FBI: Students' 'bombs' were fireworks

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Archived Media Articles by MITCH STACY, The Associated Press

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

TAMPA, Florida USA — Two Egyptian college students arrested near a South Carolina Navy weapons station last year were carrying low-grade fireworks, as they claimed, not the dangerous explosives as charged by federal prosecutors, the FBI has determined.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been in jail since sheriff's deputies found what they called bomb-making materials in the trunk of their car during a traffic stop near Charleston, S.C.

The FBI report was submitted to the court Wednesday by Megahed's public defender as part of a motion seeking bail. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole declined comment on the filing Thursday.

The two men, both engineering students at the University of South Florida, were indicted on federal charges of transporting explosives illegally.

The FBI report said the items found in the trunk of the car — PVC pipe containing a mixture of sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter — are ingredients for a "pyrotechnic mixture" that burned but didn't explode in tests.

"Simply put, based on the FBI expert testing, the PVC pipes found in the trunk of the vehicle were harmless pyrotechnic materials similar to those found in fireworks and road flares," wrote public defender Adam Allen in a motion asking a judge to reconsider letting Megahed out on bail.

Allen said the testing corroborates Mohamed's claim that he was interested in fireworks and bought ingredients to make his own "sugar rockets." The materials don't meet the legal definition of explosives, Allen said.

Still problematic for Mohamed is a video found on a laptop in the car in which, prosecutors contend, he demonstrates how to convert a remote-control toy into a detonator for a bomb. According to an FBI affidavit, he told authorities that he made the video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries."

Besides the explosives charge, Mohamed faces a terrorism-related count of demonstrating how to use a destructive device for violence. According to the FBI, the laptop also contained stored information on building destructive explosives. Bullets and gun-cleaning kits also were found in the car, the FBI said.

Allen contends Megahed didn't know anything about the information on the laptop or the items in the trunk of the car Mohamed was driving when he was stopped for speeding. Allen said the students were on an innocent road trip to Sunset Beach, N.C., which was the destination programmed into the GPS unit in the car.

But a federal judge who denied bail for Megahed in October wasn't convinced, saying that the evidence available at the time "fails to establish or even suggest any innocent or wholesome explanation for the events" that led to the arrest of the students.

Megahed is a permanent resident of the United States who lives in Tampa with his family and was nearing graduation. Mohamed was a civil engineering graduate student who came to the university in January. He was in the country on a student visa.

Reader comments:

#1 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Lessons Learned:

1) Make sure you always have a copy of your LEUP when enroute to a rocket launch
2) Store all motors in appropriate containers
3) Smile and appreciate our law enforcement officers

jrcoxx on 02-05-2008 04:45 PM

#2 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Sugar motors with cat litter? Is this a new higher impulse CHO/KnO3 formula?

I wonder how much $$ has been wasted to date on this case.

denverdoc on 02-05-2008 04:57 PM

#3 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Cat littler can be wetted and then pressed into a nozzle. It is single use, but for that single use it works. I understand that is what Estes used for many years.

-Aaron

heada on 02-05-2008 05:36 PM

#4 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

The line in this story that bothers me was where the federal judge said that the suspect had not established the innocence of his intent. We have reason to fear terrorist acts. We must be vigilant. But, we must not sacrifice our principle of presumption of innocence.

Steve_Shannon on 02-05-2008 05:47 PM

#5 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

That what bugged me the most too, Steve.

Cat litter nozzles--no kidding. Well I guess the chief ingredient is clay. I thought water putty was used for these apps nowadays. But if it works, Meow!

denverdoc on 02-05-2008 05:51 PM

#6 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Quote:

Too late.

Just Jerry

Just Jerry on 02-05-2008 06:01 PM

#7 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Hey,

Wow, what a cool test situation to determine what is preperation for terrorism and what is interest in a hobby!

I think there needs to be a clear determination of what these were?

Were they "Sugar Rocket" motors for "model" rockets or for fireworks! If they were homemade composite solid rocket motors for interest in model rocketry that is one thing. BUT, if they were:

Fireworks: meaning go up in the air and explode, that is another story.

Rockets: meaning go up in the air and return to earth via parachute or ballistic recovery.

Regardless of anything just from the stories information so far: they were transporting the stuff illegally.

And, the rocketry community needs to distance themselves and differentiate themselves from anything todo with fireworks, even ballistic recovery model rockets.

The video: Oh man! Talk about something that will get you detained for an indeterminant duration! Did it have a disclaimer that this video is not to be used by persons who will use it against US persons or property. OEY!

I'm thinking it is illegal or at least dumb to make a video like that anyway!

It is all about the facts and the details!

Question: Why did the officers search their car?

Has anyone made a video to explain how to determine if stuff is for terrorist purposes or just for hobby purposes!

I miss the days when you could ride down the street passed the gate of a USAF base on your bicycle with a six foot long "MODEL" rocket of a qatush, and all the police would do is look at you and say to each other, "There goes that crazy boy with another rocket, guess we better call the fire department to let them know, AGAIN!"

This story is great it has a serious side and a noway they arrested you for that! I see a book deal and movie and TV appearances!

My prediction from all the information so far: They will be fined for transporting illegally, and serve as a learning experience about what you don't do, unless you want to be arrested an squeezed through the ringer!

SpaceCowboy on 02-06-2008 07:17 AM

#8 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Here's a youtube video showing a kid making a sugar motor with a kitty litter knozzle. Notice he's using fertilizer for the oxidizer..... ;-P

http://www.youtube.com/wat...G2g8BMJs&feature=related

porthos on 02-06-2008 12:54 PM

#9 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

can't beat that with a stick. To think I have invested thousands of dollars in rocketry....

denverdoc on 02-06-2008 01:13 PM

#10 Re: FBI: Students� �bombs� were fireworks

Quote:

can't beat that with a stick. To think I have invested thousands of dollars in rocketry....

Yeah, but then again you probably are too smart and careful to pound on sugar propellant with a steel ram and a two pound iron hammer while the propellant is contained in a pipe about ten inches from your bare legs, femoral artery, and crotch.

Steve_Shannon on 02-06-2008 01:18 PM

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