Posted on 08/09/2007 6:57:23 AM PDT by STARWISE
FBI agents are reviewing surveillance video from a Wal-Mart store in connection with the arrest in South Carolina of two University of South Florida students, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said.
Agents also have seized a computer from the family home of one of the students, said a local advocate in contact with the family.
Youssef Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, both of whom are enrolled at the university, were charged Monday under South Carolina statutes with possession of an incendiary or explosive device. Both were being held in a Berkeley County jail Wednesday. Mohamed's bail was set at $500,000 and Megahed's at $300,000.
Prosecutors in South Carolina said the men were carrying a pipe bomb and pipe-bomb paraphernalia when they were pulled over for speeding there Saturday about seven miles from the Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station.
Mohamed said in court they were carrying fireworks. Megahed's family told the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations that Megahed is restoring a car and had tools and oil canisters in the trunk.
Forensic tests from the FBI are pending to determine what the trunk's contents were. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office detonated what it thought was suspicious.
Sharon Weber, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, confirmed today that the FBI has picked up surveillance footage from "one of our stores" but declined to elaborate, citing the open investigation.
Ahmed Bedier, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said FBI agents seized a computer from the Tampa home of Megahed's family. The family includes Megahed's parents, brother and sister, who through Bedier declined an interview. The family wants to speak to Megahed before talking to reporters, Bedier said.
The FBI declined to comment.
ping:)
Wonder if they ever found out the name of the roommate in Tampa that decided to flee the country on Monday? Nobody seemed to know his name, LOL, but they did know he came here in January and left on Monday after these two guys got “caught.”
FYI ping!
Something here stinks. As a general rule, cops don't hassle people - even young, Arabic-looking people - for completely legal activities.
bump for later
The FBI is sure doing alot of investigating for something that is “non-terrorist” related. I would like to know which Wal-mart they were seen in, Goose Creek or N Charleston, because that would tell you where they had been or going. Bet they got turned around in Goose Creek and were heading the wrong direction when they got stopped. Or they knew they were being tracked.
Ishtay, who rents a Temple Terrace house and works at Boston Market, said he met Mohamed and Megahed through a roommate. He said he didn't know the roommate's last name, but he was from Mauritania.
Another of Ishtay's roommates, Ghassan Salhab, 27, said the man from Mauritania moved here from Canada recently and returned there Monday.
Ishtay and Salhab said that sometimes when Mohamed and Megahed visited their house in Temple Terrace they would cook, but neither knew them well.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/08/Hillsborough/FBI_seizes_computers_.shtml
PING !!
Has anybody checked facebook and myspace for these guys yet?
If you go 10mph over the speed limit in Michigan you get pulled over.
If you go 15mph over the speed limin in SC, you get pulled over. Are you suggesting pipe bombs are legal in SC?
You must have missed the fact that, due to the Child Protection Act of 1966, possession of anything containing more “explosive” than a LadyFinger is a federal felony!
I put explosive in quotes, because fireworks contain flash powder, which in not a true (high) explosive. Legal fireworks can contain a maximum of 0.05 grams of an explosive mixture; whereas an M-80 contained about 3 grams..
Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed...
“that Megahed is restoring a car and had tools and oil canisters in the trunk. “
Yeah, you always need “canisters” of oil when restoring a car! Wonder if mom and dad used to write to school to excuse their son because the dog ate his homework (even though the religion prohibits dogs)!
“Hmmm...I’d think it’s a little difficult to confuse a pipe bomb with fireworks.”
Ah c’mon they only had sparklers in the trunk! Two nice boys just driving around looking for a place to light their sparklers and restore their car hundreds of miles from home.
Indeed. The first couple of steps in his interrogation could be to open up the hood of his car and ask him to locate the distributor, starter, and alternator.
Does anyone know if all these people are here legally?
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