Road trip, 'pipe bombs,' speeding, then arrests

Did two USF students in S.C. have a plan?

By ABBIE VANSICKLE, Times Staff Writer
Published August 7, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [John Pendygraft | Times] Lt. Meg Ross, PIO for the USF University Police takes questions during a press conference at USF concerning the arrest of two men, accused of having explosives in their car in Goose Creek, near Charleston, South Carolina. [John Pendygraft | Times] Jassim Aldeen, 22, President of the USF Muslim Student Association, right, talks to local media after a press conference at CAIR Tampa about the arrest of two men, accused of having explosives in their car in Goose Creek, near Charleston, South Carolina. Both Ahmed Bedier, Executive Director of the Tampa Chapter of CAIR, left, and Aldeen believe race was a factor in the arrests.

TAMPA - The arrest of two University of South Florida students found with several suspected pipe bombs near a South Carolina naval base raised more questions than it answered.

The two men in their twenties -- Ahmed Abda Mohamed, an engineering graduate student, and Yousef Samir Megahed, an undergraduate -- were arrested Saturday in rural Goose Creek, S.C., accused of possession of an explosive device.

By Monday, much about the pair's motives remained a mystery. State and federal agents teamed up to determine whether there might be terrorism ties. Goose Creek is the site of the Naval Weapons Station, the home of a military prison that has housed enemy combatants.

Local Muslims leaders wondered whether it was a case of racial profiling: Mohamed is from Kuwait; Megahed's family is from Egypt. Both are in the country legally.

"Had they been two white kids, nobody would be asking those questions," said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of Tampa's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

On Saturday afternoon, a Berkeley County sheriff's deputy clocked a Toyota Camry going 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. The deputy pulled over the car, driven by Mohamed, on U.S. 176, about 7 miles from the Navy base.

Deputy Lamar Blakley wrote a citation, but he became suspicious when the men quickly put away a laptop computer, investigators said.

The deputy asked to search the car, according to an incident report.

Initial news reports said the men told investigators they had fireworks in the car. In the trunk, Blakley found what appeared to be "several pipe bombs," according to a Sheriff's Office report.

The deputy called for backup and asked two bomb technicians what they thought. They confirmed his suspicions, according to the report.

Deputies read the pair their rights, and Mohamed said he made the devices from components he bought at Wal-Mart, according to the report. Wal-Mart did not respond to a reporter's inquiry.

The men were booked into jail, where they were held on charges of possession of an explosive device, a felony that carried a punishment of up to 15 years, the report states. A judge set bail for Mohamed at $500,000; bail for Megahed at $300,000.

A prosecutor asked for a high bond, saying the men were dangerous and a flight risk.

Those accusations don't square with what Bedier heard from their family and friends.

Mohamed, of 2107 E Nedro Road, moved to Tampa in January to pursue a graduate degree in engineering after studying at a university in Egypt, according to USF officials. Bedier said that Mohamed graduated at the top of his class from a prestigious program in civil and environmental engineering and that he served as a research and teaching assistant at USF.

Megahed, of 4959 Anniston Circle, is known in the local Muslim community as a kind man with a good sense of humor, Bedier said, and his family has lived in Tampa for several years. As a student at USF, he took engineering classes, although he has yet to declare a major, according to Bedier and university officials.

Jail and arrest records show Megahed is 21. They list two dates of birth for Mohamed, making him 24 or 26. Records also conflict over spelling of his second middle name, either Sherf or Sherif. Neither man has a Florida criminal record, state records show.

Bedier heard of the arrests Sunday evening, when Megahed's family, who live in Tampa, called after seeing his photograph on the television news.

Here's what the family knows, Bedier says:

Megahed had hatched a plan for a road trip. He wanted to see the coast, see the Carolinas, Bedier said.

He asked his friends to come along, said it would only cost $30 to $40 per person in gas money, Bedier said. Mohamed took him up on the offer, and the two left Tampa on Friday night, sometime around midnight. Megahed's family isn't sure where the men went or whether they had a destination, Bedier said.

The next thing they heard, Megahed was in jail. Megahed's brother and a CAIR staffer flew to South Carolina on Monday morning, where Megahed's family hired defense attorney Dennis Rhoad to represent the men at a bail hearing. Rhoad did not return a call for comment.

Bedier said he had problems with the accusations.

"We're really concerned about the lack of evidence in this case," he said.

Jassim Aldeen, the 22-year-old president of USF's Muslim Student Association, said he was stunned to learn of the arrests. He knows Megahed and said he doesn't believe there's any truth to the accusations.

"I wanted to hear the facts," he said. "He's very friendly. Every time he speaks he tells a joke."

Staff writer Kevin Graham and news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press and the Charleston Post and Courier. Abbie VanSickle can be reached (813) 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 7, 2007, 00:01:27]