Thread: illegal alien student arrested After Pilot Uniform found!

The Associated Press
Friday, September 16, 2005; 3:22 PM



MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A university student from Egypt was ordered held without bond after prosecutors said they found a pilot's uniform, chart of Memphis International Airport and a DVD titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act" in his apartment.

The FBI is investigating whether Mahmoud Maawad, 29, had any connection to terrorists. He is awaiting trial on charges of wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.

Maawad, who is in the United States illegally, told the judge during a hearing Thursday that he is studying science and economics at the University of Memphis.

"My school is everything. I stay in this country for seven years; I stay for the school," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Parker said Thursday that the airport-related items were found during a Sept. 9 search.

"The specific facts and circumstances are scary," Parker said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Thomas Anderson ruled that Maawad be held without bond.

"It is hard for the court to understand why he has a large concentration of those (aviation) items, and nothing else to indicate Mr. Maawad plans to stay in the community," Anderson said.

Maawad had ordered $3,000 in aviation materials, including DVDs titled "Ups and Downs of Takeoffs and Landings," "Airplane Talk," "Mental Math for Pilots" and "Mastering GPS Flying," FBI agent Thad Gulczynski testified.

The company reported Maawad to authorities when he didn't pay for $2,500 of merchandise it had delivered, Gulczynski said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 86_pf.html

I dont think you guys read this one on the first run.

BTTT

W

I've read through it twice.

A university student from Egypt was ordered held without bond after prosecutors said they found a pilot's uniform, chart of Memphis International Airport and a DVD titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act" in his apartment.

I was curious about this, so I checked it out.

You can order your own copy here:

http://www.aviationworld.net/product...D=4255&cID=674

I'm still looking to see if they have a DVD titled "A Short Course for Pilots Who Don't Need to Know How to Land".

I want to know if this guy was going to college at in-state tuition rates.

W

added to homepage

http://www.alipac.us/article723.html

In Tennessee, in-state tuition can be offered only to those students who can both offer proof they have lived here and can supply proof of legal immigration status, according to Sherian Huddleston, assistant vice provost for enrollment services at Middle Tennessee State University.

http://www.tennessean.com/education/...39381157.shtml

But who knows without looking at him tuition bill?

This is way too scary.

The FBI is investigating whether Mahmoud Maawad, 29, had any connection to terrorists. He is awaiting trial on charges of wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.

I hope that they don't come to the conclusion that he was preparing for Halloween, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... v=LUESMuat

Student Investigated by the FBI
Sep 30, 2005, 03:41 PM
Reported by Kevin Landers

An Ohio company gets credit from the FBI for putting an immigrant student, who raised suspicions when he tried to order thousands of dollars worth of pilot information, in federal custody.

What raised the red flag is the credit card he used was declined. It was then that federal agents began to investigate.

Mahmoud Maawad is an Egyptian-born citizen living in the U.S. illegally. According to an affidavit, Maawad "placed 11 orders by wire" to Sporty's Pilot Shop located near Cincinnati "for flight equipment."

FBI agents say the 29-year-old logged on to the website for Sporty's Pilot Shop and tried to buy $3,300 in merchandise, including pilot clothes, airline software, an airport map and a DVD entitled, "How An Airline Pilot Should Look."

There's nothing illegal about that, but when the credit card was rejected for lack of funds, the store called the authorities.

FBI agents later raided his apartment in Memphis and discovered a fake social security number that they say he used to open a credit card account and enroll at the University of Memphis. They also found flight simulation software and detailed information of the Memphis airport.

Agents say Maawad once attended Bergen Community College in Patterson, New Jersey, the same city where six of the of September 11th hijackers lived.

Maawad's visa expired five years ago. He's currently charged with using a fake social security card and wire fraud. The FBI says it has no evidence that he has any connection to a terrorist group.

Sporty's Pilot Shop says it doesn't comment on issues of national security.

What gets me is even after it was discovered that Atta and freinds were found to have taken flight lessons in FLA, this 'Sporty' airplane club wasn't suspicious about the name 'Mahmoud Maawad' requesting flight info. If the credit card did go through, would suspicions been raised anyway? This might be a form of racial profiling, but hey, guess what, that's too damn bad. If we hadn't profiled after Pearl, we would have been in deep S---. I don't care what is politikally korrekt. Being politikally korrekt and a buck will only get you a cup of java. Being politikally korrekt means having no convictions.