SC Saturday night bomb scare; Sunday developments

[Jolie Rouge]

Saturday night bomb scare; Sunday developments

It’s too early to tell what this is all about, but here’s a local report via PJM : http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/08/breaking_news_explosives_found.php

Goose Creek - Berkeley County police pulled over a vehicle in a routine traffic stop near Meyers Road and Highway 1-76 around 6 p.m. The vehicle with Florida tags was driven by two men of Middle Eastern descent. Inside police found explosive devices. Highway 1-76 near Goose Creek has since been shut down. In addition to the FBI (website) , authorities from Goose Creek, Berkeley County, and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are on scene. The Charleston County bomb squad has also been called. Officials on scene say that neighbors are in no immediate danger. They also report that they are unsure if a crime has been committed.

Suspects under arrest in Berkeley County explosives case
August 5, 2007

GOOSE CREEK (WIS) - Authorities demolished a suspicious item found in a car that led police to close a highway outside Charleston Saturday night.

WIS News 10 spoke with officials at the Berkeley County Detention Center who said 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed and 21-year-old Yousef Megahed, the occupants of the car, are still in police custody.

So far they have only been charged with possession of explosive devices, but the FBI is working to see if more crimes have been committed.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department tells WIS News 10 the two men are not US citizens.

Bomb squad technicians demolished an item found in the car at 2:45am Sunday. It made a loud bang, similar to a firecracker.

Authorities pulled over the car for speeding at around 6:00pm Saturday. Officers asked to search the vehicle, which WCBD reported to have Florida tags, and discovered the suspicious items located in the trunk.

Once federal agents were brought in and analyzed the situation, an FBI-controlled robot pulled a bag filled with the suspicious items from the vehicle.

Officials say the men did not show up on any terror suspect list, and authorities don't think they posed a threat.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6887434

Details on Materials Found in Trunk Unclear
Sunday August 05, 2007
Shantel Middleton

Goose Creek - Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car. The quantity of explosive making materials in that vehicle is unclear. The FBI reports that there is no known link to terrorism. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office believes that among materials in the car's trunk were a bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals, fuses, and igniters. The men 21-year-old Yousef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed were pulled over Saturday evening during a routine traffic stop near Myers Road and Highway 176. Few details about the suspects are known at this time. They are believed to be students at a Florida college. They are of Middle Eastern descent and are not US citizens. Neither man has been charged, but charges are expected Monday. A press conference will be held in Berkeley County on Monday morning. Possession of unlawful explosives is among the potential charges. Officials are not at this time releasing any additional information. The Berkeley County Sheriff's office may confirm what exactly was found in that trunk during Monday's press conference.

http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/0807/444994.html

Here’s a photo of the suspects. Say cheese:

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/goosecreek.jpg


John Little notes the odd handling of the incident to date.
http://www.blogsofwar.com/2007/08/04/breaking-bomb-scare-in-south-carolina/

Dan Riehl notes the shifting MSM stories.
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/08/two-middle-east.html

Update: Via commenter/blogger Pal2Pal, some interesting info about the area where the car was pulled over…


My husband spent the last three years of his Navy career stationed at the Naval Weapons Station, located in Goose Creek, South Carolina. He was the Dockmaster on the floating drydock, USS Alamogordo. The Gordo’s main purpose was to dock our nuclear submarines for repairs. The weapons station was often closed to civilian traffic as they moved nukes and ordinance to and from ships with Marine guards on orders to shoot to kill.

http://www.nwschs.navy.mil/directions.htm

Highway 176 leads to the base.


Another interesting detail about the base: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QQLCM81&show_article=1&cat=0


Authorities closed a highway outside Charleston for more than five hours Saturday night after police found explosives in the trunk of a car, a newspaper reported, citing an FBI agent. Julie Johnson, assistant special agent-in-charge for the FBI in Columbia, said there was “no immediate threat,” according to The (Charleston) Post and Courier.

Law enforcement officials closed the road about 7 p.m. after the traffic stop in Goose Creek, home to the Naval Weapons Station. The station houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.


Law enforcement in SC will hold a press conference tomorrow on the case.

[LuvBigRip]

2 charged in SC with incendiary device

By BRUCE SMITH
Associated Press Writer

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) -- Two young Middle Eastern men arrested near a Navy base after police found a suspicious item in their car were charged Monday with possession of an incendiary device, authorities said.

A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see if 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 being held Monday pending a bail hearing, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt 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," DeWitt said.

The sheriff refused to say what was found in the car but said some items were being analyzed by the FBI. Taiste would not give any details on what was in the vehicle.

Mohamed is a native of Kuwait and Megahed is Egyptian, the sheriff said. Both are in the country legally but it was not clear if they were U.S. citizens, DeWitt said.

The two men were stopped for speeding Saturday night near Goose Creek on U.S. Highway 176.

Goose Creek is the site of the Naval Weapons Station, which 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.

One item found in the car was destroyed by bomb technicians, making a loud bang when it was detonated.

Authorities closed a mile-long stretch of the highway Saturday night and didn't reopen it until about 4 a.m. Sunday.

Goose Creek, with a population of about 30,000, is about 20 miles north of Charleston.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EXPLOSIVE_ARREST?SITE=AZPHG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-08-06-14-08-30

[Jolie Rouge]

Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa

I wonder if they were in any of these classes ....

Florida Professor Charged With Operating Global Terror Organization
Thursday, February 20, 2003

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida professor and seven other men were charged Thursday with operating a global terrorist organization that the federal government says is responsible for the deaths of 100 people in and around Israel.

University of South Florida computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian is the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing the federal indictment.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a U.S. government-designated foreign terrorist organization committed to homicide bombings and violent jihad activities, Ashcroft said Thursday.

"Palestinian Islamic Jihad is one of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world," he said.

Earlier in the day, Al-Arian was shown in television images being led in handcuffs to FBI headquarters in Tampa.

"It's all about politics," the Kuwaiti-born professor told reporters as agents led him inside.

Al-Arian was placed on forced leave and banned from campus shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and his subsequent appearance on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor. He was questioned about links to known terrorists and about tapes from the late 1980s and early 1990s in which he said, "Death to Israel" in Arabic.

He and seven other men were charged Thursday in a 50-count indictment with operating a criminal racketeering enterprise since 1984 that supported Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They are also charged with conspiracy to kill and maim people abroad; conspiracy to provide material support to the group; extortion; perjury; mail and wire fraud; obstruction of justice; and attempt to procure citizenship or naturalization unlawfully to help terrorists.

All eight could get life in prison if convicted. "Our message to them and others like them is clear," Ashcroft said. "We make no distinction to those who carry out terror attacks and those who finance and manage [them]."

The indictment says the group's purpose is to destroy Israel and end all U.S. and Western influence in the region and that it rejected peaceful solutions to the Palestinian quest for a homeland in the Middle East and embraced "the Jihad solution and the martyrdom style as the only choice for liberation."

The group's manifesto calls the United States "the Great Satan America."

Among the 100 people allegedly killed by the terror group are two U.S. citizens: Alisa Flatow, 20, and Shoshana Ben-Yishai, 16.

Flatow, then a junior at Brandeis University, died in a 1995 bus bombing in the Gaza Strip. Her father, Stephen Flatow of West Orange, N.J., said Thursday he "thought this would never happen ... This demonstrates the old saw about the wheels of justice -- they grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine."

The killings included homicide bombings, car bombs and drive-by shootings, most recently a June 5, 2002, homicide attack in Haifa, Israel, that killed 20 and injured 50.

Those arrested allegedly set up a terrorist cell at USF. They are:

-- Al-Arian, the college professor and Kuwait native.

-- Sameeh Hammoudeh, 42, born in the West Bank, now a resident of Temple Terrace, Fla. He also is an instructor at the University of South Florida and administrator at the Islamic Academy of Florida.

-- Hatim Naji Fariz, 30, born in Puerto Rico and now living in Spring Hill, Fla. He is a manager at a medical clinic.

-- Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 41, a West Bank native now living in Tinley Park, Ill., and owner of a small business.

Four men who live abroad were also charged but have not yet been arrested. They are:

-- Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, 45, a Gaza Strip native and resident of Damascas, Syria. He is described as the worldwide leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and is a former USF instructor.

-- Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi, 50, originally from Egypt and now living in Oxfordshire, England. The indictment calls him the United Kingdom leader of the group.

-- Mohammed Tasir Hassan Al-Khatib, 46, originally from the Gaza Strip and now living in Beirut; described as the treasurer of the organization.

-- Abd Al Aziz Awda, 52, born in Israel and now imam of the Al Qassam Mosque in Gaza Strip. The indictment calls him the founder and "spiritual leader" of the group.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa said last year that Al-Arian was under federal investigation.

"This was disconcerting but not surprising," said USF spokesman Michael Reich. University President Judy Genshaft will meet with the school's lawyers Thursday.

"The fairest thing to do would be to allow him to take an unpaid leave of absence so he can defend himself in this criminal matter," said Al-Arian's civil attorney, Robert McKee. "Obviously if he's convicted of some offense, then his job goes away in the process. If he's cleared of these criminal charges then the cloud that's been following him and USF all these years will be lifted."

The university says Al-Arian's comments on the O'Reilly Factor hurt the school's fund-raising efforts and resulted in threats being made against the school. It also claims the professor raised money for terrorist groups, brought terrorists into the United States and founded organizations that support terrorism.

Al-Arian and his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprises, a now-defunct Islamic think tank at USF that was raided by the FBI in 1995. Al-Arian also founded the Islamic Concern Project Inc. in 1988.

"Everyone knows my husband is innocent, even those who accuse him of all these things for political reasons," Al-Arian's wife, Nahla, said as she left her home Thursday to attend her husband's court hearing. "I saw injustice happen to my brother, I see it now to my husband. I've been living it for years."

Al-Najjar spent more than 3 1/2 years in jail on secret evidence linking him to terrorists. He was released in 2000 but arrested again in November 2001 and deported last August.

Al-Arian argues that he has never advocated violence against others and that his words were a statement against Israeli occupation. He also has consistently denied any connection to terrorists.

"Not only have many of these media reports frequently misrepresented the facts, but they are to a large extent responsible for my current predicament," he wrote in August 2002 for the political newsletter Counterpunch.

"I have never once in my life advocated the killing of innocent civilians. I abhor terrorism at all levels, against all people. I condemn all violence against civilians - regardless of the faith of the perpetrators - whether they are in pizza parlors, bus stations or refugee camps."

Al-Arian says he was one of the first Muslim leaders to condemn the Sept. 11 attacks and call for justice. He said his mosque and the Islamic Community of Tampa Bay collected more than $10,000 for the victims' fund in New York, and he himself led a blood drive during which 75 local Muslims participated.

Al-Arian has lived in the United States since 1975. He had never been charged with a crime.

Last month, the USF faculty union filed a grievance on Al-Arian's behalf, saying that banning him from campus violated the union's contract, Al-Arian's right to academic freedom and its own policy of nondiscrimination.

Three days after his appearance on Fox News, Genshaft suspended Al-Arian with pay for what was described as a security issue.

"The issue before us is how much disruption the university must endure because of the manner in which a professor exercises his right to express political and social views that are outside the scope of his employment," Genshaft said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,79073,00.html


THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE MONEY TRAIL
Indictment Ties U.S. Professor To Terror Group
February 21, 2003
By ERIC LICHTBLAU WITH JUDITH MILLER

Federal prosecutors bring racketeering charges against Sami Al-Arian, suspended professor at Univ of South Florida, and seven other people, accusing them of financing and helping support suicide bombings in Israel; case is one of Justice Dept's longest-running and most controversial terrorism investigations; 50-count grand jury indictment relies heavily on expanded prosecutorial powers granted to department after Sept 11 attacks; indictment charges that Al-Arian was North American leader for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is linked to more than 100 killings in Israel, including deaths of two Americans; says he conducted wide-ranging conspiracy to funnel money, support and logistical advice to terrorists operating out of West Bank and Gaza Strip; suspicions of terrorist ties have swirled around Al-Arian for years because of his outspoken advocacy for Palestinian causes; prosecutors said to have recordings of him calling on Muslims to commit jihad; he and three other American residents are arrested; four others overseas are being sought

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20B17F639590C728EDDAB0894DB4044 82&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations %2fI%2fIslamic%20Jihad

[LuvBigRip]

Good question Jolie

[Jolie Rouge]

CAIR’s involvement hardly puts me at ease.... and they’re saying now that the explosives are 'merely fireworks'.

2 charged with felonies in explosives scare
By Noah Haglund and Andy Paras
August 6, 2007

photo by Alan Hawes
The Post and Courier

A bomb squad technician examines items removed from a four door sedan on Highway 176 in Goose Creek early Sunday morning. The FBI is on the scene investigating the suspicious car that was stopped by police Saturday night. A robot, center, removed several items including a backpack, a large gas can, and a red box from the car. The technician crawled on his stomach for a cautious up-close look at several items.

GOOSE CREEK — Two men pulled over Saturday in Goose Creek and detained for carrying explosives in the trunk of a car have been charged with possession of an incendiary device, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt announced today.

If convicted of the charges, Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, could face between 2 to 15 years in prison.

DeWitt said the men were pulled over Saturday night on U.S. Highway 176 while driving more than 60 mph in a 45-mph zone. When an officer approached the car, he saw one of them men fold a laptop computer, which the officer believed was suspicious, DeWitt said.

The officer asked them if he could search the car, which the men agreed to. When he asked if there was anything in the car he should know about, the men said there were fireworks in the trunk.

DeWitt declined to say this morning exactly what was found in the trunk. However, the FBI has already said the men are not suspected of orchestrating a terrorist plot.

At a 1:30 p.m. news conference today in Tampa, a spokesman for the University of South Florida where the men attend said Megahed is an undergraduate student and Mohamed is a civil engineering graduate student, the Tampa Tribune is reporting.

Mohamed is originally from Kuwait and completed his undergrad education in Cairo, according to the Tampa newspaper. He has been at USF since January and was registered for six hours during summer session, the spokesman told the paper.

Megahed, originally from Egpyt, has been enrolled at USF since 2004 and had not declared a major. He was registered for three hours this fall, according to the newspaper.

An Islamic community leader from Tampa, Fla., who’s been in touch with the families of the two detained college students, told The Post and Courier that Megahed and Mohamed are not troublemakers and that they a were simply on a weekend trip to North Carolina.

Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization for Muslims, said family members have told him they think the materials were leftover fireworks Megahed kept in his trunk since July 4. “Both of them are really naïve kids,” Bedier said.

He said Megahed is a permanent legal resident of the United States and Mohamed was the passenger. Mohamed’s legal status is not known. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions,” Bedier said.

A terrorism task force, meanwhile is reviewing the evidence, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko. “At this point, it is too early in the investigation to say there is any link to terrorism,” Kolko said.

News that explosives were found Saturday shocked residents in Goose Creek, home to the Naval Weapons Station, which houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/05/possible_bomb_scare_shuts_down_goose_creek_highway/

It'll be interesting to see what John Little, who knows the rocket angle, has to say about this : http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/08/south-carolina-.html


In the vehicle, investigators say they found potassium chlorate and sugar, which when combined with a catalyst create what has been dubbed "instant fire" releasing heat, flames and smoke in a spectacular fashion. As a result, they are used in making fireworks and as a fuel for model rockets.

In addition a can of gasoline, PVC pipe, four hobby store brand rocket launchers and hobby store brand fuses were found, investigators said. The four PVC pipes contained an unknown substance. Also taken into evidence was a laptop computer, a GPS unit and Trac cellular telephones. The laptop computer was sent to the FBI lab at Quantico for analysis.

That material is sometimes used by hobbyists to create rocket motors. The fuel mixture is often referred to as a “sugar rocket” or “candy rocket.” You can see typical sugar motor hobbyist equipment here. PVC is not generally good rocket tubing material but some hobbyists do use it. You can find videos, like this one, demonstrating similar rockets on YouTube. Many hobbyists also use laptops for model rocket design and to collect and manage data collected from flights. So, it is quite plausible that these guys are harmless hobbyists.

Given the fuel, electonics, and location it’s also possible that they had other motives. I think this probably explains the lack of communication from law enforcement. They’re probably working quite hard to sort this one out.

[Jolie Rouge]

2 charged with pipe bombs near Navy base
By BRUCE SMITH, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 44 minutes ago

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, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste, but no link had been found. 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 devices from items he bought at Wal-Mart, according to an affidavit with his arrest warrant.

Defense attorney Dennis Rhoad said the men have a reason for having the devices and it would become clear in later court hearings. "The defendants deny the allegations the state and the sheriff have made against them," Rhoad said.

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.

The executive director of a civil rights organization for Muslims in Tampa criticized the arrest as racial profiling, an accusation South Carolina police denied. It's not clear if the item found in the vehicle is actually a bomb, said Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "If it's clearly a pipe bomb that's a different story. Then there is cause for concern," said Bedier.

Megahed lives with his family and they voluntarily allowed the FBI to search their home in Tampa on Monday, Bedier said. "They're so confident that they don't have anything in their home that they gave the keys to some agents. The father voluntarily allowed them to go search the home unsupervised," Bedier said.

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.

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.

Goose Creek, with a population of about 30,000, is about 20 miles north of Charleston.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070807/ap_on_re_us/explosive_arrest;_ylt=AqupRN4o55CdWWx3R8AmKmys0NUE

Associated Press writers Katrina A. Goggins in Columbia and Mitch Stacy in Tampa contributed to this report.

[Jolie Rouge]

Mystery at Goose Creek:
Who are the accused Pipe Bomb Boys?

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/12/mystery-at-goose-creek-who-are-the-accused-pipe-bomb-boys/


Last weekend, I noted the arrest of Yousef Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, in the vicinity of the Naval Weapons Station, located in Goose Creek, South Carolina. National media scrutiny since the men were charged with possession of pipe bombs has been scant. Some MSM reports read like CAIR press releases. The AP dispatch carried in the Miami Herald concludes: “Some have suggested the men were targeted because of their ethnicity. Mohamed is a native of Kuwait and Megahed is Egyptian. Both are in the country legally. The arrests were ‘absolutely wrong,’ said Chaudhry Sadiq, director of the South Carolina chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”

Fortunately, local Florida media and bloggers have kept a close eye. And there have been some very newsworthy developments. The Tampa Tribune reports today that the FBI has raided a home in connection with the accused Pipe Bomb Boys: http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MBGLCH4095F.hmtl


The FBI searched a Temple Terrace home Saturday morning in connection with the two University of South Florida students jailed in South Carolina on charges of possessing a pipe bomb.

Authorities had a search warrant for 12402 Pampas Place, FBI special agent Dave Couvertier said. He would not say what authorities were looking for, what was removed or how the house is connected to the two students.

The house is owned by Noor and Ana Salhab, according to the Hillsborough County property appraiser’s Web site.

Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said late Saturday he and the family of one of the students, Youssef Megahed, were unaware of the search warrant.

Bedier spoke to Noor Salhab, who is a Realtor and owns the home. Salhab told Bedier the Pampas Place home has been for sale for a year. Bedier said Salhab said the house is rented to college students until it’s sold.

A friend of the other jailed student is a tenant of the house, Salhab told Bedier. Ahmed Mohamed was looking to move and was invited by the friend to move in. Salhab told Bedier he never met Mohamed.

Mohamed had moved some of his belongings to the house but never fully moved in or paid anything, Salhab told Bedier. Salhab told Bedier he didn’t know Mohamed had moved things in until the search warrant by the FBI.


Okay, now what the Tampa Tribune doesn’t tell you is that 12402 Pampas Place just happens to be the address of a home that had been rented previously to WISE (World and Islam Studies Enterprise), one of two groups founded by convicted jihad supporter Sami Al-Arian, who was a professor at University of South Florida–the same university that Megahed and Mohamed attend. Dan Riehl has much more.

Tampa’s Fox 13 shows investigators removing PVC piping from the home:
http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/pvc.jpg

Tipster Bill Warner http://www.wbipi.com/ has been investigating the Pampas Place home for years and writes that one of the names tied to the address is FBI Most Wanted terrorist Ramadan Shallah. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/tershallah.htm

And more:


Records show the owner of that house is Sameeh Hammoudeh, a co-defendant in the trial of Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian is the former USF professor who was acquitted on most charges of funding terror-related organizations. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Investigators also searched a car Saturday that records showed is registered to Noor Salhab’s son, Ghassan Salhab. Neighbors say he and two other men are the current residents of the house that was raided.

FOX 13 did find a connection between the men arrested in South Carolina, and the men who live in raided house. Back in July, Tampa police cited Mohamed and another man named Ahmad Ishtay for shooting squirrels in a park. Ishtay confirmed to a FOX 13 reporter that he is one of Ghassan Salhab’s roommates. He said in published reports that Mohamed and Megahed, the arrested USF students, sometimes came over.


Shooting squirrels. Nice.


Early on, you’ll remember lots of downplaying of the contents of Megahed and Mohamed’s car trunk as “fireworks.” But note what Megahed’s family members themselves say about that: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/10/Hillsborough/Family_rallies_in_bom.shtml


Initial news reports said the men told deputies they had fireworks in the trunk. The Megahed family said they weren’t aware of that, and that the family did not have fireworks because of subdivision rules.

The FBI has declined to comment on the case. The agency won’t say when tests results of the material from the trunk will be released.


Curiouser and curiouser.


***


Bryan Preston and I are looking into a tip that adds a bit more info about Megahed and Mohamed. First, here’s a photo of the Megahed family carried in the St. Petersburg Times: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/10/Hillsborough/Family_rallies_in_bom.shtml

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/megahedfam.jpg

At social network Hi5, there’s a page for Yahia Megahed here.
http://www.hi5.com/friend/20035110--Yahia--Profile-html

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/megahedyahia.jpg

This appears to be the same Yahia Megahed, older brother of pipe bomb suspect Youssef, in the family photo. Yahia Megahed’s hometown is listed as Egypt. His number one interest is “ISLAM.” Among his Hi5 friends is an “Ahmed,” who appears to be the same Ahmed Mohamed charged in the Goose Creek explosives case.

If investigators aren’t already exploring this social network, I’m sure they will be.

----



now what the Tampa Tribune doesn’t tell you is that 12402 Pampas Place just happens to be the address of a home that had been rented previously to WISE (World and Islam Studies Enterprise), one of two groups founded by convicted jihad supporter Sami Al-Arian

Can anyone think of even one small reason that the Tampa Tribune thought this should not be included in the story?

:mad:



Initial news reports said the men told deputies they had fireworks in the trunk. The Megahed family said they weren’t aware of that, and that the family did not have fireworks because of subdivision rules.

Here’s a scenario:

I know from experience that the best place to buy fireworks if your state outlaws them is South Carolina’s tourist attraction, known as South of the Border. If, as the two suspects claim, they did have fireworks, they could have easily bought them in South Carolina.

And if, as their parents said, when confronted with this claim, “they weren’t aware of that,” they easily could have purchased them somewhere in SC. And if it turns out they did have fireworks in their trunk which they could have purchased while on their road trip, that would explain why the family was unaware of them.

On the more speculative side, I wonder if they didn’t just have “pipe bombs” or “fireworks.” Instead, what if they had both?

What if they bought fireworks for the purpose of making pipe bombs by using the gun powers (explosives) contained in the fireworks.

This also would explain the claims by the two that they had fireworks. And if they did have fireworks, what was the special occasion?

It’s common knowledge that the material used to make a pipe bomb can be purchased, without suspicion, at any hardware store for a few bucks. What’s harder to purchase without raising suspicions in a 9-11 world is explosive materials. Especially if you are of middle eastern dissent. This is a fact.

What doesn’t raise suspicions is if you load up on fireworks which contains gunpowder, and which in turn can be used in constructing a pipe bomb.

So what if the two suspects did have pipe bombs, did have fireworks, and did have ill intent?

[Jolie Rouge]

Florida students face explosives indictment
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida were indicted Friday on charges of carrying explosive materials across states lines and one was accused of teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.

He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, S.C., where they have been held on state charges.

The two men were stopped with pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base in South Carolina where enemy combatants have been held. They were held on state charges while the FBI continued to investigate whether there was a terrorism link.

Mohamed was charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, which is a terrorism-related statute, a Justice Department official said. The crime carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

He and Megahed both face with charges of transporting explosives in interstate commerce without permits, which carries a 10-year prison penalty. Their defense attorney, Andy Savage, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The indictment was handed up in Tampa, Fla.

In South Carolina, where Mohamed and Megahed have been held in the Berkeley County jail, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd praised state and federal authorities for cooperating in the four-week investigation that initially did not look like a terrorism case.

"The arresting deputy's vigilance and the immediate response of our local investigators and prosecutors are highly commendable," Lloyd said in a statement.

Since the Aug. 4 arrest, authorities sought to determine whether Mohamed and Megahed were fledgling terrorists or merely college students headed to the beach with devices made from fireworks they bought at Wal-Mart in their car, as they claimed. The local sheriff in South Carolina said the explosives were "other than fireworks."

