Van left on Brooklyn street packed with hazardous material tied to blast suspect

BY SCOTT SHIFREL and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Saturday, July 5th 2008, 12:03 AM


Keivom/News
Van was parked for weeks, then thief broke in and called cops about find.

A van loaded with gasoline cans, wires and switches that prompted police to swarm a desolate Brooklyn street may belong to a suspect already in federal custody for alleged bomb-making, law enforcement sources said Friday.

The red Ford with mismatched license plates in Sunset Park contained explosives nearly identical to those previously used by Yung (Mark) Tang, who once tried to blow up a renter during a landlord-tenant dispute, sources said.

Investigators crawled over the van at 37th St. and Second Ave. Friday and discovered several 5-gallon containers and 12-ounce water bottles filled with a clear liquid that smelled like gasoline, according to a police source.

The jugs were connected with wires but no obvious detonator could be found, the source said.

"The bomb squad believes they seem similar, and it was found within a few blocks of [Tang's] house," a source said.

Investigators believe that the van had been parked at 53rd St. and Second Ave. for more than a month, and its dangerous cargo was discovered only after a car thief broke into the vehicle Thursday afternoon.

When the thief realized what was inside, he ditched it on a quiet stretch of 37th St. and called the police.

"He thought it might have been terrorism on the day before the Fourth of July, so he called the cops," said an NYPD source, adding it was unlikely the man would be charged in the van break-in.

Although the vehicle was found near where Tang, 38, had lived with his estranged wife, he has been held since May at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island after being caught with explosives in a vehicle while traveling from New York to Massachusetts.

Investigators think he may have been planning to threaten his wife with explosives.

He also faces 50 years for attempted murder, arson and other charges in state court in Brooklyn related to a 2002 bomb attack on a tenant.

The NYPD did not officially identify a suspect Friday, and Tang's lawyer denied his client was connected to the van.

"It may make for a very interesting news story," said George Farkas, "but as far as I know this has nothing to do with my client."

sshifrel@nydailynews.com

With Kamelia Angelova

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