Posted on 08/06/2007 11:27:50 AM PDT by Lexington Green
TAMPA -- The two men detained in South Carolina over the weekend after police said they found a suspicious item in their car are University of South Florida students, officials said.
At a 1:30 p.m. news conference today, USF Spokesman Ken Gullette said Yousef Megahed is an undergraduate student and Ahmed Mohamed is a civil engineering graduate student.
Mohamed is originally from Kuwait and completed his undergrad education in Cairo. He has been at USF since January and was registered for six hours during summer session, Gullette said.
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, Gullette said.
Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa, said that Megahed is a permanent legal resident studying engineering at USF whose family has lived in the Tampa area for years. "This is his home," Bedier said.
Mohamed, who is from Egypt, is at USF on an exchange program, Bedier said.
Megahed's family members only heard news of his arrest while watching CNN, Bedier said. "They never received a phone call," he said.
A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations accompanied family members to South Carolina late Sunday, Bedier said.
Bedier said he has seen reports coming out of South Carolina that the men merely had fireworks in their car. "We need to know what the facts are," he said.
In South Carolina, Berkeley County sheriff's Lt. Vince Lombard said authorities stopped the men for speeding, then found the suspicious item. Police detonated the item. Lombard would not say what the device was or what bomb technicians from neighboring Charleston County exploded about 2:45 a.m. Sunday. The item made a loud bang, similar to a firecracker, when it was demolished.
The men were being held Sunday pending a charge of unlawful possession of an explosive device, according to officials in South Carolina.
No charges had been filed as of Sunday afternoon, Berkeley County Chief Deputy Butch Henerey told The Post and Courier of Charleston for a story posted on its Web site Sunday.
A terrorism task force is reviewing 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.
He referred questions about the suspects, whom he did not identify, to local authorities. The sheriff's office would not comment to The Associated Press but planned a news conference Monday morning.
Authorities closed a mile-long stretch of U.S. Highway 176 at about 7 p.m. Saturday, and federal officials said there was "no immediate threat." It reopened at about 4 a.m. Sunday.
Goose Creek is home to the Naval Weapons Station, which houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.
The car was heading west, away from Goose Creek, when it was pulled over about 7 miles from the sprawling Navy facility, Lombard said.
Goose Creek, with a population of about 30,000, is about 20 miles north of Charleston.
Valerie Kalfrin of The Tampa Tribune and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yousef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed...now look, I’ll wave my copy of the Utne Reader whilst singing Kumbayah but it doesn’t take a confirmed racist profiler to wonder just what the hell is going on here...
“....has been enrolled at USF since 2004 and had not declared a major. He was registered for three hours this fall,”
A really serious student. /s
Interesting and obvious. Wake up home land security, they will report no terrorism to their knowledge.
USF - the terrorist haven for guys like Sami al Arian.
Close a mile stretch of highway for 9 hours for a large firecracker? Either they're understating how much explosives were in the vehicle, or they overreacted badly.
“”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.
And 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.””
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/05/possible_bomb_scare_shuts_down_goose_creek_highway/
no ties to terrorism known?
here’s a lead to pursue:
“A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations accompanied family members to South Carolina”
Is USF the same place where Sami Al-Arian taught?
“Bedier said he has seen reports coming out of South Carolina that the men merely had fireworks in their car. “We need to know what the facts are,” he said.”
What kind of fireworks were they?
Don’t know the purpose of the Goose Creek WEPSTA now, but it once was used to on and off load USN’s polaris missile submarines when I was in the Navy and was full of Marine guards because of the classified nature of such weaponry. Too bad, Mohamad and Yousef couldn’t have gotten closer to the Jarheads there...because they’d have been full of 9-mm holes by now.
Is USF the same place where Sami Al-Arian taught?
Yes... and the faculty rallied for him.... a sick place
"if the bomb don't blow
you must let go"
Just two friendly Muslims out to have a blast. Silly cops.
“Is USF the same place where Sami Al-Arian taught?”
Yes it is.
No doubt during those six hours spent in USF's flight simulator he didn't feel it necessary to learn how to take off or land.
Quite a student! /sarc
Three years and no major declared and one class scheduled for the fall.....
Throw all these murdering parasites out!
There, fixed it.
Oh, I thought it had a familiar ring. And my, how quickly CAIR has jumped all over this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.