Here is another article from seattlepi.com on the same story:
Prosecutors: Egyptian looked at arms sites
By WOODY BAIRD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Prosecutors allege that an Egyptian man searched the Internet for ways to smuggle guns and bombs past airport security in what might have been a plot to launch a terrorist attack in the U.S.
Authorities said they had no evidence directly linking Mahmoud Maawad, 29, to terrorists but asked for his detention as a precaution.
He has been held without bond since his arrest in September for using a fake Social Security number to enroll at the University of Memphis. Maawad came to the United States on a visitor's visa but never left after it expired in 1999, authorities said.
Authorities refuse to talk about their ongoing investigation of Maawad, but in a court filing Feb. 16, prosecutors said a computer seized from his apartment showed he was "linking to web sites that are associated with Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq."
Maawad drew attention of federal investigators when Sporty's U.S.A., a company selling aviation gear, complained that he failed to pay for $3,000 worth of goods ordered over the Internet.
He is charged in a federal indictment with defrauding the company with a debit card with insufficient funds.
The court filing said Maawad's computer showed searches for information on how guns and bombs can be smuggled past airport security. Authorities also found DVDs on pilot training and charts on the layout of the Memphis airport. One of the DVDs was titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."
Federal prosecutors said in the filing that they believed Maawad "was either planning or participating in a potential terrorist event inside the United States."
The filing was in response to a defense "discovery" request for information on the government's evidence against Maawad. Prosecutors gave few details in the open-records portion of their response, but showed their concerns that Maawad was planning an act of violence.
Maawad is being represented by the federal public defender's office, which has consistently refused to discuss the case. Calls to the office were not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Student_Arrested.html
Whats missing here is was this guy planning on hijacking a Fedex or UPS cargo plane or a passenger jet?
It would appear to me it would be easier nowadays to take control of a catgo jet that does not have an Air Marshal,minmal flight crew.
Could terrorists actually conceal themselfs inside air freight containers and come out after takeoff, cut through any bulkheads from the cargo area to the flight deck and overcome the crew?
I sure hope there is proper air freight scanning procedures in effect.