FBI: Egyptian Students Had Fireworks, Not Bombs

[RamboLiberal]

Source: WYFF4.com

The FBI said this week that two Egyptian college students arrested last year close to the Navy weapons station in Charleston, S.C., were not carrying explosives as they were charged with doing.

The University of South Florida engineering students have been in jail since sheriff's deputies found what they called bomb-making materials in their car during a traffic stop.

But federal investigators said that Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, were carrying low-grade fireworks, which is what they told deputies who stopped them at the time.

Mohamed and Megahed were indicted on federal charges of transporting explosives illegally.

Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/15187903/detail.html

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On edit a bit more on the story:

"This scientifically controlled testing established that the PVC pipes found in the trunk of the defendants' vehicle would not explode when ignited but, instead, would likely either burn, smoke or do nothing at all," his motion said.

Those findings seem to support what Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 26, have said since they were arrested Aug. 4 by a deputy who stopped them for speeding near a South Carolina naval base. Both are Egyptian nationals who attended USF's engineering school. (Note they have been in jail since last August).

In Wednesday's motion, which disclosed the contents of the Dec. 5 FBI report for the first time, Allen asked that Megahed be released based on the new evidence.

Allen also cited a portion of the FBI report showing that a GPS device in the car supports the students' assertions that they were simply on a road trip. The GPS showed they were following a route to Sunset Beach, N.C., which is what they told investigators.

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/31/Hillsborough/Lawyer__FBI_test_find.shtml

[struggle4progress]

1. Six months in jail for nothing: welcome to the ownership society

[RamboLiberal]

2. More like "Shredded Constitution" society of Bush/Cheney

and the neocon Nazis!

[DCKit]

3. Why, oh why, am I not surprised?

Six months in prison for carrying fireworks in South Carolina, the one state in the lower 48 where anything the fireworks makers can dream up is available from roadside stands? Or is it six months in prison because the police are so deeply embarrassed, they'd rather risk keeping a couple of kids illegally imprisoned and behind bars rather than admit they were wrong? I'm shocked, simply shocked.

"Watch out for them magic snakes Gomer! You too Goober!"

I'm so fucking ashamed of the U.S..

[truthisfreedom]

4. You might ask yourself why this happened, and it's clear why it happened... They were sacrificed

to help justify the war on terra. You can BET that bushco told the authorities to hold those guys with the middle-eastern-sounding names.

[aquart]

5. Another fake terror plot exposed.

That makes how many?

Did we have ANY real ones?

[DRoseDARs]

6. Based on what I'm reading here, these weren't store-bought/commericial fireworks but rather...

...home-made fireworks. Store-bought/commercial fireworks would be clearly labeled as such, whereas home-made fireworks in PVC pipes would not and would indeed look like potential bombs, all claims of innocent intent aside. I'd be wary too of any kind of explosive that was handcrafted in someone's garage. Those kind of "manufacturers" aren't exactly operating under federal health and safety guidelines. These engineering students set themselves up to be railroaded and they're damned lucky the FBI has called "Bullshit" on the charges against them by correctly identifying the materials as merely fireworks.

Stupid is as stupid does; it's a good thing for these two that, "Fate favors fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise."