Apr. 16, 2008

New charges filed against Egyptian students

TAMPA, Fla. --A federal grand jury added more charges Wednesday against two Egyptian college students accused of carrying illegal explosives in their car in South Carolina last year.

Less than two weeks before their scheduled trial, federal prosecutors sought from the grand jury a new indictment charging former University of South Florida students Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21.

Added charges include illegal possession of a destructive device and a count accusing Mohamed of supporting terrorism.

Deputies in South Carolina who stopped their car Aug. 4 say they found items to build pipe bombs in the trunk. The men contend those items - PVC pipe containing a mixture of sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter, plus fuses - were ingredients for homemade, low-grade fireworks.

But also in the car, prosecutors say, was a laptop computer containing a video Mohamed made to demonstrate how to turn a remote-control toy into a detonator for a bomb.

According to an FBI affidavit, Mohamed told authorities he made the video "to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries."

Included in the new indictment are charges against Mohamed of providing material support to terrorism, carrying a destructive device relating to that support of terrorism, and two counts of possessing a firearm in violation of his visa rules. Those are besides the original charge of making the video to demonstrate the use of explosives.

The firearms charges relate to visits prosecutors say he made to a Tampa shooting range. Under the terms of his student visa, he was not allowed to have guns.

Both men were already charged with illegally transporting explosive materials.

Federal prosecutors have yet to present any evidence linking the men - who were stopped for speeding near a Charleston, S.C., naval weapons station - to a specific plan to carry out any terrorist act. The men told authorities they were on an innocent college road trip to see Carolina beaches.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Cole declined to comment on the indictment Wednesday. One of Mohamed's attorneys, Linda Moreno, also declined to comment.

Megahed's attorney, Adam Allen, said the new indictment "shows me that (prosecutors) have no additional evidence that my client was involved in anything unlawful."

"It also shows the government may have had some concern with their ability to show these items were explosive materials, and now they are going to proceed with the alternative theory that it was a destructive device," he said.

If convicted of all charges, Mohamed could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison. Megahed could get up to 20 years.

Their trial on the explosives charges is scheduled for April 28. Mohamed will be tried on the other charges later.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/419130.html