FBI: Men caught near Navy base had fireworks

[unhappycamper]

FBI: Men caught near Navy base had fireworks
By Mitch Stacy - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 31, 2008 13:11:18 EST

TAMPA, Fla. — The FBI said two Egyptian college students arrested near a South Carolina Navy weapons station last year were carrying low-grade fireworks as they claimed, and not dangerous explosives as charged by federal prosecutors.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, engineering students at the University of South Florida, have been in jail since sheriff’s deputies found what they called bomb-making materials in the trunk of their car during a traffic stop near Charleston, S.C.

They were indicted on federal charges of transporting explosives illegally.

But an FBI report submitted to the court Wednesday by Megahed’s public defender said the items found in the trunk of the car — PVC pipe containing a mixture of sugar, potassium nitrate and cat litter — are ingredients for a “pyrotechnic mixture” that burned but didn’t explode in tests.

“Simply put, based on the FBI expert testing, the PVC pipes found in the trunk of the vehicle were harmless pyrotechnic materials similar to those found in fireworks and road flares,” wrote public defender Adam Allen in a motion asking a judge to reconsider letting Megahed out on bail.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_egyptians_080131/

[Ian David]

1. Well, at least it took up a few news cycles, didn't it? n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

2. What, another 'terrorist' plot coming undone!