The charges follow several searches in Tampa, including of a storage facility and a park where the explosives might have been tested, authorities said.

Both Mohamed and Megahed are in the county legally on student visas, officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070831/ap_on_go_ot/explosives_arrest_terrorism_5;_ylt=Asha2H_0IQk0vIo lQ5uMqiAE1vAI

[Jolie Rouge]

August 31, 2007
Orlando, Florida

Contact person: SA Sara Oates (813)253-1000 sara.oates@ic.fbi.gov


TWO MEN INDICTED IN FLORIDA ON EXPLOSIVES CHARGES

WASHINGTON - Two University of South Florida (USF) students have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, for transporting explosives materials without permits, the Department of Justice announced today.

The two-count indictment unsealed today charges Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed, both Egyptian nationals, with transporting explosives in interstate commerce without permits. The indictment alleges that the two men, "not being licensees" under federal law, "did knowingly transport and cause to be transported in interstate commerce explosive materials" on or about Aug. 4, 2007 in the Middle District of Florida and elsewhere.

Mohamed was also charged with distributing information about building and using an explosive device. The indictment alleges that Mohamed taught and demonstrated the making and use of an explosive and destructive device, with the intent that such information be used for, and in the furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a federal crime of violence.

Mohamed, a civil engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at USF, and Megahed, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding and subsequently arrested on Aug. 4, 2007 in Goose Creek, S.C. by a South Carolina Berkeley County Sheriff's deputy. Both Mohamed and Megahed were charged with possession of an explosive device, in violation of South Carolina law. Bond was set for Mohamed in the amount of $500,000 and for Megahead in the amount of $300,000. Both men are currently being held in Berkeley County jail.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The charge of distributing information about explosive devices carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and the charge of transporting explosive materials carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Reginald I. Lloyd, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department and the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office in South Carolina. "I am very grateful for the hard work and professionalism of our local law enforcement partners in this important investigation. The arresting deputy's vigilance and the immediate response of our local investigators and prosecutors are highly commendable."

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, with the assistance of the National Security Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in both Tampa and South Carolina, with the assistance of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.

http://tampa.fbi.gov/pressrel/2007/explosives083107.htm

[Jolie Rouge]

Goose Creek Indictments -- A Question

So by now you've heard the two young fellows arrested in South Carolina with a trunk full of explosives and a (tenuous) connection to Sami al-Arian have been indicted on terror-training and explosives-transport charges. Michelle has the blog-blitz on them and Dan Riehl has some interesting details about their former landlord.

I've just got a question, based on the indictment: why is there a forfeiture action being asserted along with the two criminal counts?


From their engagement in any or all of the violations alleged in Counts One and Two of this Indictment, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 842, defendants AHMED ABDELLATIF SHERIF MOHAMED and YOUSSEF SAMIR MEGAHED, shall forfeit to the United States, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 982(a)(2)(B), any and all of the defendants’ right, title, and interest in any property constituting, and derived from, any proceeds the defendants obtained directly or indirectly as a result of such violation.

While I would expect to see this action filed as a matter of course along with a drug arrest (for obvious reasons), why is it being filed in a terrorism case? Do the authorities suspect that they have somehow profited from their alleged crimes? Was someone paying them to drive the potassium chlorate from Florida to South Carolina?

This may be a just-in-case measure that's filed as a matter of course in the Middle District of Florida (given the high number of drug prosecutions in the region, I can see it being an office rule to append a forfeiture count). But maybe this hints at a wider conspiracy.

http://junkyardblog.net/archives/2007/08/goose-creek-ind.php



The pdf of the three-page indictment is here :
http://media.tbo.com/tbo/pdfs/083107/usfustudents.pdf

[Jolie Rouge]

Indicted USF Student has Terror Past in Egypt[/i]
by IPT - IPT News
August 31, 2007[/i]

Two Egyptian students enrolled at the University of South Florida have been indicted for carrying explosive materials across states lines. One of the defendants also is charged with teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.

According to officials familiar with the case, Mohamed has been arrested previously in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. He is said to have produced an Internet video showing how to build a remote-controlled car bomb.

Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, also an engineering student, were stopped for speeding Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, S.C., where they have been held on state charges. Police found pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base in South Carolina where enemy combatants have been held. They have been held in a South Carolina jail while the FBI continued to investigate whether there was a terrorism link.

The men reportedly made police officer suspicious during a traffic stop when one of them tried to quickly put away a laptop computer. The computer was seized.

Mohamed faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the count of demonstrating how to make and use an explosive device. He and Megahed both face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting explosives across state lines without permits.

Their defense attorney, Andy Savage, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

In South Carolina, where Mohamed and Megahed have been held in the Berkeley County jail, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd praised state and federal authorities for cooperating in the four-week investigation that initially did not look like a terrorism case. "The arresting deputy's vigilance and the immediate response of our local investigators and prosecutors are highly commendable," Lloyd said in a statement.

Since the Aug. 4 arrest, authorities sought to determine whether Mohamed and Megahed were fledgling terrorists or merely college students headed to the beach with devices made from fireworks they bought at Wal-Mart in their car, as they claimed. The local sheriff in South Carolina said the explosives were "other than fireworks."

The charges follow several searches in Tampa, including of a storage facility and a park where the explosives might have been tested, authorities said.

Both Mohamed and Megahed are in the country legally on student visas, officials said.

Mohamed had rented a room in a house in Temple Terrace, a suburb of Tampa, which was used as the office for the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), a think-tank founded by former USF Professor Sami Al-Arian. WISE rented the same home on Pampas Place during the early 1990s.

Al-Arian then lied to local code enforcement officials after neighbors complained about the traffic in and out of the house. It was against city codes to run a business in the residential neighborhood. Al-Arian denied the home was an office, city records show.

In 2006, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Evidence presented at his trial showed Al-Arian served on the PIJ governing board.

A grand jury in Tampa heard Wednesday from the home's owner, Noor Salhab, and Salhab's son. In addition, Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), testified under subpoena. He told reporters that he was asked questions similar to what he would get at a press conference.

Bedier has acted as a family spokesman for the Megahed family. Initially, he criticized the investigation for what he termed "the lack of evidence."

"They brought in the bomb squad and detonated the evidence they had. That was premature to charge somebody and rush to judgment without evidence."

In addition, he told the Tampa Tribune that the men were being scrutinized due to their ethnicity. "Obviously their heritage and background is playing a major role in blowing this out of proportion," Bedier said. "If these were some good old boys, I doubt this [story] would be played around the world."

http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/426

[Jolie Rouge]

Egyptian Officials To Meet With Florida Students While "Situation Worsens"

September 3, 2007 1:59 p.m. EST

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated Sunday that Egyptian officials are to meet with the two Egyptian students charged with transporting explosives in the United States. The students were arrested on August 4 in South Carolina. A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida has indicted them on charges of illegally transporting explosives over state lines.

"Officials from the Egyptian embassy in Washington will meet the two students at their place of detention on Wednesday," the ministry said Sunday.

"The Foreign Ministry will spare no efforts in defending the interests of Egyptians abroad as long as they respect the laws of the countries they are in."

Egypt's official news agency MENA reported Saturday that Washington denied Cairo's request to meet with the two men.

The two University of South Florida, Ahmed Abdel Latif Sherif and Youssef Samir Megahed were arrested after being stopped for speeding in Goose Creek, South Carolina and police say they found "pipe bombs" in their car.

Sherif is a graduate engineering student and teaching assistant at the University of South Florida in Tampa, while Megahed is a civil engineering student.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit met Sunday with Ahmed's father, the ministry added.

Megahed's father, who lives in the U.S., said Saturday he and his son have cooperated with federal investigators, but the situation is worsening.

"They want us to say what they want to hear," the father told The Tampa Tribune Saturday. "They want the stories they have in mind. It's all in their imagination."

If they are taken to trial and found guilty, the two men could face up to 20 years in prison on the charges that can be considered an act of terrorism.

"The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless -they are- proven guilty," a Justice Department official said Friday.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008396509


Over the long holiday weekend, you may have missed the Investigative Project’s report alleging that one of the suspect’s had a terror past in Egypt:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/426


Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.

According to officials familiar with the case, Mohamed has been arrested previously in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. He is said to have produced an Internet video showing how to build a remote-controlled car bomb.


You may recall that when the indictments came down last week, one federal law enforcement official told the press:


Agents think civil engineering student Ahmed Mohamed exchanged information over the Internet about how to miniaturize bombs, said a federal law enforcement official speaking anonymously because the investigation remains secret.

[Jolie Rouge]

A Family In Despair
Published: Sep 2, 2007

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - In a jail chapel, with two renderings of the Last Supper overhead, the family of a 21-year-old University of South Florida student gathered around him Saturday. His father did most of the talking, as they delivered the bad news. â– The accusations that he and a fellow student had a pipe bomb in the trunk of their Toyota Camry as they drove near a Naval weapons station had turned into a federal indictment. Their hopes that state charges, filed by South Carolina authorities, would be dropped after a hearing this month were dashed. Instead, the two now face the likelihood they'll be held in federal custody without bail, their attorneys said.

Youssef Megahed's reaction was shock, and then despair, his family said. Sitting in solitary confinement, he's terrified of the warnings FBI agents have given him and his family - that he'll be held interminably in a military prison like Guantanamo Bay.

Adding to their anxiety was a quote in the Charleston newspaper Saturday from the local sheriff, predicting Megahed and fellow student Ahmed Mohamed soon will be moved from this jail in Berkeley County to the brig on the nearby Naval complex. The Megaheds know the brig is used to hold prisoners the president has deemed "enemy combatants."

Worse for Megahed's father, Samir, was the moment he was leaving and saw Mohamed talking to his own attorney. Mohamed, teary, had also just heard about the indictment.

He hugged and kissed Samir and asked him to deliver a message to his own father in Egypt: "Tell my father I am not going to meet him in this life again."

Mohamed, 24, fears he will be imprisoned longer than his father will be alive, Samir said.

Samir stood with hands clasped, tears in his eyes, on Saturday as he related the story outside the Berkeley County Detention Center. His wife and three other children stood next to him, as they ducked out of a steady, gray rain and relived the miserable afternoon.

Mohamed, Samir said, was focused on the maximum 30 years that he faces if he's convicted of the federal charges that are connected to, but more serious than, Megahed's. Investigators say Mohamed tried to help terrorists by teaching and demonstrating how to use explosives. Authorities suspect the civil engineering student exchanged information over the Internet about how to miniaturize bombs.

That charge carries 20 years, in addition to the 10 years that both students face if convicted of transporting explosives. Federal authorities haven't revealed exactly what kind of explosives were in the trunk of the car after the two were stopped for speeding on Aug. 4; a sheriff's report described them as pipe bombs.

Federal investigators also haven't revealed what was on the laptop they took from the car, which belonged to Mohamed.

Preliminary Hearing Unlikely

The top prosecutor for the local circuit, Scarlett Wilson, told The Post and Courier of Charleston that she plans to drop the state charges and turn the case over to federal authorities. Megahed's attorney, Charleston lawyer Andy Savage, said nixing the state case would mean there will be no preliminary hearing, where prosecutors would have to share their evidence and be challenged by the defendants.

Facing only federal charges, they would go straight to a hearing this week in Charleston, where they would enter a plea, Savage said. "Now we no longer have the opportunity to test the evidence, to say what was this explosive. We know it's not traditional fireworks, but the question is: is that compound the equivalent of an M-80 or a sparkler, or something more egregious than that?" Savage said Saturday.

Also seized from the car were cell phones and GPS devices, which Megahed said the two were using to find cheap Murphy gas at the nearest Wal-Mart when they were pulled over. They were about seven miles from the Naval Weapons Station Charleston, which includes the brig.

The preliminary hearing would have been a chance for defense attorneys to press for what the cell phone and GPS showed, Savage said. "The cell phone will show who he was talking to or who they called or who called them. This is not believability or credibility through a witness," Savage said. "It is what it is."

Megahed's family was looking forward to the hearing, set for Sept. 21, as a time for a full and final airing of what was found in the car. "They believe the GPS will either confirm what Youssef has said to the authorities and said to [the family], or it won't," Savage said.

The family is from Egypt but has lived in Tampa for 10 years. Samir, 60, his wife Ahlam, 54, son Yahia, 24, daughter Mariam, 18, and son Yassien, 11, had driven to Berkeley County to visit Megahed in the jail Friday.

