The Boston Herald Releases Figures on Just How Much Welfare the Tsarnaevs Received

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev seen in security camera footage before the bombings. (Photo: FBI)

The Boston Herald has released figures regarding how much in benefits the family of the Boston bombing suspects apparently received while on welfare. According to the herald, over the course of 10 years the family received the equivalent of $100,000.

"The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012," the Herald's report says.

The state has turned over more then 500 documents on the assistance to the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee in Massachusetts. That panel is set to investigate the benefits.

“I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,” said state Rep. David Linsky, the committee’s chairman, told the Herald.

The revelation of welfare benefits comes on the heels of a radical UK Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary in January telling followers to take advantage of government-sponsored programs as a "jihad-seeker's allowance."

The idea, he explained, was to use the system as a means to demoralize "non-believers": While the "jihad seekers" collect free money, the others work hard with little to show for it.

“They give us the money — you work, give us the money!  Allahu akbar, we take the money," he said.

He later claimed it was a joke.

Read the full story from the Herald here.