Bomb threat suspect caught in Streamwood

A man who authorities say threatened to blow up a mall in Davenport, Iowa, was arrested outside a Streamwood business Friday.

Adylbek Kozubaev, 22, was taken into custody without incident about 10:30 a.m. at 412 E. North Ave. by members of the FBI, Cook County sheriff’s office and Streamwood Police Department.

A federal criminal complaint states Kozubaev contacted Northpark Mall on Monday to talk about possibly leasing stand-alone carts for the upcoming holiday season.

According to authorities, Kozubaev called back two days later, apparently upset over the lease price he had been quoted, and told a customer service representative, “You need to clear out the mall in 10 minutes or it is going to blow.”

Kozubaev’s permanent residence is unknown, but he has ties to Chicago and Janesville, Wis., according to the FBI.

It’s also unclear if Kozubaev was working at the Streamwood business, a trucking company, where he was arrested Friday.

Cook County sheriff’s officials said they were alerted Friday morning about Kozubaev possibly coming to Streamwood. Soon after he arrived in a dark blue Volkswagen Passat with Wisconsin license plates, he got into a semitrailer truck but was apprehended by authorities before he could leave.

Members of the sheriff’s office bomb squad searched both vehicles, but they found no evidence of explosives, according to Frank Bilecki, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

They also searched a residence in Chicago associated with Kozubaev — possibly a friend’s home — but that search also turned up negative, Bilecki said.

Kozubaev appeared in U.S. District Court in Chicago before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier where he was formally charged with a single felony count of making a bomb threat. He is due in court again Sept. 5.