Family says pipe bomb suspect innocent
'We have faith in the justice system,' sister says
By Andy Paras
'We have faith in the justice system,' sister says
Provided
Youssef Megahed, left, and Ahmed Mohamed.
MONCKS CORNER — Family members of Youssef Megahed plan to be in South Carolina today to talk with the 21-year-old University of South Florida student for the first time since his arrest on a charge of possessing an explosive.
Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, who is either 24 or 26 according to warrants, are accused of carrying pipe bombs in the trunk of a car Saturday night in Goose Creek. A judge has set bail at $300,000 for Megahed and $500,000 for Mohamed. They're being held in the Berkeley County jail.
Megahed's family spoke with reporters for the first time Thursday from their home in Tampa, saying their son has no links to terrorism. The two men were on their way to a North Carolina beach for a weekend road trip, they said.
Samir Megahed, 60, a civil engineer, said he plans to get his son released as soon as possible.
"I'm going to support him because I know he's innocent," the elder Megahed said. "He is innocent. I will not leave him in prison."
Both Megahed and Mohamed are Egyptian citizens living in the United States legally while attending classes at USF. Mohamed doesn't have family in the U.S.
Affidavits say authorities found pipe bombs in the trunk of Megahed's car on U.S. Highway 176 in Goose Creek. The vehicle was stopped not far from the Naval Weapons Station and a brig that has held federal terrorism suspects. Mohamed told a judge this week that a device he made from materials he bought at Wal-Mart was intended for fireworks.
Authorities have been tight-lipped about what was found in the trunk and what was detonated at the scene. They say materials in the trunk are being tested still.
Megahed's father, mother, sister and two brothers said they came to the U.S. because of this country's freedoms, and they think the evidence will exonerate him.
"We have faith in the justice system," said his sister, Mariam Megahed, 18. "We know they are working to find the truth."
Family members said Megahed is a typical college student, a mechanical engineering major who likes grilling out and scuba diving. They don't know what was in the trunk. He usually carried equipment for grilling, they said.
The family said they didn't know anything about fireworks and that the family didn't have any because of their subdivision rules.
When they learned of the arrest, the Megahed family said they knew it was a big deal. The family thinks their background is the reason it made national headlines.
"We're really concerned about his safety," said his older brother, Yahia Megahed, 24. "We think it's getting lots of attention, and it's not necessary."
Berkeley County sheriff's Deputy Butch Henerey said Thursday that both Megahed and Mohamed are being held in the maximum security area of the jail for their protection.
"They're eating, they're getting showers, they're being taken care of," Henerey said. "Nobody can even get to them. They're safe."
Abbie Vansickle of The St. Petersburg Times contributed to this story. Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com.
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billyoblog (anonymous) says...
He likes to Grill ????? Oh, that's rich. Are they now suggesting he has an excuse for propane tanks in his trunk too?? Or is he a charcoal kind of guy that likes to mix it with Potassium Nitrate? While we're at it, what happened to the "leftover fireworks from the fourth of July" story? How can that be if "the subdivision has rules". Give them a few more days, they'll find a story they like eventually and then I'm sure they'll be sticking to it.
"A typical college student".......yeah, with bombs in the trunk!!!!!!!!Give us a break. Will someone in the press PLEASE start ASKING some tough questions???!
August 10, 2007 at 1:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
"We think it's getting lots of attention and it's not necessary"
The brother is right and if it were not for the proislamic back room bloggers there would not be very many comments.
August 10, 2007 at 6:49 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charlene68 (anonymous) says...
Thank you cvs.... now I don't even have to post, cause what you said was exactly what I was going to say, thank you for that ....hahahha
August 10, 2007 at 8:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LI58 (anonymous) says...
I hope that law enforcement checks the trunk of the parents when they arrive in town as well.
August 10, 2007 at 9:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
This story is unfolding like a comedy. Thanks you guys for making it entertaining! LI58-that's a darn good idea! Either way, his parents think he's innocent. I'm sure everyone has their own hobbies-so grilling and scuba diving....who cares? Two words for these guys and their parents- too late.
August 10, 2007 at 10:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
Oh, and for his sister-"faith in the justice system," I feel the same way and hope it prevails in a totally different way than she does.
August 10, 2007 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MisWesaMoves (anonymous) says...
I'm with you Billyoblog! Many good points! So many twists and turns in the pieces of this nasty little puzzle...I, like, you anticipate with great interest, what story they will stick to. And to ye of little faith, as the old saying goes "It'll all come out in the wash" and our good ole SC "lawdogs" will eventually get the laundry done! Can I get a YEE-HAH!?!?
