did the boston bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev ever know this man named william plotnikov. our nic robertson is live this morning in dagestan. nic, what do we know about this man? when he was in the region and where might that contac...