Former USF Student Sentenced To 15 Years In Terror Trial

Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed received a maximum 15-year federal prison sentence Thursday for providing material support to terrorists.

In court, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday pondered the 27-year-old’s potential aloud, gazing at the former engineering doctoral student and teaching assistant who had once managed a 4.0 GPA.

“I still wonder why this young man in front of me at his age, at his intelligence, how he has become committed to this path,” Merryday said. Read more

Ahmed Mohamed, Former USF Student Admits To Supporting Terrorists

Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed has agreed to plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists, according to a signed 12-page plea agreement entered onto the docket in U.S. District Court. Read more

Megahed, Mohamed To Receive Separate Trials In Goose Creek Case

A judge has severed the federal trials of two former University of South Florida students whose legal battle began after their car was pulled over by deputies in South Carolina.

A judge made the decision this morning in U.S. District Court after the two defendants, Ahmed Mohamed and Youssef Megahed, entered not guilty pleas today before a different judge during their arraignment on charges handed up last week. Read more

New Charges Filed Against Egyptian Students Caught With Explosives – Goose Creek

A federal grand jury has added more charges against two Egyptian college students accused of illegally carrying explosive materials.

A grand jury issued a new indictment Wednesday charging former University of South Florida students Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and Youssef Samir Megahed with an additional charge of possessing a destructive device, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa said. Read more

FBI Investigates Gas Station Explosion

Many questions are left surrounding the death of a young Palestinian man. And, the FBI wants answers.

22-year-old Farid Karaka was burned alive after a gas station explosion early Wednesday morning on Busch Boulevard.

How did it happen? Read more

Prosecutor In Goose Creek Terror Case: Students Had Explosives

A federal prosecutor disputes defense claims that two Egyptian college students arrested near a South Carolina Navy weapons station were carrying harmless fireworks and not dangerous explosives.

An attorney for Youssef Samir Megahed filed a motion last week asking a judge to reconsider granting bail. He cited an FBI report that characterized the items found in the trunk of the car as a pyrotechnic mixture that burned but didn’t explode when tested. Read more

Goose Creek Terror Incident Update – USF Student Pleads Not Guilty to Bomb Charge

An Egyptian college student accused of making an Internet video demonstrating the construction of a detonator for terrorist bombs pleaded not guilty to federal charges Wednesday.

We’vebeen following this story for some time. For additional info, you can read previous posts, here.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, remained jailed on charges of distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction. His arraignment was set for Thursday.

Mohamed, an engineering student suspended by the University of South Florida, and another Egyptian student, Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, also are charged with carrying explosive materials across state lines.

They were arrested during an Aug. 5 traffic stop in Goose Creek, S.C., about 15 miles northwest of Charleston and near a Navy weapons station.

In the trunk of their car, according an FBI agent’s statement, police found 20 feet of fuse, a box of .22-caliber bullets, a drill, several gallons of gasoline, PVC piping and gun powder.

The agent also said Mohamed’s laptop contained a video he made demonstrating how to convert a remote-control toy into a detonator.

Mohamed said he made the video “to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries,” according to the agent’s statement. He said “he considered American troops, and those military forces fighting with the American military, to be invaders of Arab countries,” the statement said.

The students told authorities they were carrying fireworks; Megahed’s attorney now contends that his client didn’t know anything about the items in the trunk.

Megahed is a permanent U.S. resident from Egypt and Mohamed is in the U.S. on a student visa

Mohamed’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, hired for him by the Egyptian government, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Megahed, represented by a federal public defender, pleaded not guilty earlier this month.

If convicted, Mohamed could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. Megahed faces up to 10 years.

Source 

Goose Creek Terror Case – USF Student’s Brother Caught Sending “Sinister” Coded Signals

An odd video raises new questions about the USF students involved in the Goose Creek terror case. Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed are already charged with driving explosives across state lines. Now prosecutors say Megahed’s brother Yehia, was caught sending a sinister code through a closed circuit jail-house camera.

In the video captured on closed circuit cameras in the jail where Megahed is being held, Megaheds brother clearly appears to be sending disturbing signals and some type of sign language.

Prosecutors are arguing that this tape alone should be enough to keep him in jail however they also argue that Megahed is dangerous and a flight risk.

When questioned about the coded signals outside the jail, Youseffs brother said he finds the video “funny” and that they have had a good laugh.

Prosecutors say the signals being given were a “sinister” code that they have broken, but they are not saying what it means.

Watch Video

And there is more… As agents dug deeper into the men’s background, they found troubling information.

Among the discoveries:

In July, Mohamed posted a video on YouTube that explained how to transform a toy remote controlled car into a detonator, Hoffer said. The 12-minute video is narrated by a man speaking Arabic with an Egyptian accent. It shows no face, only hands.

Megahed recently purchased a .22-caliber rifle and had inquired about a Berreta handgun. Agents found the rifle inside a storage shed, along with welding and scuba diving equipment.