They have a close family, and Samir says he is worried about all of them.
But it was an upbeat meeting they had with Megahed on Friday, and they talked with Savage about how they thought the state's preliminary hearing would absolve their 21-year-old son.

They left him in an optimistic mood. That was before they heard of the indictment, just two hours later.

Father Alleges FBI Pressure

The visit Saturday, Savage said, "was awful." Megahed's mother tried to reassure him by putting her hand on his back and rubbing it, but the tenor of the meeting was dismal.

Samir questioned how federal authorities could press the charges when he says he and his son have been cooperative. When investigators asked Samir for access to the family home for a search, he handed them the house key. He has been interviewed by the FBI more than a dozen times, he says.

He also has been pressured by the FBI, as has Megahed, to give up information they say they don't have. "They want us to say what they want to hear," Samir said, throwing his hands up, as if to show they're empty. "They want the stories they have in mind. It's all in their imagination."

It's like, Samir said, investigators want "my signature on a white paper and they can fill it."

Agents also have called Samir to tell him his son is depressed, and that they are worried about him, Savage said. They called and told him that Friday, without mentioning the pending indictment.

FBI agents tell Megahed they'll keep him in jail a long time or deport him to Egypt or send him to Guantanamo Bay, Samir said. "They keep trying to push him to say things."

Samir has been in touch with the father of his son's co-defendant. After the arrest, Mohamed's father called Samir from his home in Egypt to exchange information, and the two realized they studied together at Cairo University in the early 1970s while earning their engineering degrees.

Samir said he had not been in touch with Mohamed's father in 30 years, and that their acquaintance is a coincidence. Since they've reconnected, Mohamed's father has depended on Samir as a connection to his own son as he waits for a resolution to the case.

Now Samir has to figure out how to relay what Mohamed told him in the jail.
"How can I tell a father, 'You are not going to see your son again'? It's like you sent your son to the war, and he dies there."

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBRKZY036F.html?imw=Y

*interesting way to close the article ... *

Read some of the comments here : http://www.tboforums.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/2289/

[Jolie Rouge]

Goose Creek case gets congressional scrutiny
Update 11:36am Eastern: Chertoff: “I will get back to you on that”[/b]
By Michelle Malkin
September 5, 2007 10:18 AM

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/09/05/goose-creek-case-gets-congressional-scrutiny/

11:57am Eastern. Both Chertoff and Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee want shamnesty resurrected. Good thing I haven’t had lunch yet.

11:30am Eastern. Here we go…Rep. Bilirakis brings up Goose Creek: “There are several questions that need to be answered to better understand the larger homeland security questions.”

1) To what extent is DHS working with DOJto determine terror links?

Chertoff answers: From the very moment something like this is detected, first priority…I can guarantee you from day of arrests…priority number one is to examine any linkages between those arrested and others who might pose a threat.

2) Does DHS have ability to monitor student visa holders to determine whether visas are simply being used to get into the country?

Chertoff: We do to a limited extent. We rely upon the schools…Most schools try to honor their obligation…some do not…

3) I need to know: How many foreign students have entered the US with student visas and not enrolled as required at their schools?

Chertoff: I will get back to you on that.

4) Screening past criminal histories. What criminal acts would preclude issuance of foreign student visas? I understand that this may apply to (Goose Creek) case.

Chertoff: Can’t give you comprehensive list. Obviously felones, some misdemeanors. Will get back to Bilirakis.

5) Expand upon info-sharing.

Chertoff: There is some, not perfect, flawless…we do have to sanction schools that don’t cooperate.

“I will get back to you on that.”

I will make sure to report Chertoff’s answer when and if he does.

Update 11:23am Eastern. Jane Harman gives Chertoff unsolicited career advice, telling him he shouldn’t move over the Attorney General’s office because “you’d be having to dig yourself out of a very deep hole.”

Update 11:13am Eastern. Norm Dicks presses Chertoff on tracking visa overstayers. Chertoff: “It’s not difficult to determine who’s overstayed. It’s finding them.” Well, duh. Same old, same old.

Update 10:54am Eastern. Pet peeve. ChairmanThompson just invited other House members to “axe” questions. “Axe.”

Update 10:50am Eastern. Peter King’s turn to question Chertoff. First topic is the Visa Waiver program. Chertoff acknowledges the blindingly obvious security flaws of the visa waiver program, which I spotlighted in Invasion and have reported on for years.

Update 10:40am Eastern. Chairman Thompson asks Chertoff whether he’ll be replacing Alberto Gonzales. Chertoff punts. Thompson follows up and asks whether he has done as Josh Bolten has done and asked leaders at DHS whether they’ll be staying on. Thompson presses Chertoff on inordinate number of vacancies at DHS. Thompson ends his questioning without bringing up the Goose Creek case publicly. Interesting. Guess whatever Chertoff told him privately satisfied him.

Here’s one of Chertoff’s powerpoint pages flashed during his opening statement. Feel free to make up your own Chertoff to-do list:

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/chertlist.jpg
http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/chertlist.jpg

Update 10:26am Eastern. Chertoff’s making his general overview statement on immigration enforcement. He tosses in a complaint pining for the failed shamnesty plan. “But,” he notes ruefully, “I’m sworn to enforce the law,” and says he’ll do his job. Boo-hoo.

***

DHS Secretary and lettuce-pickers’ spokesman Michael Chertoff is appearing right now before the House Committee on Homeland Security. (Hat tip: Audrey Hudson.) I’m watching it live online here. http://hsc.house.gov/

Chertoff will be complaining about having to answer to too many oversight hearings. Perhaps if the department were doing a better job, there would be fewer congressional inquiries about why they’re not doing their job. Just saying. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0907/090507cdam2.htm

More interestingly, Florida papers report that Chertoff may be asked about the Goose Creek case. The Dems want to play the racial profiling card. The Republicans want to focus on policy and find out more about the screening process of foreign student visa holders: http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB8JEM676F.html


The head of a U.S. House committee plans to press Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff today about the indictments of two University of South Florida students, one accused of trying to help terrorists.

Chertoff is scheduled to appear this morning before the Committee on Homeland Security, headed by Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat. So far, even Thompson has been kept in the dark about specifics, including what led a Tampa-based federal grand jury on Friday to accuse one of the men, Ahmed Mohamed, of trying to aid terrorists, his committee spokeswoman said Tuesday.

“He expects to be briefed, and he expects to ask some questions,” spokeswoman Dena Graziano said.

Before the 10 a.m. hearing - Holding the Department of Homeland Security Accountable for Security Gaps - Thompson will meet with Chertoff privately for a classified briefing. Thompson also may question Chertoff about the case during the open hearing, Graziano said…

Another member of the committee, Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor, also intends to question Chertoff about what may be larger homeland security implications of Friday’s indictments, said his spokesman, John Tomaszewski.

They include “the possible criminal background of one of the students [Mohamed] prior to entering the United States, the department’s ability to monitor the actions of foreign students once in the county, and whether there is proper coordination between all of the responsible federal agencies on cases of this nature,” Tomaszewski said.

Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said he could not comment about the questions being raised because the investigation is ongoing.

Both men are Egyptian citizens; Megahed a permanent, legal U.S. resident and Mohamed visiting on a student visa.

I’ll update with any newsworthy details.

[Jolie Rouge]

September 06, 2007
USF student suspects will be returned to Tampa

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Two University of South Florida students who are facing federal explosives charges after an arrest a month ago will be returned to Tampa, attorneys said after a sudden hearing today in federal court.

Attorneys for both men say their clients, Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, are pleased to be returning to Tampa, where they were living while attending USF. "They'll be happy to get back,'' said Lionel Lofton, attorney for Mohamed.

Neither Lofton nor Andy Savage, attorney for Megahed, knew when the men might be returned in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. However, in court Thursday, instead of the usual jailhouse uniforms, both men were wearing street clothes. Mohamed was wearing the clothes he was arrested in, Lofton said, a knee-length bathing suit and a dirty T-shirt. Megahed was wearing clothes that his attorney, Savage, said did not appear to be his and were mismatched.

The initial appearance hearing took about five minutes. Defense attorneys "waived identity," the only legal issue scheduled to be presented today. That means both defense attorneys agree that their clients are the people named in the indictment and it sets in motion the process to bring the two to Tampa.

The next court proceeding for the men likely will be a detention hearing that has been requested by the government, which wants to hold the men without bail. It will take place in Tampa, the attorneys said, but no time or date was set. The timeframe is dependent on when the men are transported by the U.S. Marshal's Service. For security reasons, they have not told the defense attorneys how or when they will be taken.

Also unclear was whether the two South Carolina attorneys would continue to represent the men once they returned to face court proceedings in Tampa. The lawyers said they planned to make at least an initial trip. "See you in Tampa,'' Lofton said to a reporter as he and Savage went in to meet with their clients.

Both attorneys met with their clients after the sudden hearing and both Mohamed and Megahed appeared to be in good spirits, Lofton said. Both attorneys are now asking for more specifics on the evidence against their clients.

Savage said "My suspicion is there's nothing. This is not a secret society we live in. I'm a little bit disturbed the government hasn't been more forthcoming."

Indeed, circumstances surrounding the hearing appeared somewhat mysterious. They learned about Thursday's hearing when someone from one of their offices was heading to the jail to speak with one of the men. The employee called ahead to check and learned the men were no longer at the Berkeley County Jail. And when a reporter arrived at the federal courthouse, a bailiff said there was no hearing going on and she would only be allowed in the clerk's office. The hearing for the two men was going on at that moment.

Although the attorneys had not been officially notified, the federal hearing means that state charges have been dropped, one attorney said.

Mohamed's father, Abellatif Mohamed, said in a phone interview from Cairo this afternoon that the family is relieved that Mohamed is being returned to Tampa.

"I am sure that my son is innocent, and this is the only thing I can tell you," Mohamed's father said.

The two men were arrested outside of Charleston Aug. 4 after a traffic stop. A deputy became suspicious and asked to search their car. Authorities later said they saw pipe bombs in the trunk. In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, local police said they also saw a box of bullets in the car.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2007/09/usf-student-sus.html

[Jolie Rouge]

September 14, 2007
Car's explosive contents revealed at hearing for USF students

TAMPA -- PVC pipe filled with homemade "low-grade explosive mixture'' and a videotape instruction for turning a remote-controlled toy car into a detonator were among the items found in the car driven by two University of South Florida students arrested in South Carolina and now facing federal explosives charges, according to a federal prosecutor.

A judge set bail at $200,000 for one of the defendants, Youssef Megahed, but the government immediately appealed, which means Megahed will remain in custody.

Earlier in the court hearing Friday, an assistant U.S attorney outlined the evidence confiscated from the car driven by Megahed and another suspended USF student -- describing a container and three pipes filled with a low-grade explosive mixture.

The list also included a videotape that instructs viewers on how to convert a toy electric car into a detonator. Defendant Ahmed Mohamed has admitted making the tape, and in it he says he intended the instruction "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle,'' said federal prosecutor Jay Hoffer.

Hoffer told a federal magistrate today that the government believed Youssef Megahed should be detained because he is a danger to the community and a flight risk. He itemized what South Carolina authorities found in the trunk of a car he and Mohamed were driving that concerned them.

Those items included: three pieces of PVC piping that were filled with a mixture of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and cat litter. Federal authorities called it a potassium nitrate low-grade explosive mixture, and said they also found more of that mixture in a separate container in the trunk.

Additionally they found an electric drill, a box of .22 caliber bullets, a five gallon container filled with gasoline and 23 feet of safety fuse.

FBI analysts said the explosive mixture met the definition for a low-grade explosive. Hoffer said many of the items had been purchased locally, in and around Tampa, by Mohamed.

They also found a laptop computer in the men's car. On the laptop they found a 12-minute video on which a man shows how to turn a radio-controlled toy car into a remote-controlled detonator, Hoffer said.

Mohamed admits that it is him in the video, although you cannot see his face, Hoffer said. In the video, Mohamed said that he was showing how to make such a device "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle,'' Hoffer said.

Mohamed also makes reference to a toy boat in the video.

The FBI seized a toy remote controlled boat in a box from Megahed's home.
Megahed also purchased a .22 caliber rifle in mid-July. The FBI found it in a storage shed, Hoffer said.

Hoffer also detailed for the judge why he believed Megahed is a flight risk.

FBI agents saw, but did not seize, two Egyptian passports that appeared to belong to Megahed. Hoffer sad they both had pictures of Megahed, but one had a different family name.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins asked why they didn't seize them, and Hoffer said the FBI made that decision because it was a consent search, and they didn't have a warrant.

He also said Megahed was denied naturalization on in March 2006, because he too frequently traveled back to Egypt. Between 1998 and 2003, he spent more than 1,600 days in Egypt, he said.

When authorities arrested him in South Carolina, he had a photocopy of an immigration green card, but no passport. Authorities said he also has traveled to Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Canada, and that his family has substantial business ties in Egypt.

On July 29th, the defendant and his brother went to Sears and got passport sized portraits made. Hoffer said the government saw no reason why they would have a need for these photos. If the defendant was able to return to Egypt while on bond, Hoffer said, the U.S. government would have a hard time getting him back to this country, because Egypt does not extradite its nationals. "It may be very hard, if not impossible, to extradite him back to the Middle District of Florida,'' he said.

Mohamed has waived his right to a detention hearing.

Mohamed's attorney, Lionel Lofton, said he didn't believe his client would be allowed bail, so he thought there was no point in having the hearing today for Mohamed. "He has absolutely no ties to the United States or to this community," Lofton said.

He also didn't think it was necessary to use the hearing to get more information about the evidence against his client. That's because he met with prosecutors on Thursday night to discuss the case.

He declined to talk about his meeting with prosecutors, saying that he has not been formally retained by the Egyptian embassy, which is helping Mohamed find legal representation. It's unclear whether he will be retained. He is preparing a budget for this case to present to embassy officials. He said the case would be "extremely expensive."

Lofton met with Mohamed on both Thursday and Friday at the Hillsborough County jail. Mohamed is doing as well as can be expected, Lofton said.

Mohamed had previously refused to wear a jail wristband, but Lofton said his client is now complying with jail rules. "It's a rule, it's a regulation of the jail," Lofton said. "I think it's important for him to comply with the rules of the local facility."

During an early afternoon interview, Lofton said he planned to meet with his client once more, then fly back to Charleston, S.C. in time for his son's high school football game.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2007/09/usf-student-won.html

[Jolie Rouge]

The Tampa Tribune discloses more eyebrow-raising details about the Goose Creek boys who said they were just on their way to the beach with harmless firecrackers (hat tip - William A.). I mentioned the do-it-yourself detonator video last week. The Tampa paper notes that it was posted to–where else?–YouTube: http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB8IODML6F.html

'Jihadi' Images, Detonator Video Found
Skip directly to the full story.
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 15, 2007

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TAMPA - A laptop computer deputies found when they pulled over two University of South Florida students in South Carolina contained a video made by one of the men showing how to use a toy to detonate a bomb remotely, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

On that video, the student, Ahmed Mohamed, said the detonator could "save one who wants to be a martyr for another day, another battle," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer said.

The prosecutor said that video was posted by Mohamed on YouTube, a popular Web site.

Also on the laptop were "jihadi" images and footage of rockets used by Hamas, Hoffer said.

Although a judge granted bail for the other student, Youssef Megahed, prosecutors immediately appealed, delaying his release until at least next week. Mohamed waived his right to a bail hearing.

Hoffer disclosed the computer evidence Friday as he laid out the prosecution's case that Megahed should be denied bail because he is a danger to the community and a flight risk.

U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins ruled Megahed could be released on $200,000 bail if he meets a number of strict conditions, including what amounts to house arrest. "I do agree he poses a danger, no question about that, based on what was found in the car," Jenkins said. She also said the government failed to demonstrate a specific danger to the community, as required by law.

Hoffer acknowledged under questioning from the judge that he had no specific evidence of Megahed's intentions. Hoffer said that under the current charge, Megahed likely faces less than three years in prison if convicted.

A defense attorney maintained his client was not dangerous and that he has strong ties to the community and no record of violence. The federal courtroom was packed with Megahed's family members and friends, and Jenkins said she had received numerous letters in Megahed's support.

Neither the defense nor the prosecution presented sworn testimony during the hearing.

Megahed's public defender, Adam Allen, said there was no evidence his client made or saw the video that prosecutors said Mohamed made.

Both defendants are Egyptian citizens. Megahed is a legal, permanent resident of the Unites States, and Mohamed is here on a student visa.

Hoffer said that when deputies in South Carolina pulled the pair over for speeding on Aug. 4, they saw Megahed, who was the passenger, trying to put away the laptop computer that belonged to Mohamed. When investigators analyzed the computer, they found that the last-viewed images showed Qassam rockets, which are used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Also on the computer were videos of discussions of martyrdom and videos showing the firing of M-16 rifles, Hoffer said.

'Explosive Mixture'
In the trunk, deputies found four small sections of PVC pipe, at least three of which were stuffed with a "potassium nitrate explosive mixture" of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and kitty litter, Hoffer said. He said the kitty litter served as a binder to keep the substance from coming out of the pipes, which were not capped.

Investigators also found a container of gasoline, 20 feet of safety fuse and an electric drill, which Hoffer said could be used to drill holes in the pipe so fuses could be attached.

"Obviously, that raised the hackles of law enforcement in South Carolina," Hoffer said. "That's why we're here."

Both men are charged with transporting explosives without a permit, relating to the stuffed PVC pipes deputies have described as pipe bombs. Hoffer conceded in court, however, that the devices, while explosive, were not pipe bombs and were not "destructive devices" under the law.

Allen maintained that the filled PVC pipes couldn't do much damage because there were no caps and no metallic material that could serve as shrapnel.

Mohamed also is charged with demonstrating how to make explosives with the intent of helping terrorists. That charge evidently refers to the video, which Hoffer said Mohamed admitted making in his home in July using a camcorder. Hoffer said Mohamed posted the video on YouTube under another name. It shows Mohamed from the chest down standing in front of a tabletop and taking apart a radio-controlled toy car and pulling a wire from the remote control.

Speaking later from Cairo, Mohamed's father, Abdel Latif Sherif, said his son is being framed.

"This was created and put on his computer to blame him," Sherif said. "I can take a computer and put anything on it. They are making this up to make him look bad."

Hoffer said that in the video, Mohamed makes a statement about the toy car being similar to a boat. The federal prosecutor noted that when investigators searched the Megahed home with the family's permission, they found a remote-controlled boat.

Megahed's South Carolina attorney has said the boat was a "therapeutic device" for to the defendant's 10-year-old brother, who has Down syndrome.

Allen argued that the judge could set conditions to ensure Megahed would not flee the district if released on bail. For example, the entire Megahed family agreed to surrender their passports and allow investigators to search their home at any time.

The judge also ordered that Megahed be outfitted with the most secure Global Positioning System monitoring device available to probation officials and that Megahed be permitted to leave his parents' house only to see his attorney or attend religious services.

After Jenkins ruled, prosecutors immediately filed an appeal, meaning Megahed may not be released until U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday decides the issue. That can't happen until at least sometime next week.

Ammunition, No Firearms
Under the passenger seat of the car in South Carolina, deputies found ammunition, said Hoffer, but no firearms.

Hoffer said investigators also searched a commercial storage facility. Inside they found a .22-caliber rifle that Megahed had purchased lawfully. Hoffer said Megahed recently tried to purchase a handgun.

Also in the storage facility were welding supplies and scuba diving equipment. Hoffer said Megahed has skill as a welder, so there could be a legitimate reason for those items.

The prosecutor said that when deputies questioned Megahed, he initially denied knowing about "these rockets or fireworks in the trunk." But when both defendants were put in the back seat of a patrol vehicle, their conversation in Arabic secretly was recorded, Hoffer said.

A translation summary of the recording shows Megahed asking about what happened to the explosives, Hoffer said, which the prosecutor said shows Megahed was aware of what was in the trunk. The car, Hoffer said, was registered to Megahed's brother.

During the hearing, Allen said the Megahed family was prepared to post $50,000 cash to secure the defendant's release. Hoffer, however, said the government had information that the family has extensive assets and that $50,000 would not be nearly enough to ensure that Megahed would not flee.

Allen said his client is three credits away from earning a bachelor's degree in engineering. Among the glowing letters submitted to the court on Megahed's behalf was one from a university professor, Allen said. Landlords described the Megaheds as an "on-time, responsible, polite, law-abiding family."

He said it wouldn't make sense for the defendant to flee the jurisdiction over a charge for which he faces, at most, 33 months in prison.

Hoffer argued that if Megahed flees to Egypt, it will be "very difficult, if not impossible" for the United States to have him extradited.

Hoffer said Megahed applied to become a citizen last year but was turned down by immigration officials because he had been out of the country for more than 1,600 days during a five-year period that ended in 2003. During that time, he made numerous trips to Egypt, many lasting more than six months, Hoffer said.

Hoffer said Megahed also traveled to Canada, Saudia Arabia and Nigeria, "which is also of interest to the United States."

But the judge seemed unimpressed with Megahed's travel, noting it took place when the defendant was 11 to 16 years old.

After the hearing, Megahed family members wouldn't discuss what was said, other than to say they were happy with Jenkins' ruling.

Smiling, his brother, Yahia, said, "It confirmed our feeling of the justice system."

[Jolie Rouge]

Case against pair shown
Prosecutors: USF students had explosive materials, instructions.
By ABBIE VANSICKLE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 15, 2007

The U.S. Attorney's Office opened up about what was found in the car of two USF students: pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup, kitty litter, bullets and fuses, a laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom, Hamas and Qassam rockets and video instructions for turning a child's toy into a detonator.

TAMPA - Pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup and kitty litter. Bullets and fuses. A laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom, Hamas and Qassam rockets. Video instructions for turning a child's toy into a detonator.

After weeks of silence, the U.S. Attorney's Office opened up about its case against two University of South Florida engineering students facing explosives charges, implying that Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed had something sinister in mind when they left Tampa in early August and headed north.

Despite the grim implications of what the government presented, prosecutors said they had no "hard, specific evidence" of a motive or answers for a judge's questions about what the men intended to do with the items, prompting U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins to set bail for one of the men, although he remains in custody pending appeal.

The question of intent has been the biggest puzzle since Aug. 4, when Megahed, 21, and Mohamed, 26, were pulled over for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., and arrested after a deputy became suspicious and searched the pair's car.

From the start, Megahed's family has said the young man went on a harmless road trip, the whims of college students on summer vacation. The family and supporters filled Courtroom 14B on Friday afternoon, and Megahed's siblings were beaming after the judge's ruling.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer laid out the government's case, saying they view the men as dangerous and at risk of fleeing to their home country of Egypt, a place that doesn't always return fugitives to the United States.

Here's what Hoffer said:

When federal agents searched the men's car, a Toyota Camry registered to Megahed's brother, Yahia Megahed, they found the stuffed pipes wrapped in plastic bags in the trunk alongside a 5-gallon container of gasoline.

Explosives experts categorized the items in the trunk as incomplete pipe bombs, each large enough to blow out windows in a room but not strong enough to destroy a house. Potassium nitrate is a low-grade explosive otherwise used as fertilizer. Kitty litter bound the ingredients while syrup could add fuel.

"I think you can safely say it's a bomb," said Edward Dreizin, a New Jersey Institute of Technology chemical engineering professor.

Agents also found a box of bullets underneath the front passenger seat, where Megahed sat. On a laptop hastily unplugged, agents discovered sites that concerned them, including searches of Qassam rockets, weapons developed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, often made with steel pipe, liquid sugar and potassium nitrate.

The men were taken into custody and separately questioned. Megahed said he knew nothing about the materials in the trunk, Hoffer said. But when both men were put in the back of a squad car, they spoke to each other in Arabic. In that conversation, which was secretly recorded, Megahed asked Mohamed what happened to the pipes, if they exploded.

As agents dug deeper into the men's background, they found troubling information, Hoffer said.

In July, Mohamed posted a video on YouTube that explained how to transform a toy remote controlled car into a detonator, Hoffer said. The 12-minute video is narrated by a man speaking Arabic with an Egyptian accent. It shows no face, only hands.

"Mohamed admitted he made and uploaded it," Hoffer said.

The video's narrator says it's meant "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another day in battle," Hoffer said. The narrator also mentions a previous example that used a remote controlled toy boat. Federal agents searched the New Tampa home of Megahed's family and found a remote controlled toy boat, Hoffer said.

The judge asked if there was a definite link between the two, and Hoffer said no.

The evidence against Mohamed wasn't the focus, though, because he waived his right to a bail hearing. His attorney, Lionel Lofton, was in Tampa on Friday, but said he didn't think a hearing would have been useful at this time.

"I did not feel he would be granted a bond," he said.

Prosecutors also questioned Megahed's interest in weapons. He recently purchased a .22-caliber rifle and had inquired about a Berreta handgun, Hoffer said. Agents found the rifle inside a storage shed, along with welding and scuba diving equipment.

Megahed had joined a shooting range.

