Authorities: How-to explosives video made by man arrested in SC
MEG KINNARD
Associated Press Writer
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/201449.html
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.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, who was indicted last month on federal charges, told authorities he made the video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries," according to an FBI agent's sworn statement filed Tuesday.

Mohamed said "he considered American troops, and those military forces fighting with the American military, to be invaders of Arab countries," according to the FBI agent's statement.

Mohamed attorney Lionel Lofton did not immediately respond to an e-mail or telephone message seeking comment.

The video was uploaded to YouTube, according to court documents, but it was not clear whether it was ever publicly viewed. A company spokeswoman said Thursday there was no way to verify if the video had ever appeared on the site.

Mohamed, 24, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, both engineering students at the University of South Florida, were indicted last month on federal charges of transporting explosives across state lines. The men were arrested in South Carolina on state charges that were dropped after the federal indictment.

Mohamed also faces a terrorism-related charge, which could be traced to the 12-minute video authorities found on a laptop computer when the men were stopped near the sprawling Charleston Naval Weapons Station, which houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.

In the video, Mohamed speaks in Arabic and "shows how a remote-control toy vehicle is constructed and operated, and gives instructions as to the range and distance the remote will operate," according to the FBI agent who searched the car.

The video's narrator also explains how to convert the vehicle into a detonator, according to the affidavit.

The sworn statement also detailed what was in the 2000 Toyota Camry: 20 feet of fuse, a box of .22-caliber bullets, a drill, several gallons of gasoline, PVC piping and gun powder.

That's enough to do considerable harm, said Michael Hopmeier, a mechanical engineer who has worked with the federal government on counterterrorism.

"It basically depends on how you used it," said Hopmeier, president of the Florida-based engineering consulting firm, Unconventional Concepts Inc. "Four gallons of gasoline, some black powder and cord, if you go and you stick it on top of a control valve that is part of a major facility, you could really cause some damage."

The men have claimed the explosive materials were for homemade fireworks. On Thursday, Megahed's attorney said his client didn't even know the materials were in the vehicle.

A recorded conversation between the men in the back of a patrol car shows the men discussed in Arabic what they told authorities and why they had gasoline, according to the sworn statement.

A judge earlier this week granted Megahed's attorneys' request requiring law enforcement to preserve the recording.

"I think it would be inappropriate for the government or the defense to understand this conversation by taking selective quotes spoken in a different language and translated and placed in a one-paragraph part of a search warrant affidavit," federal public defender Adam Allen said. "Even in that light, it doesn't appear from these quotes that he had any knowledge of the explosive materials in the vehicle."

Prosecutors are appealing a judge's ruling that Megahed, who is a permanent U.S. resident, may be released on $200,000 bail if his immediate family surrenders their passports and he doesn't have access to the Internet. Megahed remains in jail in Florida.

Mohamed, who is in the country on a student visa, remains in federal custody after waiving his right to a bail hearing.

Associated Press Writer Mitch Stacy in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.

Say it ain't so!

Well shit, imagine having to go through life with a name like "Megahed".

You would want to blow shit up too.


eta I wonder if he has any sisters?

Quoted: Say it ain't so!

Sorry, looks like those poor misunderstood engineering students were TERRORISTS

scum

This is My Shocked Face

Imigration control

Sudden Jihad Syndrome , or Connected to an organised group? Any guesses?

Quoted: ...connected to an organised group? Any guesses?

From what I've read, the current trend is away from centralized organization/control.  

Independent small groups are the latest fashion in terrorism, such as with the doctors who bungled a couple attacks in the UK.

Hrmmm.  Whoda thunkit?




-K

They are sooooo guilty anyway...They were caught on tape in the sqaud car talking in Arabic about the explosives and benzine and if they are going to tell the cops what it all is really for or not.

Comming soon to the land of infidels.

inconceivable

And a judge is offering one of these guys bail? Somebody needs removed from the bench.

Quoted: Quoted: Say it ain't so! Sorry, looks like those poor misunderstood engineering students were TERRORISTS

Yes they were/are.  Fry them!

Federal Judge.  Ain't gonna happen.  Life term.

Quoted: And a judge is offering one of these guys bail? Somebody needs removed from the bench.

They are TERRORISTS!!! and should be in Gitmo getting water boarded, not awaiting bail.

This 'Political Correctness' and fear of pissing off the Lib's is going to be the root cause of the demise of this Country...

Quoted: Quoted: ...connected to an organised group? Any guesses? From what I've read, the current trend is away from centralized organization/control.

Yeah, if you are just operating on your own the retaliation is just against you

I don't hear many groups "claiming" responsibility for terrorist acts these days
(before 911 several groups would sometimes "claim" for the same event)

While I don't doubt that they were up to no good, I hope that they found more that this...

The sworn statement also detailed what was in the 2000 Toyota Camry: 20 feet of fuse, a box of .22-caliber bullets, a drill, several gallons of gasoline, PVC piping and gun powder.

I have this in my vehicle more often than not (minus the 20' of cannon fuse).

Quoted: inconceivable

I do not think that word means what you think it means...

Looks like their school has REALLY earned their nickname, Jihad U

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/12/mystery-at-goose-creek-who-are-the-accused-pipe-bomb-boys/ Okay, now what the Tampa Tribune doesn’t tell you is that 12402 Pampas Place just happens to be the address of a home that had been rented previously to WISE (World and Islam Studies Enterprise), one of two groups founded by convicted jihad supporter Sami Al-Arian, who was a professor at University of South Florida–the same university that Megahed and Mohamed attend. Dan Riehl has much more. Tampa’s Fox 13 shows investigators removing PVC piping from the home:

So it actually was terrorism...

Quoted: Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, who was indicted last month on federal charges, told authorities he made the video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries," according to an FBI agent's sworn statement filed Tuesday.

"not terrorism"

Quoted: So it actually was terrorism...

Well.......they ARE actually terrorists, but they were probably just scouting at the time