Megahed had joined a shooting range.

Megahed also had “multiple Egyptian passports” and went to Sears in late July to get more passport-sized photos. There were two passports for Megahed with two different names.

Was this enough for the judge to not allow bail? Apparently not.

The judge found the evidence to be “strong” but not “overwhelming” enough to prove Megahed was a dangerous flight risk that must be jailed until trial. “I do agree that he poses danger,” she said.

She ordered him to post $200,000 bail, to remain at his family’s home, and to leave only for religious services and to meet with his attorneys. His family also was required to consent to a search at any time.

Read related posts and articles here

UPDATE: Atlas Shrugs is watching this story also and has put together some very good links and detailed background info HERE.

UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has uploaded a portion of the video HERE.

Goose Creek Terror Trial – Egypt to Hire Lawyer for Accused USF Student

Interesting news out of Goose Creek.

It looks as though Egypt’s government will be paying for the legal representation of at least one of the two suspects in the Goose Creek terror case.

Attorney John Fitzgibbons told a judge he was in talks with the Egyptian embassy in Washington and likely will be hired to represent suspended University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed.

Ahmed el-Qawassni, an official in Egypt’s foreign ministry, said the government is closely monitoring the case and confirmed that an attorney is being hired for Mohamed, who was born in Kuwait to Egyptian parents.

“We are responsible for the sons of Egypt abroad with no exception,” el-Qawassni said.

Mohamed, 24, and another USF student, Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, are charged with carrying explosive materials across state lines.

Mohamed also is charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction. Authorities allege he made an Internet video showing how to use remote-controlled toys to detonate terrorist bombs.

Read related posts and articles here.

Source

TSA Airport Security Alert for Toys With Remote Controls

Citing “credible specific information” about terror tactics Monday, Transportation Security Administration officers stepped up scrutiny of passengers carrying remote control toys aboard airplanes.

The action was not motivated by a specific terror plot, said Kip Hawley, the assistant secretary in charge of aviation security at the Department of Homeland Security. But both in the United States, and internationally, there is concern that common remote control toys could be used to detonate terrorists’ bombs.

The aviation authorities decided against banning the devices in carry-on bags. But passengers carrying remote control toys “including children” could be subject to more intense searches, like having their bags checked by hand and the passengers subject to pat-downs, officials said.

The new policy was established just days after the federal authorities in South Carolina disclosed that a college student being held on terrorism-related charges had made a video that he posted on YouTube, showing how to use a remote controlled toy as a detonator.

Hawley acknowledged in an interview Monday that the video had affected the new policy. But it was just one piece of intelligence that led to the change, he said.

In the South Carolina case, the authorities found a 12-minute Arabic-language videotape on the computer of Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, a student at University of South Florida, that had been uploaded to YouTube. In it, a narrator explains how to convert a toy car into a detonator, an affidavit filed in federal court Thursday says.

Mohamed is also charged with a terror related offense for allegedly posting a YouTube video showing how to turn a radio controlled toy car into a remote bomb detonator.

Court documents show searches in the USF case found remote control cars and a boat, along with dissembled watches and fuses.

Experts say Middle Eastern terrorists are using the toys to counter US jamming of cell phone detonators, because the toys operate on a lower, harder to jam frequency.

Read our related posts covering the arrest and investigation of the two University of Florida students whose activities triggered this alert HERE

Update – Goose Creek Terror Case Admission

In a 12-minute video posted on YouTube, an Egyptian man wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and rubber gloves explains in Arabic how to turn a toy boat into a bomb.

His name is Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, and last month he was arrested in Goose Creek after authorities found four PVC pipes containing a mixture of potassium nitrate, kitty litter and sugar in his car’s trunk.

Mohamed told FBI agents he made the video to teach “those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries,” according to federal court documents released late Tuesday.

Specifically, he told the FBI “the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States.”

and then there was the conversation in the back of the patrol car…

In the back of the patrol car on the way to jail on charges of possession of an explosive device, the two whispered in their native Arabic while a hidden recorder taped their conversation, according to court documents:

“Did you tell them there is something in them?” Mohamed asked, an apparent reference to the PVC pipes.

“Water,” Megahed said.

“Water! Right? The black water is in the Pepsi.”

A few seconds pass in silence. Mohamed speaks again.

“Did you tell them about the benzene (gasoline)?”

“I have nothing to do with it. I do the fireworks and so… so… so… that is it.”

But the pipes weren’t fireworks.

An examination by the FBI’s explosives unit found the materials in the PVC pipes fit the legal definition of an “explosive.”

Hat Tip – Hot Air

Goose Creek Terror Case – Prosecutors Show Case Against USF Students

The U.S. Attorney’s Office opened up about what was found in the car of two USF students: pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup, kitty litter, bullets and fuses, a laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom, Hamas and Qassam rockets and video instructions for turning a child’s toy into a detonator.

Pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup and kitty litter. Bullets and fuses. A laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom, Hamas and Qassam rockets. Video instructions for turning a child’s toy into a detonator.

After weeks of silence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office opened up about its case against two University of South Florida engineering students facing explosives charges, implying that Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed had something sinister in mind when they left Tampa in early August and headed north.

Despite the grim implications of what the government presented, prosecutors said they had no “hard, specific evidence” of a motive or answers for a judge’s questions about what the men intended to do with the items, prompting U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins to set bail for one of the men, although he remains in custody pending appeal.

The question of intent has been the biggest puzzle since Aug. 4, when Megahed, 21, and Mohamed, 26, were pulled over for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., and arrested after a deputy became suspicious and searched the pair’s car.

From the start, Megahed’s family has said the young man went on a harmless road trip, the whims of college students on summer vacation. The family and supporters filled Courtroom 14B on Friday afternoon, and Megahed’s siblings were beaming after the judge’s ruling.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hoffer laid out the government’s case, saying they view the men as dangerous and at risk of fleeing to their home country of Egypt, a place that doesn’t always return fugitives to the United States.

Here’s what Hoffer said:

When federal agents searched the men’s car, a Toyota Camry registered to Megahed’s brother, Yahia Megahed, they found the stuffed pipes wrapped in plastic bags in the trunk alongside a 5-gallon container of gasoline.

Explosives experts categorized the items in the trunk as incomplete pipe bombs, each large enough to blow out windows in a room but not strong enough to destroy a house. Potassium nitrate is a low-grade explosive otherwise used as fertilizer. Kitty litter bound the ingredients while syrup could add fuel.

“I think you can safely say it’s a bomb,” said Edward Dreizin, a New Jersey Institute of Technology chemical engineering professor.

Agents also found a box of bullets underneath the front passenger seat, where Megahed sat. On a laptop hastily unplugged, agents discovered sites that concerned them, including searches of Qassam rockets, weapons developed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, often made with steel pipe, liquid sugar and potassium nitrate.

Read Full Story

See our previous stories on this case here.

Attorney Assists Two USF Goose Creek Terror Suspects Seeking Release

We’re not sure what exactly troubles us the most about this story… Is it the attorney attempting to get these two released into the community, or the journalistic slant and apparent inability to spell by the reporter?

Tampa, Fl — The lawyer from South Carolina that has represented the pair flew in to help the suspects find new council.

He met with the family to come up with a strategy for the release of Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed.

They were arrested in August for carrying explosives in their car. He predicts the government will fight hard to keep the men detained. He says had the men been of any other ethnicity they would have been ticket for speeding and continued on.

Andy Savage, Attorney

“The Justice Department now in these types of cases, no matter how minor the charges is to detain them, as long as you can. To keep them under diress. To investigate, investigate, and investigate to find anything you can negative about these fellows. It’s an uphill battle but it is one that can be won.”

Savage says he thinks the government has held the evidence too long, and it’s causing fear in the communities instead of yielding answers.

Read Article

For additional background on this story please read from a couple of our previous posts.

Goose Creek Arrests Lead To Felony Charges

FBI Seizes Computers, Store Video In Goose Creek Bomb Case

Goose Creek Suspect Has Terror Past in Egypt

Goose Creek Terror Suspect – A Family In Despair

The Tampa Tribune attempts to tug at the heart-strings of it’s readers with this story that focuses on the family of one of the Goose Creek terror suspects. The real story however; is that the case against these two continues to build. That’s a story worth covering.

In a jail chapel, with two renderings of the Last Supper overhead, the family of a 21-year-old University of South Florida student gathered around him Saturday. His father did most of the talking, as they delivered the bad news. The accusations that he and a fellow student had a pipe bomb in the trunk of their Toyota Camry as they drove near a Naval weapons station had turned into a federal indictment. Their hopes that state charges, filed by South Carolina authorities, would be dropped after a hearing this month were dashed. Instead, the two now face the likelihood they’ll be held in federal custody without bail, their attorneys said.

Youssef Megahed’s reaction was shock, and then despair, his family said. Sitting in solitary confinement, he’s terrified of the warnings FBI agents have given him and his family – that he’ll be held interminably in a military prison like Guantanamo Bay.

Adding to their anxiety was a quote in the Charleston newspaper Saturday from the local sheriff, predicting Megahed and fellow student Ahmed Mohamed soon will be moved from this jail in Berkeley County to the brig on the nearby Naval complex. The Megaheds know the brig is used to hold prisoners the president has deemed “enemy combatants.”

Worse for Megahed’s father, Samir, was the moment he was leaving and saw Mohamed talking to his own attorney. Mohamed, teary, had also just heard about the indictment.

He hugged and kissed Samir and asked him to deliver a message to his own father in Egypt: “Tell my father I am not going to meet him in this life again.”

Mohamed, 24, fears he will be imprisoned longer than his father will be alive, Samir said.

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