"It certainly raised interesting questions when he's training ... he buys a firearm with a scope," Hoffer said.

Prosecutors said Megahed also had "multiple Egyptian passports" and went to Sears in late July to get more passport-sized photos. There were two passports for Megahed with two different names, Hoffer said.

But Assistant U.S. Public Defender Adam Allen said one of the passports had expired, and that Megahed had used another version of his family's name on the document.

Agents did not seize the passports when they searched the Megahed home, Hoffer said, and they feared, if released, Megahed could flee to Egypt, which does not always extradite fugitives back to the United States. Megahed's extensive travel, both to Egypt and to other countries, including Canada, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, also concerned prosecutors.

When Megahed was arrested, he carried only a California-issued identification card and a photocopy of an immigration green card, Hoffer said.

Allen asked the judge to consider that Megahed had no criminal record and could be closely watched by his family.

"I don't think the government's evidence against my client is overwhelming," he said. He called the evidence against Mohamed "pretty damning."

The judge found the evidence to be "strong" but not "overwhelming" enough to prove Megahed was a dangerous flight risk that must be jailed until trial. "I do agree that he poses danger," she said.

She ordered him to post $200,000 bail, to remain at his family's home, and to leave only for religious services and to meet with his attorneys. His family also was required to consent to a search at any time.

After the hearing, prosecutors immediately filed an appeal, which will likely be addressed next week, Allen said.

As they filed from the courtroom, Megahed's family smiled.

"I'm happy, I'm really happy," said his sister, Mariam Megahed, 18. She said prosecutors couldn't back up much of what they suggested, and the judge knew it.

"Maybe they don't have any evidence because she kept asking questions, questions and more questions," she said.

Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was quick to distinguish between Megahed and Mohamed.

"It's obvious there are two separate individuals with different charges and different allegations," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the two individuals end up having separate cases altogether."

He defended Megahed, saying it appeared he "just happened to be in the car." But he had harsher words for Mohamed.

If he could talk to Mohamed, Bedier said, "I'd say, 'Wake up!' "

He added, "Muslims don't get a second chance when they dabble with things like this. Not only will this have consequences on him, but it will have consequences on most of the Muslims in this country."

Staff writers Colleen Jenkins, S.I. Rosenbaum, Justin George and Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler and news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 813 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.





Found in the car

When a routine traffic stop led police to search a car driven by Youssef Megahed, here's what was found:

- Three pieces of PVC pipe cut into various sizes, 1 foot or less, filled with potassium nitrate (used in fertilizer) and Karo syrup. Cat litter was used to bind those ingredients.

- Safety fuse, 20 feet.

- Electric drill

- Bullets

- Gasoline, 5 gallon canister

- Laptop computer reflecting visits to the following Web sites: a video file that shows Qassam rockets firing, Hamas information, a discussion of martyrdom, M-16 rifle photos

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office

How much power?

Explosive experts interviewed by the Times say the loaded PVC tubes sound like incomplete pipe bombs, lacking only detonators. Each one, while not powerful enough to blow up a house, could blow out the windows in a room. However, without a detonator, the devices would simply have burned slowly. The chemical combination would not produce what people would typically think of as fireworks.

Sources: Edward Dreizin, New Jersey Institute of Technology chemical engineering professor; Vilem Petr, Colorado School of Mines explosive engineering professor; Van Romero, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology vice president for research



http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/15/Hillsborough/Case_against_pair_sho.shtml

[Jolie Rouge]

High-profile lawyer to defend USF student
One student pleads not guilty, but the other's hearing is delayed at the attorney's request.
By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
published October 4, 2007

TAMPA - One suspended University of South Florida student pleaded not guilty Wednesday to illegally transporting explosives, while a second made plans to hire a prominent Tampa lawyer.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo accepted the "notguilty" plea of Youssef Megahed, 21. He postponed a hearing for fellow student Ahmed Mohamed, 26, until Oct. 17, when he is expected to also plead not guilty. The delay came at the request of defense attorney John Fitzgibbons, who is finalizing arrangements to represent Mohamed.

Meanwhile, the strain of the case is weighing on Megahed's father, Samir Megahed, 60, who said he suffered a heart attack about 10 days ago. "I am under big stress," he said. "What can you say if your son is in jail and the evidence against him is nothing? What is the evidence?"

At a hearing in September, prosecutors did lay out some of the evidence, including that when they were arrested in South Carolina they had items experts categorized as low-grade pipe bombs, as well as fuses and a laptop in which Mohamed talks of turning a toy into a detonator.

Megahed wants his son's case separated from Mohamed's, because he said the charges against his son aren't as serious.

Adding to the Megahed family's woes is the death Monday of Samir Megahed's 68-year-old brother in Egypt. Samir Megahed said he can't be there because he's hoping his son will be released on bail Friday.

As a condition of Youssef Megahed's bail, his family had to give up its passports. A judge has said he could be released on $200,000 bail, but prosecutors objected. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday will listen to those objections during a 1:30 p.m. hearing Friday.

Meanwhile, Fitzgibbons, a high-profile Tampa lawyer, asked for more time to enter Mohamed's plea so he can finish arrangements with Egyptian Embassy officials hiring him to represent Mohamed.

Fitzgibbons, a former federal prosecutor, had talked often with reporters about the case before his involvement. But he was guarded as he spoke on the courthouse steps after Megahed's arraignment. "I have not had a chance to look at the evidence," he said. "There's always two sides to every story, and I've already seen a different side to the story than what's been presented. But that's why we have trials, and that's why we have juries to evaluate the evidence."

In previous interviews, Fitzgibbons has called the indictment of the pair bizarre. Like other lawyers who watched the case, he questioned that a terrorism statute was used in one charge against Mohamed, although the U.S. Attorney's Office says this isn't a terrorism case.

Other former federal prosecutors and lawyers familiar with federal court proceedings have said whoever represents the students can expect to spend a lot of money and time preparing for court. Some say that would be especially true for Mohamed. An Aug. 29 indictment handed up by a Tampa grand jury charges him with illegally transporting explosives and demonstrating how to make explosives.

Fitzgibbons declined to say how his perception of the charges has changed since meeting with Egyptian Embassy officials and Mohamed or explain why he decided to take the case.

Others have their own opinions about his involvement. "It's very important that the client, the defendant, has the best possible representation," said John Lauro, a former federal prosecutor. "Now he does."

Fitzgibbons' cases often draw national attention. Fitzgibbons helped Debra Lafave avoid jail time. She's the former Greco Middle School teacher who seduced a 14-year-old student. She received house arrest for a guilty plea.

He also represented Lawrence Storer, a Thai restaurant owner accused of hitting and killing Shantavious Wilson, 24, with his Ford Explorer after Wilson robbed him at gunpoint at his downtown Tampa restaurant. A jury found Storer not guilty of manslaughter.

And he's representing former American Idol finalist Jessica Sierra, who is set to go to trial Monday on a felony battery charge. She's accused of throwing a cocktail glass at a patronat the Hyde Park Cafe in April.

Tampa attorney Eddie Suarez said Fitzgibbons knows how to handle emotional issues in court. "On serious matters like this particularly, where there is so much emotion that the public has on suggestions of terrorism, I think it's important that good lawyers are involved," Suarez said.

Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wondered if Fitzgibbons' involvement signaled a possible plea deal for Mohamed. "Usually if a person wants to cut a deal, Fitzgibbons is the man for it," Bedier said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer said in court that the evidence against the pair was not complex. Pizzo set a tentative trial date as early as Dec. 3. But Fitzgibbons said that's unlikely. He anticipates it taking longer to review the evidence and contact experts to testify.

Both men sat in court Wednesday, shackled at the feet and separated by their attorneys. They wore orange jumpsuits like most county jail defendants, but the beards they both have worn since their arrests were gone. "I wouldn't read anything into that," Fitzgibbons said.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/04/Hillsborough/High_profile_lawyer_t.shtml


The Egyptian govterment is paying for Fitzgibbons? ( "Egyptian Embassy officials hiring him to represent Mohamed." )

[Jolie Rouge]

Curiouser and curiouser. As long as the Goose Creek Two and their families arouse suspicion and the mystery unfolds, I’ll continue to cover them. The latest development in the case involve suspect Yousef Megahed and his brother, Yahia.

Megahed’s bond was delayed late last night over after the federal judge in the trial heard new evidence involving Megahed’s alleged research into high-powered rifles: http://www.wcbd.com/midatlantic/cbd/news.apx.-content-articles-CBD-2007-10-05-0038.html


A federal judge in Tampa on Friday, heard new evidence against Megahed that, in addition to the video includes research allegedly done by Megahed on high powered rifles. Prosecutors say Goose Creek police say they found the information on Megahed at the time he and fellow University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed were arrested in August. Evidence also includes a stop the two made at an Ocala Wal-Mart on their way to South Carolina and a weapon prosecutors say Megahed stored at a rented storage unit.

Fireworks. Just fireworks. Just two students on a leisurely drive to the beach. That’s all. Nothing to see here. Move along…



Separately, local Florida outlets are reporting on a strange video of Megahed’s brother, Yahia. Via Fox 13 News in Tampa: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4557891&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1


An odd video raises new questions about the USF students who caused a national security scare. Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed are already charged with driving explosives across state lines. Now prosecutors say Megahed’s brother tried to send a sinister code through a jail-house camera.

Tampa Bay 10 also has the story, but dismisses the video: http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=64775


The federal government says a tape of Yousef Megahed’s brother Yahia shows him using secret code through facial movements and then sign language to communicate with Megahed. The government told a federal judge, that’s why Megahed is a danger to the community.

And when the government first played that tape of what it said was Megahed’s brother sending secret signals to him when he was talking to him while he was in jail it looked as if it had a real smoking gun. Unfortunately for the government at the time the tape was made, Megahed was in his cell and couldn’t see it and Megahed’s brother says he was just seeing himself on camera and making faces because he was bored.

Adam Allen, Megahead’s attorney, says he thought it was rather funny and comical that the government would make such assumptions of a 24-year-old. Although Megahed’s attorney wouldn’t go as far as saying the government tape was embarrassing, he can’t understand how prosecutors could tell a federal judge that this was part of dark conspiracy.

Yahia Megahed, he was waiting to talk to his brother in jail, it was boring situation, and he was waiting around for 15 minutes and was just playing around with the camera. But what about the sign language he is supposedly doing? Megahed says he doesn’t know sign language so it is impossible for him to do any.

You should watch the video for yourselves and see if you believe Yahia Megahed. I’m posting screenshots. Just goofing off? Rather extraordinary, precise, and deliberate for supposedly random gestures from a guy who claims he doesn’t know sign language:


http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign002.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign003.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign004.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign005.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign006.jpg

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/yahiasign007.jpg



I’ve covered Yahia Megahed previously back on August 12, when I reported:


At social network Hi5, there’s a page for Yahia Megahed here. http://www.hi5.com/friend/20035110--Yahia--Profile-html
http://www.hi5.com/friend/photos/displayPhotoUser.do?ownerId=32464298&artistType=&photoFuid=G%3A93762959

This appears to be the same Yahia Megahed, older brother of pipe bomb suspect Youssef, in the family photo. Yahia Megahed’s hometown is listed as Egypt. His number one interest is “ISLAM.” Among his Hi5 friends is an “Ahmed,” who appears to be the same Ahmed Mohamed charged in the Goose Creek explosives case.

If investigators aren’t already exploring this social network, I’m sure they will be.

Shortly after I published my post, Yahia Megahed’s Hi5 site disappeared.

Fireworks. Just fireworks. Just two students on a leisurely drive to the beach. That’s all. Nothing to see here. Move along…

[Jolie Rouge]

Judge Nixes Megahed Bail Bid
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 26, 2007

TAMPA - A University of South Florida student charged with transporting explosives will not be released on bail, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

In ruling that Youssef Megahed poses a flight risk and a danger to the community, Judge Steven D. Merryday overturned a Sept. 14 ruling by federal Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins, who said the defendant could be released on $200,000 bail under strict conditions.

Merryday wrote in a 25-page ruling that no conditions would stop Megahed if he "wants to blow something up or cause a disturbance. ... I am unwilling at the prospective cost of property damage, injury or death to assume he will not do so."

Megahed's attorney, public defender Adam Allen, said, "We respect the court's ruling but are disappointed. We are going to review our options, including the possibility of an appeal."

Megahed, 21, was arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina along with fellow USF student Ahmed Mohamed, 26, after deputies found explosives in the trunk of the car in which the two men were riding, authorities said. Mohamed was driving the care, which was registered to Megahed's brother.

Mohamed has waived his right to a bail hearing. Both defendants are Egyptian nationals. Megahed is a legal, permanent U.S. resident, and Mohamed has a student visa.

Both are charged with illegally transporting explosives. Mohamed also is charged with trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives. Authorities say Mohamed posted a video to the Web site YouTube in which he showed how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb.

"The evidence fails to establish or even suggest any innocent or wholesome explanation for the events that led to Megahed's arrest," Merryday wrote. "Guns, explosives, fuses, canisters of gasoline, ammunition, welding equipment, GPS devices, all-night interstate drives to an unstated and indeterminate destination, stops to check gun prices and availability, and computers with a recent history of visits to sites that feature the advocates and the means of violence are not attributes that a disinterested but cautious observer associates with a safe and tranquil citizen of the community," the judge said.

"Rather, a person about whom these attributes are discovered is a person whose means, motive and degree of determination are unknown and unpredictable and who is highly suspicious and threatening."

Merryday also concluded Megahed does not have strong ties to the community.

Noting the defendant moved to the United States about 10 years ago and to Tampa four years ago, the judge listed Megahed's different residences and the fact that he and his family live in a rental home. "Only since 2007 has Megahed begun employment, first (and only briefly) at an automobile dealership and afterward at a mental health service as a $10-per-hour 'technician.' ''

The judge said Megahed has a $3,000 balance in his checking account, but his parents do not require him to contribute to household expenses. "Neither Megahed's father nor his mother works outside the home, but the family enjoys substantial business ties and interests in Egypt."

Merryday said he gave little or no weight in making his decision to a video the prosecution offered of Megahed's brother, Yahia, making faces and gestures when he had gone to visit his brother in jail.

The defense said Yahia Megahed was aping for a camera while he waited for his brother, who was in his cell and unable to view him at the time. The judge also said he didn't consider the fact that investigators found a remote-controlled toy boat in the Megahed home.

"I find none of these matters compelling or deserving of weight in considering Megahed's detention (although the Falkenburg video is mightily peculiar and the remote control toy is a provocative coincidence)," the judge wrote.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/oct/26/me-judge-denies-bail-for-usf-student/?news-breaking

Also : http://media.tbo.com/tbo/pdfs/1025bailmegahed.pdf


We’ve certainly come a long way from the innocent fireworks carriers looking for the beach scenario, haven’t we?

[Jolie Rouge]

Goose Creek Two update
Now there’s a third
December 15, 2007 06:26 PM

Well, it looks like the Goose Creek Two have company. The Tampa Tribune reports on a third arrest related to the two Muslim young males just driving around with, you know, fireworks:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/13/weapons-charge-filed-against-3rd-student-usf-explo/


A University of South Florida student has been arrested on a weapons charge in connection with a case against two other students accused of transporting explosives.

Karim Moussaoui, 28, went to a shooting range with the two other students, Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, on July 11, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Moussaoui told the FBI he took pictures and didn’t fire any weapons, the complaint states.

On that date, Megahed signed a membership agreement and rented a Glock 17, which is a 9 mm handgun, at the Shoot Straight Gun and Archery Range at 3909 N. U.S. 301, the complaint states.

Moussaoui and others are shown entering the range eight days later on a surveillance video the Shoot Straight provided to the FBI, according to the complaint. Agents searching a computer found in Megahed’s home found pictures of Moussaoui “standing at a firing lane possessing a shoulder-fired weapon and wearing the type of hearing protection shooters use at a shooting range.”

Federal authorities have charged the international student with “possession or receiving of a firearm by a person admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa.”

“We’ve known since the summer they were interested in this person,” said USF spokesman Ken Gullette, referring to Moussaoui.

Moussaoui is from Morocco and has been living in a campus residence hall and studying computer engineering, Gullette said. He was scheduled to be awarded his undergraduate degree Saturday.

His parents arrived Wednesday from Morocco to attend his graduation.

At today’s hearing, they signed a $50,000 signature bond for his release. Moussaoui surrendered his passport and travel documents.


Yep. Nothing to see here, right? Debbie Schlussel and Bill Warner dig a little deeper into the affidavit: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/12/megahed_update_1.html


As Bill Warner points out, the affidavit, signed by Tampa FBI Agent William Ortiz, accompanying the complaint notes that in August, Moussaoui told New York FBI Agents about his activities in July at a shooting range with Megahed:

4. On or about August 12, 2007, MOUSSAOUI told New York FBI Agents that on one occasion, he and AHMED LNU (a person now known to the FBI as AHMED ISHTAY) went to a shooting range with YOUSSEF SAMIR MEGAHED. He claimed that MEGAHED went to the range but that MOUSSAOUI and AHMED remained in the store browsing. MOUSSAOUI told New York FBI Agents he did not see what type of weapon MEGAHED used on this visit to the range.

So why is the New York FBI office involved when the activities of all of three of these people, thus far disclosed, occurred in Florida and South Carolina.

Apparently, they have a strong tie to New York–either Muslim terrorists there or a terrorist attack planned for the area.

What is the New York connection?

And who is Ahmed Ishtay a/k/a Ahmed Lnu?

What is his role in this terrorist conspiracy?

Stay tuned. We’ll be watching.

[Jolie Rouge]

Terrorism Probe Points to Reach Of Web Networks
By Mary Beth Sheridan _ Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2008; A01

In April 2005, police swarmed the U.S. Capitol to confront an erratic Australian man, carrying two suitcases, who they feared was a suicide bomber. After blowing up one of the bags, officers realized he was harmless.

The police never noticed the two nervous young men on a nearby sidewalk filming the Capitol during the standoff. But they might have been the real threat, according to newly released documents.

The men, ultraconservative Muslims from Georgia, were making surveillance videos that could help extremists plan "some kind of terrorist attack," as one man later acknowledged, according to court documents disclosed last week. One of their videos was sent to a notorious al-Qaeda publicist in London, authorities said.

New details about the videos -- featuring such sites as the World Bank headquarters, the Pentagon, fuel tanks and the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria -- emerged in pretrial hearings in Atlanta. The pair are charged with providing support to foreign terrorists and could be sentenced to 60 years in prison if convicted. They have pleaded not guilty.

The two men were detained in 2006, before they reached "the point that they posed an imminent threat to the United States," according to a statement by U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias in Atlanta. But the case underlines the continued appeal of Washington as a terrorist target.

Analysts said it also provides a glimpse of the growing threat posed by radical networks that have sprung up as a result of the Internet. One of the men, Syed Haris Ahmed, told authorities that they got to know extremists through Web forums and chat rooms, and they uploaded their D.C. surveillance video to "Jihadi people" online.

For a terrorist organization, "it doesn't matter anymore where your location is, and how many visa requirements" a country has, said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which researches Muslim extremists and their online activity. "Being on the virtual network, [terrorists] have people virtually all over the world."

Ahmed, 23, who immigrated to the United States from Pakistan a decade ago with his parents, was an engineering student at Georgia Tech at the time of the Washington trip. He met his co-defendant, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 21, at a mosque near the school. Sadequee was born in Fairfax to Bangladeshi immigrants, but the family left Virginia when he was a toddler.

The heart of the government's case became clear last week: 12 hours of FBI interviews with Ahmed. During the questioning, agents informed Ahmed that they had e-mails, videos and other materials linking him to suspicious activity, according to transcripts released in court. The Pakistani-American college student acknowledged that he and his friend had been in contact with foreign extremists and had discussed attacking targets in the D.C. area and elsewhere, transcripts of the interviews revealed.

Ahmed's attorney, Jack Martin, has asked a federal judge to throw out the lengthy statements his client made to the FBI shortly before his arrest, or drop the charges. Martin argued that FBI agents promised the student that he would not get into trouble if he cooperated. The FBI says Ahmed's statements were voluntary. Martin did not return a call for comment.

Ahmed told the FBI agents that his actions amounted to foolish mistakes that did not harm anyone. He dismissed the videos as being of poor quality.

"There is nothing to be worried about," he said, according to the transcripts. "We are just stupid, childish . . . We went and took a video, but in reality it means nothing."

But he acknowledged that the videos were intended to impress people associated with radical Web sites who could help him get into a militant training camp in Pakistan.

"You have to prove to them you are willing to take some risk," Ahmed told the FBI.

According to the indictment, Sadequee sent one of the videos to Younis Tsouli, a London resident considered an online recruiter for al-Qaeda in Iraq. Tsouli is serving a 10-year prison sentence for inciting murder on the Internet. A copy of the video also wound up with another of the men's Internet contacts, Abid Hussain Khan, who faces terrorism charges in England.

For Ahmed and Sadequee, the Internet provided access to a world of militant Muslims that transcended borders. At least five of the acquaintances the men made on the Internet have subsequently been charged in terrorism cases in the United States and abroad.

Among their online friends were a group of Canadian Muslims whom the Georgia men visited in March 2005, according to Ahmed's account. They discussed vague ideas for terrorist attacks on oil installations and satellites, Ahmed told the FBI. At least two of the Canadians were part of an alleged al-Qaeda-inspired cell whose members were arrested in 2006 for plotting to set off truck bombs and storm the country's Parliament.

Ahmed told the FBI he was not initially "into that . . . al-Qaeda or thing like that." His goal, he said, was to seek military-style training to help oppressed Muslims in places such as Kashmir, on the Pakistan-India border.

But he said that he and Sadequee were "brainwashed from the reading online." While expressing ambivalence about whether he could ever carry out an attack on U.S. soil, Ahmed said he was influenced by Internet radicals urging Muslims to "do something."

So the men undertook their trip to Washington. It was an opportunity "to be spies for the people over there," Ahmed said, apparently referring to militant Muslims abroad.

He described the Washington trip as an adventure, with the two men setting out from the Atlanta area on a Sunday morning in his Ford pickup truck, stopping to shave off the beards they wore as religious Muslims.

"It's like, uh, thrilling to be undercover and stuff like that," the transcript quotes Ahmed as saying.

That evening, they reached the Pentagon. The men filmed the building, according to a video made public for the first time last week in court. "This is where our brothers attacked the Pentagon," says Sadequee's voice.

"Allah Akhbar," Ahmed chants. God is great.

The men were not exactly experienced operatives; they went to spend the night in a Super 8 Motel in the Virginia suburbs, only to discover it was too expensive.

"Like $79 per night," Ahmed told the FBI.

So they slept in the pickup. The next day, using Ahmed's father's digital video camera, they shot images in Northern Virginia and the District -- the "casing videos," prosecutors said.

They had previously discussed the idea of attacking the Masonic temple in Alexandria. "We had been told they worship the devil or whatever," Ahmed told the FBI. But they never did any planning, he said.

By midday, the men were at the Capitol, when suddenly police swooped in to confront the Australian tourist. Ahmed's heart raced, but he was also thrilled by the action, he recounted. He shot video of a hazmat truck racing by, he recalled.

"That was pretty cool, don't you think?" Ahmed told the FBI.

But for all his boyish enthusiasm, Ahmed acknowledged that his actions could have deadly consequences. Asked whether he knew his video could be used by radicals to plan an attack on the Washington region, Ahmed told the FBI: "You could say that, yeah."

He never explained why the men filmed the fuel storage tanks on Interstate 95, near Lorton. But, he told the FBI, he had talked to Sadequee about attacking an oil installation somewhere in America. Oil is "Muslim property and it's being stolen," Ahmed explained. An attack would "raise the prices so that people over there will get more money," he said.

Three months after his Washington trip, Ahmed went to Pakistan. He told the FBI he had hoped to train in the camps of the Kashmiri group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

But his cousins and some Islamic teachers in Pakistan talked Ahmed out of the idea, telling him he had been brainwashed, he said.

"They, like, put some sense into me," he recounted. Ahmed returned home the next month, August 2005.

But a few weeks later, according to the indictment, he did research on powerful explosives. And over the next few months, the indictment says, Ahmed told two friends he wanted to go back abroad "to train for and engage in violent jihad."

Staff writer Susan Schmidt and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303857_pf.html

[Jolie Rouge]

FBI: Students' 'bombs' were fireworks
By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jan 31, 3:25 PM ET

TAMPA, Fla. - Two Egyptian college students arrested near a South Carolina Navy weapons station last year were carrying low-grade fireworks, as they claimed, not the dangerous explosives as charged by federal prosecutors, the FBI has determined.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been in jail since sheriff's deputies found what they called bomb-making materials in the trunk of their car during a traffic stop near Charleston, S.C.

The FBI report was submitted to the court Wednesday by Megahed's public defender as part of a motion seeking bail. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole declined comment on the filing Thursday.

The two men, both engineering students at the University of South Florida, were indicted on federal charges of transporting explosives illegally.

The FBI report said the items found in the trunk of the car — PVC pipe containing a mixture of sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter — are ingredients for a "pyrotechnic mixture" that burned but didn't explode in tests.

"Simply put, based on the FBI expert testing, the PVC pipes found in the trunk of the vehicle were harmless pyrotechnic materials similar to those found in fireworks and road flares," wrote public defender Adam Allen in a motion asking a judge to reconsider letting Megahed out on bail.

Allen said the testing corroborates Mohamed's claim that he was interested in fireworks and bought ingredients to make his own "sugar rockets." The materials don't meet the legal definition of explosives, Allen said.

Still problematic for Mohamed is a video found on a laptop in the car in which, prosecutors contend, he demonstrates how to convert a remote-control toy into a detonator for a bomb. According to an FBI affidavit, he told authorities that he made the video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries."

Besides the explosives charge, Mohamed faces a terrorism-related count of demonstrating how to use a destructive device for violence. According to the FBI, the laptop also contained stored information on building destructive explosives. Bullets and gun-cleaning kits also were found in the car, the FBI said.

Allen contends Megahed didn't know anything about the information on the laptop or the items in the trunk of the car Mohamed was driving when he was stopped for speeding. Allen said the students were on an innocent road trip to Sunset Beach, N.C., which was the destination programmed into the GPS unit in the car.

But a federal judge who denied bail for Megahed in October wasn't convinced, saying that the evidence available at the time "fails to establish or even suggest any innocent or wholesome explanation for the events" that led to the arrest of the students.

Megahed is a permanent resident of the United States who lives in Tampa with his family and was nearing graduation. Mohamed was a civil engineering graduate student who came to the university in January. He was in the country on a student visa.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080131/ap_on_re_us/explosives_arrest;_ylt=Av83br3X7b_6UH6WVgkKpcKs0NU E

[LuvBigRip]

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal grand jury has added more charges against two Egyptian college students accused of illegally carrying explosive materials.

A grand jury issued a new indictment Wednesday charging former University of South Florida students Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed with an additional charge of possessing a destructive device, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa said.

Deputies in South Carolina who stopped their car last August said they found items to build pipe bombs in the trunk.

Mohamed also faces new charges of providing material support to terrorists and possessing a pistol and a rifle in violation of visa guidelines.

The FBI said he made a video demonstrating how to convert a remote-control toy into a detonator for a bomb.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351496,00.html

[Adra]

This is too close to my home for comfort. Where could they have been headed and how many other cars carrying this same type of stuff got through,

We are living in scary times.

[Jolie Rouge]

What will CAIR say now? Ahmed Mohamed pleads guilty to providing material support to terrorists. Just an innocent kid on a joy ride with fireworks? Not:

Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed has agreed to plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists, according to a signed 12-page plea agreement entered onto the docket in U.S. District Court.

Mohamed, an Egyptian citizen, was arrested, along with another student, Youssef Megahed, in North Carolina in August after deputies said they found explosive materials in their trunk.

Authorities charged Mohamed with trying to help terrorists in connection with a video they said he made and posted to the Web site YouTube. On the video, authorities said, he showed how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb.

Under the terms of the plea deal, prosecutors have agreed to dismiss other charges, including counts in an indictment alleging he illegally transported explosives. The maximum penalty for the charge to which Mohamed will plead guilty is 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.


TBO.com has the PDF of the plea agreement.

http://media.tbo.com/tbo.pdfs.016308mohamedplea.pdf

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/1agc0021.jpg

[Jolie Rouge]

"Trial of Fort Dix plot starts in New Jersey
Trial of Fort Dix plot suspects to get under way
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 19, 3:20 pm ET

CAMDEN, N.J. – A jury will hear opening arguments Monday in the trial of five men accused of plotting to kill soldiers on Fort Dix, a case the government has presented as one of the most frightening examples of homegrown terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The five defendants — all foreign-born Muslim men in their 20s who have spent much of their lives in the southern New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia — were arrested in May 2007 and accused of plotting to sneak onto Fort Dix to attack soldiers. The Army base primarily trains reservists for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No attack was carried out and lawyers for the men say there was no plot.

The men face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on all counts.

Government prosecutors are expected to portray the men as hateful to America and sympathetic to terrorists.

Defense lawyers had been trying to get evidence that the men had anti-Semitic views barred from trial. They also tried to prevent government prosecutors from showing videos that the men allegedly watched that included scenes of Americans being beheaded in Iraq.

In a ruling last week, U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said prosecutors could present that evidence. But he said the videos must be stopped before any actual beheadings are shown.

Mohamad Shnewer, Serdar Tatar and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka were arrested on May 7, 2007.

Authorities said they had prepared for an attack by scouting out military bases, buying weapons and training in paintball games and a shooting range, but the case is complicated because no attack was carried out.

Prosecutors are trying to prove not only that they arrested the right men, but also that the suspects were planning a crime.

Defense lawyers are likely to argue that while their clients may have spoken ill of America and even rooted for terrorists, that does not mean they intended to kill soldiers. They will also question the character, motives and role of two paid government informants who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings that form the bulk of the evidence in the trial.

Lawyers for the suspects have suggested that if there was a plot, informants prodded their clients into it.

Terrorism law experts across the country will pay attention to the case, which they see as an example of a pre-emptive prosecution of the sort that has become more common since federal law enforcement refocused on terrorism after 9/11.

While it may prevent some crimes — as the government argues, some lawyers say the method also makes government informants play too big a role in prosecutions.

"The risk is that they're convicting and imprisoning people who wouldn't have participated in criminal activity but for the intervention of the informant," said Henry Klingeman, a defense lawyer who defended a terrorism suspect — and lost — three years ago.

___

On the Net:

Court Web site with trial information: http://www.njd.uscourts.gov/FortDixTrial/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081019/ap_on_re_us/fort_dix_plot;_ylt=ArqmjMk4EID79iPKnJ4N8xSs0NUE

[Jolie Rouge]

Prosecutor: Al-Qaida inspired Fort Dix plot
Mon Oct 20, 11:57 am

CAMDEN, N.J. – Five men who planned an attack on a New Jersey military base were inspired by al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, a prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in their terrorism trial.

The government has presented the case as one of the most frightening examples of homegrown terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Authorities said that in 2006 and 2007, the men turned paintball games into terrorist training sessions and met to discuss a plot to sneak onto the Army's Fort Dix base and kill soldiers. No attack was carried out.

"Their motive was to defend Islam. Their inspiration was al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. Their intent was to kill members of the United States armed services," Deputy U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick told the jury of eight women and four men.

Fitzpatrick said the jury would see jihadist videos that the defendants watched and would learn many details of the alleged plot, including assertions by the government that one of the men went on reconnaissance missions to Fort Dix and other military installations.

The men, all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s, are charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses.

Defense lawyers for Serdar Tatar, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka are expected to question the role of two paid government informants who made hundreds of hours of secret recordings in the case. The lawyers contend here was no plot but the government paid people to get them to discuss one.

Fitzpatrick tried to hedge against such criticism on Monday.

He said the FBI had to find people who would have credibility with aspiring terrorists; one of the informants was interested in citizenship and the other was interested in money, he said.

More than 200 people are on the list of potential witnesses in the trial, which is expected to go stretch into December.

___

On the Net:

Court Web site with trial information: http://www.njd.uscourts.gov/FortDixTrial/index.htm l

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081020/ap_on_re_us/fort_dix_plot_6

[Jolie Rouge]

5 men convicted of conspiracy to kill US soldiers
Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press Writer
19 mins ago

CAMDEN, N.J. – Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages. The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April.

The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of attempted murder, after prosecutors acknowledged the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan. Four defendants were also convicted of weapons charges.

The federal jury deliberated for 38 hours over six days.

The government said after the arrests in 2007 that case underscored the dangers of terrorist plots hatched on U.S. soil. Although investigators said the conspirators were inspired by Osama bin Laden, they were not accused of any ties to foreign terror groups.

Defense lawyers argued that the alleged plot was all talk — that the men weren't seriously planning anything and that they were manipulated and goaded by two paid FBI informants.

Faten Shnewer, the mother of defendant Mohamad Shnewer, said the informants should be the ones in jail. "Not my son and his friends. It's not right, it's not justice," she said after the verdict. The government "sent somebody to push him to say something; that's it."

Convicted were: Shnewer, a Jordanian-born cab driver; Turkish-born convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar; and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, who had a roofing business. A sixth man arrested and charged only with gun offenses pleaded guilty earlier.

The government said the men were targeting New Jersey's Fort Dix for an attack but had also conducted surveillance at New Jersey's Fort Monmouth, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and other military installations, and had talked about assaulting some of those spots. The jury did not have to find that the men had any specific target in mind to convict them.

"These criminals had the capacity and had done preparations to do serious and grievous harm to members of our military," Ralph Marra, the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said after the verdict.

But some Muslim leaders in New Jersey disputed that.

"I don't think they actually mean to do anything," said Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union. "I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."

Jim Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: "Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment. From what I saw, there was a significant role played by the government informant."

The yearlong investigation began after a clerk at a Circuit City store told the FBI that some customers had asked him to transfer onto DVD some video footage of them firing assault weapons and screaming about jihad.

The FBI asked two informants — both foreign-born men who entered the U.S. illegally and had criminal records — to befriend the suspects. Both informants were paid and were offered help obtaining legal resident status.

During the eight-week trial, the government relied heavily on information gathered by the informants, who secretly recorded hundreds of conversations.

Prosecutors said the men bought several assault rifles supplied by the FBI and that they trekked to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to practice their shooting. The government also presented dozens of jihadist speeches and videos that the men supposedly used as inspiration.

According to prosecutors, the group chose Fort Dix because one of the defendants was familiar with it. His father's pizza shop delivered to the New Jersey base, which is 25 miles from Philadelphia and used primarily to train reservists for duty in Iraq.

The group's objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," prosecutors said.

But the men's lawyers attacked the credibility of the informants and accused them of instigating the plot.

After the verdict, Schnewer's attorney, Rocco Cipparone, said there would not have been a conspiracy without the involvement of the informants. "I believe they shaped the evidence," he said.

Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick defended the government's handling of the case, telling the jury: "The FBI investigates crime on the front end. They don't want to have to do it on the back end."

Members of the jury would not speak to reporters after the verdict and instead released a statement that said, in part, "This has been one of the most difficult things that we have ever had to do."

None of the defendants testified.

The government said after the men's arrest that an attack was imminent, though prosecutors backed off that assertion at the trial.

The government has had a mixed record on terrorism prosecutions since Sept. 11. It won guilty pleas from Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with a shoe bomb; and the Lackawanna Six, a terrorist cell outside Buffalo, N.Y. And it convicted Jose Padilla of plotting terrorist attacks.

But a case against four men in Michigan fell apart after a federal prosecutor was accused of withholding evidence. And a case in Miami against seven men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower has produced one acquittal and two mistrials.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_re_us/fort_dix_plot;_ylt=AvSu7u1cnCNoSxnq80YpFZqs0NUE


See also : http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-information/542700-fort-dix-terror-plot-3.html

[LuvBigRip]

TAMPA, Fla. – An Egyptian college student acquitted of federal explosives charges was unexpectedly arrested by immigration officials Monday.

Youssef Samir Megahed, 23, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he left a Tampa Wal-Mart store with his father, according to his attorney, Adam Allen. He is being held on a warrant signed by an immigration judge.

Allen said the government is trying to deport Megahed even though federal prosecutors failed to secure a conviction at trial.

The former University of South Florida engineering student was acquitted by a federal jury Friday of possessing low-grade explosives that could have been used to build a destructive device.

Allen argued during the three-week trial that the items found in his car during an August 2007 traffic stop were homemade model rocket engines built and packed into the car by a friend without Megahed's knowledge.

Prosecutors implied that Megahed and his friend, Ahmed Mohamed, planned an act of terrorism.

Mohamed was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison for making a YouTube video showing would-be terrorists how to convert a remote-control toy into a bomb detonator. The video was found on Mohamed's laptop computer that was seized during the traffic stop.

Megahed wasn't charged in connection with the video, and his trial jury didn't get to hear about it.

In a statement, ICE spokesman James Judge said Megahed "has been placed into removal proceedings" and will be held until a judge hears his case. He declined to comment further.

Megahed is a legal permanent U.S. resident who's lived with his family in the United States since he was 11.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/ap_on_re_us/explosives_arrest;_ylt=Au66duX2hXCC39gBv30LlsRvzwc F