Even More Confused

I stayed off this particular story when it broke yesterday because it seemed a bit confused about what was happening. Two men, of Middle Eastern origin, were arrested in South Carolina with what appeared to be explosives. The facts known at the time were that and that the bomb squad had detonated something. There was supposed to be a press conference about it today.

Only I cannot find any press reports about the conference.

I can find denials from the FBI that the arrests were terror related. Some reports that the "explosives" were actually fireworks. Some later reports that it was "too soon to tell" if it was terror related. And exactly one story about what happened today: a judge placed a more than half-million dollar bond on the two men. Local police insist that there were pipe bombs found in the car. Oh, and CAIR jumped in.

GOOSE CREEK — Pipe bombs were found Saturday in the trunk of a car being driven by two Florida college students, according to court documents.

Now the men will have to post a combined $800,000 in bond to get out of jail, a circuit judge decided this afternoon.

Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, have been charged with possession of an incendiary device, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt announced today. If convicted of the charges, the men could face between 2 to 15 years in prison.

Mohamed’s bond was set at $500,000 while Megahed’s was set at $300,000.

Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said the men were pulled over Saturday night on U.S. Highway 176 while driving more than 60 mph in a 45-mph zone. When an officer approached the car, he saw one of them men fold a laptop computer, which the officer believed was suspicious, DeWitt said.

The officer asked them if he could search the car, which the men agreed to. When he asked if there was anything in the car he should know about, the men said there were fireworks in the trunk.

The only press conference appears to have been held at the South Florida college the men were "attending". A few credit hours each - not enough to be considered full time students. Why is this suddenly a dead story? There are a lot of things here that should have a journalist's hackles up at full alert.

UPDATE: This item just popped up over at Memeorandum:

Authorities: Men Had Pipe Bombs in Their Car

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say two Middle Eastern men arrested near a Navy base had several pipe bombs in their car.

Authorities say 24-year-old Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed and 21-year-old Yousef Samir Megahed were charged Monday with possession of an incendiary device.

An FBI spokeswoman says a joint state-federal investigation is under way to see if there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held.

Well, it's something, anyway.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Update: Even More Confused — Monday, 6 August , 2007 @ 10:36 pm