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| Update: 2 with pipe bombs near Navy base charged |
| 2007-08-07 |
| Don't sound like fireworks to me... MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - Two men found with several pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base were charged Monday with possession of an explosive device, authorities said. A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see whether there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were driving through the area on Saturday to vacation at a North Carolina beach for Mohamed's birthday, their defense attorney said. "They admitted to having what they said were fireworks. Based on the officer's judgment at hand, based on what he had seen, we judged it to be other than fireworks," Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said. Mohamed, 24, said he made pipe bombs from items he bought at Wal-Mart, according to an affidavit with his arrest warrant. See! Wal-Mart! How American can you get! Apple pie! Ice cream! Joe Dimaggio! Defense attorney, Dennis Rhoad, said the men have a reason for having the devices and it would become clear in later court hearings. Sure. Everybody's got a good reason to have a coupla pipe bombs lying around... "The defendants deny the allegations the state and the sheriff have made against them," Rhoad said. Wayull, this heah could be mah lucky day. I hears these heah Arab fellers is all supposed ta be rich... Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson asked for high bond, which was set at $500,000 for Mohamed and $300,000 for Megahed, because she said the men were dangerous and a risk to flee. Mohamed is a native of Kuwait and Megahed is Egyptian, the sheriff said. Both are in the country legally. Before details about the pipe bombs were released, the executive director of a civil rights organization for Muslims in Tampa criticized the arrest as racial profiling, an accusation South Carolina police denied. "Definitely this is not related to terrorism," said Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. They're not in your database, Ahmed? "Had these been two good ol' boys from South Carolina driving through and speeding — and even if they did have some fireworks — nobody would have been arrested," Bedier said. Slur the rednecks, Ahmed. Good move with a couple of your boys in the local jail. Maybe the Council on Redneck-Islamic Relations might be giving you a jingle? The two men were stopped for speeding Saturday night on U.S. Highway 176 near Goose Creek, which is the site of the Naval Weapons Station and houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held. They were heading west, away from Goose Creek, when they were pulled over about seven miles from the sprawling Navy facility, police said. Officers became suspicious because the men quickly put away a laptop computer and couldn't immediately say what they were doing in the area or where they were going, DeWitt said. Well, let's see what's on this heah little bitty computer thang ya got heah, boys... A deputy then found what he thought were explosives in the 2000 Toyota Camry and called the bomb squad. Technicians confirmed the devices were pipe bombs and destroyed them, according to sworn statements in the arrest warrants. Authorities closed a mile-long stretch of the highway Saturday night and didn't reopen it until about 4 a.m. Sunday. University spokesman Ken Gullette said Mohamed is a civil engineering graduate student who came to the school in January. He earned his undergraduate degree in Cairo and was in the country on a student visa. Megahed, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is an undergraduate and has been at the university since 2004, but has not declared a major, Gullette said. Neither has ever been arrested by campus police or disciplined by the university, Gullette said. Both were enrolled in classes this summer. Gullette said the university is cooperating with authorities. If convicted of the felony charge, the men would face from two to 15 years in prison. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #15 Is the FBI still wearing blinders and claiming it is not terror related? Likely they're being quite careful, since hanging that appellation on the case this early would bring on all sorts of legal maneuvers. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-08-07 20:37 |
| #14 "Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa" Ah yes, I think I see the problem. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2007-08-07 18:37 |
| #13 Is the FBI still wearing blinders and claiming it is not terror related? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-08-07 17:03 |
| #12 Megahed - yet another connection to heavy metal. Conspiracy! |
| Posted by: Looney Left 2007-08-07 16:21 |
| #11 Hmmm, middle-eastern engineering students in the U.S. with explosives. Perfectly innocent, eh, Khalid Sheik Mohammed? |
| Posted by: Crurt Hapsburg9752 2007-08-07 16:04 |
| #10 OLD P, i would throw the pipe bombs in there with the southern style fishing since i have seem it with my own eyes but will never admit it in court bout as illegal as the telephning though |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-08-07 15:12 |
| #9 Hmm? Students at USF where our good friend Dr. Sami Amin Al-Arian taught computer science....Dum, da dum dum! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-08-07 15:10 |
| #8 #5 Maybe they wuz goin' fishin' ("Southern Style")? Posted by: OyVey1 2007-08-07 13:42 Hand crank telephone? Seine net? Frog gig? Burlap sacks? If none of the above were in their car, you can rule out "fishin' Southern style". Oh, and BTW, pipe bombs are NOT "fireworks", even if only packed with black powder and an accelerant. I'd find them guilty of gross stupidity, if nothing else. A lot depends on what they find on that laptop, which I'm sure is being perused quite extensively. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-08-07 14:49 |
| #7 For starters, any undergraduate who hasn't declared a major in three years should be deported to Brussels. Even a citizen. Enough of this foolishness. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-08-07 14:16 |
| #6 Amish working on their irrigation system. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-08-07 13:51 |
| #5 Maybe they wuz goin' fishin' ("Southern Style")? |
| Posted by: OyVey1 2007-08-07 13:42 |
| #4 Just the good ol' boys, Never meanin' no harm, Beats all you've ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born. Straight'nin' the curve, Flat'nin' the hills. Someday the moutain might get 'em, but the law never will. Makin' their way, The only way they know how, That's just a little bit more than the law will allow. Just good ol' boys, Wouldn't change if they could, Fightin' the system like a true modern day Robin Hood. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-08-07 13:21 |
| #3 first of all fireworks are legal in South Carolina so there goes your bullshit defense on that cause |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-08-07 13:13 |
| #2 Maybe if they were really local boys they could have gotten away with speeding, but Florida tags, where they were snagged, forget it. Anybody from my mother to Calypso Louie would have landed in the same place as these Muzzie boys. The local boys might well have gotten off on the pipe bomb charge too, unless Fish & Game warden got involved - it might mess up Bubba's 'All you can eat' catfish fry. But nobody's going to buy the 'fishing supplies' story from a Mohammed, unless he's fishing the Tigris. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-08-07 13:08 |
| #1 Ahmed and Yousef, just a couple of good ol' boys lookin' to have some fun with fireworks. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-08-07 12:32 |