August 10, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Magpie (anonymous) says...
Pipe bombs, unless they are really, really big, don't blow up things like cars, etc. Pipe bombs are intended to render soft tissue injury/death with shrapnel. So just how does one use a pipe bomb as nothing more than innocent fireworks???
August 10, 2007 at 11:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kennyt (anonymous) says...
I heard one of their relatives say If this were white men they would not have even been stopped or charged for the fireworks in the trunk, well looks like they have been listening to Jesse and Al from there play book, just claim its a racial thing and plant that seed in peoples mind.
August 10, 2007 at 11:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
billyoblog (anonymous) says...
Magpie,
Don't quit your day job. First of all, there are 60 million pounds of ordinance at the Navy facility. Strategically placed, pipe bombs could do an awful lot of damage.
Second, you're either very young or you have ADD. Does the name Eric Rudolf ring a bell? Centennial park? Atlanta Olympic Bombing? Any of this coming back, Magpie?
Pipe bombs are exactly what they are described as being....BOMBS.......Ted Kazinski? Unabomber?.....gettin anything yet?
Pipe bombs are NOT innocent fireworks...
By the way, "Fireworks" is the word the SUSPECTS used to descibe the contents of the trunk. You know, the trunk of the car with the bumper sticker that said "Have you hugged your Quran today"
August 10, 2007 at 11:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rgr275 (anonymous) says...
cair has gone on record by stating that these two pipe bomb carrying egyptian muslims are victims of profiling. Frankly that cair is defending them should alert all involved that they are probably guilty. as for the family stating that the two are merely innocent students accused falsely, too many muslims have been shown to LIE as they have been taught to do, when accused of anything.
August 10, 2007 at 11:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MOMMA (anonymous) says...
FIREWORKS... I WONDER IF THEY EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, OR MAYBE TO THEM BOMBS ARE FIREWORKS. I MEAN THIS IS CRAZY. AS FOR THE COMMENT THE BROTHER MADE, IF IT WERE A WHITE PERSON THEY WOULDN'T BE IN ANY TROUBLE. YEAH RIGHT, I COULD CARE LESS WHAT COLOR YOU ARE, IF YOU HAVE A BOMB (FIREWORKS) YOU ARE IN SOME TROUBLE. THE LAW ENFORCEMENT DOES NOT PLAY AROUND WITH THIS CRAP. GRILLING? WHAT GRILLING PEOPLE? PLEASE WE ALL KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, IT'S JUST NO ONE WANTS TO SAY IT...
August 10, 2007 at 12:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Iwonder (anonymous) says...
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/10/Hil...
This article link says the family had no ideal where the final destination was for the two men.
August 10, 2007 at 12:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
billyoblog (anonymous) says...
Iwonder,
I suppose that's because their original 'story' of the 'kids' heading up to North Carolina for the weekend doesn't fit with where they were found. Soon we'll hear they were on there way to personally thank President Bush for standing up to those mean Al qaeda people.
August 10, 2007 at 12:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Iwonder (anonymous) says...
Well I just think that in the beginning it was a birthday trip but his family was already on vacation so I find it odd that he would leave his family on his birthday weekend to go on a trip and his family not have a clue where he was going and find it even stranger that they have never met the other guy but retained a lawyer for him. In the first story Tampa did they said that the family said the boys left at around midnight tampa to goose creek is a 7 hours drive where were they for the other 10 to 11 hours show us some gas reciepts or a hotel reciept
August 10, 2007 at 12:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
melissastewartoffice (anonymous) says...
whoa whoa whoa people!
innocent until proven guilty. thats what this country is supposed to be about.
police officers are barely required to have an education. lawyers and judges have years of education. Lets let them decide if these guys are guilty.
In the meantime lets try not to be so racist. these are after all people in jail.
If they really DID have a bunch of crap in their trunk (which most college boys do because they are SLOBS) and we are wrong and these guys spent jail time and had their faces on the news by the media who have made them out to be terrorists, I for one would feel terrible for trashing them on a NEWS site which is a place for FACTS. Not Billybobjoe opinions based on the fact they are from an Islamic background.
I wonder how many items are in my trunk that a professional could make into a bomb. Such as a little gas can with a little gas left in it, a little green clean machine, fertilizer i have yet to take out from my last trip to lowes, a marine battery from my sailboat, beach chairs have lots of metal in them, beach towels to soak the gas in or something, and I may EVEN HAVE FIRE WORKS IN THERE.
and i am a pretty, blond, excheerleader, white girl who went to private school.
you cannot judge people by their skin or by how much junk they have in their trunk. on that note i am going to clean my car out tonight.
