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One of two Muslim USF students facing federal explosives charges continues to wait to be released on bond By 970WFLA.com Friday, October 5, 2007 TAMPA, Fla. (970 WFLA) – A federal judge will take his time on ruling whether or not one of two Muslim University of South Florida students will be allowed out on bail while awaiting trial on charges he transported explosives across state lines without a license. U.S. prosecutors filed appeal following a federal magistrate judge allowed Youseff Samir Megahed, 21, to be released on $200,000 bond. Megahed and his alleged co-conspirator, Ahmed Mohamed, were arrested in...

A suspended University of South Florida student facing explosives charges regarded American troops and U.S. allies as invaders of Arab countries, an FBI agent says in federal court documents filed this week. The agent's affidavit gives more details about a secretly taped conversation between Ahmed Mohamed, 26, and fellow student Youssef Megahed, 21, and also about the contents of Mohamed's laptop.

COLUMBIA, S.C. --A college student facing a terrorism-related charge made a video showing how to detonate explosives using a remote control toy, and the demonstration was uploaded to a popular Web site before the native of Kuwait was arrested in South Carolina, according to court documents.

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," ... The prosecutor said that video was posted by Mohamed on YouTube... Also on the laptop were "jihadi" images and footage of rockets used by Hamas... Hoffer disclosed the computer evidence Friday as...

Police Release 9 Threatening Postcards OCALA, Fla. -- Investigators in Marion County, Fla., are searching for the author of nine postcards sent to different schools on the same day with the words 'Jihad-Boom" and handwritten cartoons of a building apparently exploding with people inside. Investigators released the postcards with the threatening drawings on them Monday in hopes of generating leads in the case. Officials said that the postcards are made up of various and traditional themes, and each one has a distinctive hand-drawn cartoon on it. Several of the threats arrived on postcards featuring Walt Disney World. Detectives said the...

Please be aware!!! Investigators in Marion County, Fla., are searching for the author of nine postcards sent to different schools on the same day, with the words ‘Jihad-Boom” and cartoons drawn by hand, of a building being blown up with people inside. Investigators released the postcards with the threatening drawings on them Monday in hopes of generating leads in the case. Officials said that the postcards are made up of various and traditional themes, and each one has a distinctive hand-drawn cartoon on it. Several of the threats arrived on postcards featuring Walt Disney World. Detectives said the threat-maker crossed...

The plot thickens. Read the St. Petersburg Times: (Hat tip - reader Lynne) Well, well, well: 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. An assistant U.S Attorney outlined the evidence confiscated from the car driven by two suspended USF students — describing a container and three pipes filled with a low grade explosive mixture. The...

Charleston, S.C. (AP) -- With a federal indictment in place, state charges will be dismissed against two Egyptian-born students who were stopped last month with what authorities said were pipe bombs, a prosecutor said Tuesday. "I plan to dismiss the charges in favor of federal prosecution," said Scarlett Wilson, state prosecutor for Charleston and Berkeley counties. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were arrested on state charges of possession of an explosive device following an Aug. 5 traffic stop in Goose Creek.

  Indicted USF Student has Terror Past in Egypt by IPTIPT News August 31, 2007Two 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...

Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida were indicted Friday for carrying explosive materials across states lines and one of them was 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. He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., on Aug. 4, where they have been held on state charges. The two men were stopped with pipe bombs...

JACKSONVILLE -- (AP) -- A man was charged with trying to bring a gun wrapped in aluminum foil and a towel aboard a plane at Jacksonville International Airport, authorities said Tuesday. Ahmad Abdallah Abu Ghanam was on his way to Chicago then Jordan on Monday when Transportation Security Administration workers found the .380-calibar semiautomatic gun in his checked luggage. The serial number had been scratched off, said Michael Stewart, director of external affairs for the airport. Abu Ghanam told police he bought the weapon on the street a month ago and he did not realize the serial number was missing....

BOYNTON BEACH — What started as a traffic stop on a gold Nissan Sentra early this morning led to the discovery of two pipe bombs, masks and gloves and 15-feet of PVC pipe inside the car. Boynton Beach police have detained the four men who were inside the car when Officer Vincent Haugh stopped it in on North Federal Highway around 2:24 a.m. (snip)... Police are not releasing their names. Haugh stopped the car after he saw one of the men throw something out a window. When he approached the vehicle and asked for identification, none of the occupants had...

Ziad Jarrah,Mohammed Atta,& Marwan Alshehhi stayed in Jacksonville. Channel 12 has done a great job of investigative reporting with this. Sen Nelson says that the 9/11 commission knew nothing of this. You'll have to read the article, there is a video as well.

I checked the title, and didn't find it posted. ~~~~~~~~~ Update: Yahia Megahed’s Hi5 profile is gone 6:20pm Eastern. Eeenteresting. Via Dan Riehl, Yahia Megahed’s Hi5 profile has now been removed: *** 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...

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...

MONCKS CORNER — Two Florida students accused of having pipe bombs in the trunk of their car when they were pulled over in Goose Creek are "confused and scared," their attorney said Monday. Yousseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 26, both Egyptian citizens, were calm and polite in Berkeley County bond court. They were charged Monday with carrying explosive devices, which is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The weekend arrest drew national attention, because the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants are held, and the Naval Weapons Station are nearby. An...

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...

Seven men, some of whom lived in a Liberty City, Fla., warehouse, have been arrested as potential homegrown terrorist sympathizers who discussed blowing up Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI headquarters in Miami-Dade County, multiple sources told The Miami Herald on Thursday. They posed no immediate danger to the community, federal officials said Thursday. Details will be revealed Friday morning at a press conference in Washington. Agents must now figure out if the men were actually capable of mounting attacks. Several sources described them as homegrown wannabes with no known connection to foreign terrorists. No explosives or guns were found, sources...

An early morning raid Thursday resulted in the arrest of a Tampa business owner. The raid involved law enforcement officers from the Tampa Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Joint Federal Terrorism Task Force from Detroit. The officers descended on Britt's Grocery and Deli at Rome Avenue and Sligh Avenue in Tampa at about 7 Wednesday morning. Hasan Qasem owns the deli, and his wife, Mary Qasem, said they were being questioned about checks cashed through the business and that financial records and other items were seized. Qasem said her husband is Palestenian, but has been...

The hijackers had Visa cards, frequent flyer numbers, regular tables at their local restaurants. Marian Wilkinson traces the ways in which the terrorists planned their attacks as they fitted seamlessly into American life. The man who the FBI believe led the horrific terrorist attacks that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, killing thousands of people, had a consuming interest in urban design and civil engineering. This was just one of the bizarre, contradictory details that have emerged about the 19 men the FBI has identified as hijackers on board the four aircraft that crashed on September ...