FBI: Pair sought to hurt troops

A seized computer held lots of material on bombmaking, a report says.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published September 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Yousef Samir Megahed face federal arraignment on Oct. 3. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed has bomb-making information on his laptop. Tampabay.com report Complete coverage: USF students under suspicion

TAMPA - A suspended University of South Florida student facing explosives charges regarded American troops and U.S. allies as invaders of Arab countries, an FBI agent says in federal court documents filed this week.

The agent's affidavit gives more details about a secretly taped conversation between Ahmed Mohamed, 26, and fellow student Youssef Megahed, 21, and also about the contents of Mohamed's laptop.

In a sworn affidavit, FBI Special Agent Daniel J. McTavish said that when agents searched Mohamed's hard drive they found a folder named "Bomb Shock." It contained files of information on explosives, explosive ingredients and downloads from Web sites about explosives.

Investigators also found another folder labeled "High-Order Explosives," which included information on the composition and use of explosives, including TNT and C-4.

McTavish gave sworn testimony about the case in a court petition to more extensively search the car Mohamed and Megahed drove when a deputy pulled them over Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, S.C.

The deputy stopped the men for speeding and searched their car when he became suspicious.

Most of the details in McTavish's affidavit, filed Tuesday in a Charleston, S.C., federal court, already became public during a Sept. 14 bond hearing in Tampa.

The 2000 Toyota Camry the men drove remained in the custody of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina as of last week, McTavish said.

Mohamed's laptop also contained a 12-minute video on transforming a toy remote-controlled car into a detonator. The face of the man narrating the video wasn't seen, but FBI investigators said Mohamed admitted it was him.

"He explained that he made the tape to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries," McTavish said in his statement.

And Mohamed "added that the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States," he said.

When the men were stopped and their car searched, investigators also found pieces of PVC pipe cut into various sizes and filled with potassium nitrate, a box of .22-caliber bullets, an electric drill and gasoline.

The men were secretly recorded as they spoke in Arabic while being taken to the Sheriff's Office. According to the FBI report, Megahed said to Mohamed that he told investigators the gasoline was for the car.

The two men remain in a Hillsborough County jail awaiting a federal trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizza has scheduled an arraignment in his courtroom for both men on Oct. 3.

[Last modified September 27, 2007, 23:22:09]