August 10, 2007 at 12:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ME (anonymous) says...
Well pretty, blond, excheerleader, white girl who went to private school,
One can not ignore a preponderance of circumstantial evidence either. You are right, the legal system will handle it from here but we will probably hear nothing of it.
August 10, 2007 at 1:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
billyoblog (anonymous) says...
melissastewartoffice,
You haven't been following this thing , have you. If you had, you'd realize that for the last 5 days I have posted nothing but facts. Suppositions for the most part have been clearly marked. The Islamic angle simply shouldn't be overlooked, that is unless you want to ignore the events of (when it finally came to your attention) September 11th and since. Unless you want to ignore the fact we're at war and that war, despite what the politically correct will tell you, is based in religious ideologies.. Don't worry, it shouldn't effect your sailing.....yet. So, if my mention of them being fundementalist muslims offends you, fine. Call me a biggot then. However, don't infer that I am racist. Islam is not a race, it's a perverted religion that has no tolerance for any religion other than itself. It is incumbant upon every muslim to either convert the infidel or raise their sword to behead them.
I have many Arab friends. None are muslim. All will tell you that the muslims are an embarrassment. An albatroos holding the Arab world back from assimilating into the 21st century. Arab friends who don't cheer in the streets when buildings come crashing down filled with innocent Americans in twisted heaps of hot steel and broken glass. I was born and raised in New York. I watched the towers as they were built. I watched as those who I went to school with rode them to the ground to there horrible deaths. They were never guilty of anything. So maybe, just maybe, I'm a little more skeptical, a little more cautious, and alot more vigilant when it comes to 'incidents' like these. I don't want to see innocent people die anymore.
August 10, 2007 at 1:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MOMMA (anonymous) says...
I WENT ON LIVE 5 NEWS WEBSITE AND IT SAYS WHAT WASIN THE TRUNK WAS INDEED PIPE BOMBS. ANYONE SEEN THIS????
August 10, 2007 at 1:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MOMMA (anonymous) says...
BILLYOBLOG-- WELL SAID, VERY WELL SPOKEN!!!! I BACK WHAT YOU SAY 210%
August 10, 2007 at 1:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
melissastewartoffice...well good thing they didn't search your car. I don't see how anyone can overlook the fact that the items in the car were illegal-they broke the law. Racism and racial profiling are totally different entities. Racial profiling is used in the law because it's effective. Racism would've been relevant if they would have been pulled over because they look the way they do; unfortunately, they were speeding-consented to a search, and were busted with contraband in the trunk, not "a bunch of crap".
Billyoblog-I feel the same skepticism as you because I went through a lot of the same emotions watching the towers come down. It really does get your guard up because when incidents like these two pieces get caught, it brings back vivid memories.
August 10, 2007 at 1:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
I guess this is the difference from melissastewartoffice and me-i'm a pretty brunette, ex-cheerleader who went to public school. Funny how people think anyone cares about that, then go talking about racisms and prejudices.
August 10, 2007 at 1:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawneena (anonymous) says...
Don't those two guys remind anybody of the cavemen off the Geico commercials?
August 10, 2007 at 1:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jammer (anonymous) says...
the only people I can think of that would have all that in their trunk are terrorist muslims and dumb blondes... so what's your point cheerleader?? lol, just teasing
I know a ton of cops, and most have college degree's in criminal justice... many with masters...
as a matter of a fact it's been a requirement in many agencies for years
unless you're talking small towns and the occasion when they lower the standards because they can't find enough college educated people to work for under 30K a year to keep your a*s safe, which happens
and ahemmm it was pipe bombs they found along with jugs of urine - which is used in bomb making in the middle east, potassium nitrate, along with other materials in the trunk... not fireworks and punks to light them with
so do u have any urine in your trunk to go with those lawn chairs and fertilizer?
August 10, 2007 at 1:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
hawneena and jammer--you two are too funny. I didn't know there was urine in there---ewww. I think that's a dead give away though since it is used in bomb making in the middle east. Thanks for that info.
You know, who doesn't keep a big bottle of pee in their trunk? You're not cool unless you do...don't you know that! All the college kids are doin' it!
August 10, 2007 at 2:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
billyoblog (anonymous) says...
da9,
I guess it's OK for melissastewartoffice to judge the police as basically being uneducated based on their uniform..... However, when it comes to two muslim men in their 20's with explosives in their trunk near a Navy Base, that can't explain why they are there, who try to HIDE a laptop when they're pulled over, who's buddy skipped to Canada after the bust, who CAIR came running to the aid of screaming racial profiling, who's neighbor watched them take delivery of oxygen containers, who also said they left as though they didn't want to be found (just like the 911 hijackers), who give varying dates of birth, who give different spellings for their names, who claim the fireworks were "left over from the fourth of July", then claim they bought the materials at Wal Mart,...I don't know, what do you think? Are we being too hard on these 'poor college boys'?
August 10, 2007 at 2:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawneena (anonymous) says...
A jug of urine? Didn't know that. If you are having to save your urine for 24 hrs. for certain kidney function lab tests, then you could be excused. But.... they give you a special laboratory container for that. I bet their container didn't say Roche or Labcor on the label. LOL
August 10, 2007 at 4 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
da9 (anonymous) says...
billyoblog,
These guys are shady...people defending them are shady. CAIR is a joke, and it's so easy to play the race card. You said exactly what I couldn't put into words.
I don't think we're being hard enough. These kids were up to something and I'm wondering who else is involved. But, you know, if we keep them in and punish them hard we might be racist. Let em go-for all the pretty, blonde, ex-cheerleaders to defend out there.
As for the law enforcement here-I think they did a great job! If you want to offend them you better never call them or expect them to help you. Let the terrorists be your friends, maybe then you'll be satisfied.
August 10, 2007 at 4 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawneena (anonymous) says...
da9, love your 2nd paragraph. They say opposites attract you know.
August 10, 2007 at 4:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kennyt (anonymous) says...
Sometimes those blonde jokes fit!
August 10, 2007 at 5:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
melissastewartoffice (anonymous) says...
all i am saying is that we should not jump to conclusions. People have the right to a fair trial and this very well could be nothing turned into something huge because people like billybob over there have nothing else better to do than "follow a story for days".
Oh and by the way only a complete redneck jerkoff would call someone elses religion perverse. who else do you spread hate about? the gays? the jews? the african americans?
No no you are right. We should go back the good old days where only straight white males can vote and those A-rabs can get arrested for being the wrong color in the wrong town. Back when it was SAFE and women stayed in the kitchen sos they caint make no troubles for the men folks with their thinkin'. After all womens are just too "Scent-say-tive" to handle these type of thangs.
and we WONDER why south carolina is butt of all hillbilly redneck jokes. You dont have to watch "borat" to know how south carolina's white males think.
August 10, 2007 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
melissastewartoffice (anonymous) says...
oh and cvs im a lesbian so im not really looking for a husband but ill date you.
whats up...
God bless america
home of the free booty.
August 10, 2007 at 5:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wasarepublican (anonymous) says...
Billoblog:
Are you Jewish?
August 10, 2007 at 6:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kennyt (anonymous) says...
Melissa you sound like an angry white lady who is racist towards us here white southern boys. Do I need to say I am straight and should I say what I think of your sexual perfaces? I think you are a bitter anti-american women and you and that Sheehan nut who tries to impose her opinions on America by the way of the media must be lovers maybe and leave cvs alone you are committing sexual harassment on this blog!
August 10, 2007 at 7:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawneena (anonymous) says...
kennyt, you go! I love my Southern white males. I think she would prefer Rosie or maybe Janet.
You are right this is not a gay/lesbian forum.
You, Miss Lesbian, better leave cvs alone because she will kick your butt all over cyberspace.
August 10, 2007 at 8:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
dang, we went from kicking arab and muslim butts to kicking lesbian butts? This is one diverse forum. Yall leave this long haired computer programmers butt alone! It kicks back.
August 10, 2007 at 9:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawneena (anonymous) says...
Harpo, I don't know where that info came from. I have been searching the web for the latest updates and all of it is the same old news. Except for the site that called our local law officers "Redneck, cracker cops". Yep, they sure did.
August 10, 2007 at 10:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
poorboy (anonymous) says...
"They're eating, they're getting showers, they're being taken care of," Henerey said. "Nobody can even get to them. They're safe."
That's more than we can say about the 3000 people that were murdered by these types, Young Arab students in America supposedly getting an education. What are WE to think? We have been left with no choice but to be suspicious of all peoples from certain middle eastern countries.
Wakeup people! A little common sense here, do you ride around with "grilling" equip in YOUR TRUNK? Carry "fireworks" in YOUR TRUNK, go to NC via HWY 176 FROM FLORIDA? It just doesn't mesh does it? We're all just infedels anyway!
August 10, 2007 at 10:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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