A vehicle with explosives being driven by two Middle Eastern men were stopped in Charleston:
Local police outside Charleston, South Carolina stopped a vehicle in which they found what were suspected to be explosives, according to media reports late Saturday.
Two men described as being of possibly Middle Eastern origin were in the vehicle, which was stopped on a highway.
A police bomb squad was at the scene and preparing to examine the vehicle, a local television reported told the Cable News Network
Still early in the investigation but more news should be out soon.
UPDATE
A bit more:
The FBI and the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department are investigating what they think are explosives found in a car in Goose Creek.
Police say part of Highway 176 in Berkeley County is closed, and traffic is limited to local residents around Mount Holly Road.
WIS News 10′s sister station in Charleston, WCBD, reports authorities pulled over a suspicious car at around 6:00pm Saturday. Officers asked to search the vehicles, and discovered what investigators say are "possible explosives" located in the trunk.
Once federal agents were brought in and analyzed the situation, an FBI-controlled robot pulled a bag filled with the suspicious items from the vehicle.
The two men inside the vehicle, which is reported to have Florida tags, have been detained at the scene.
UPDATE II
Even more:
According to Lt. Vince Lombardo, deputies discovered the suspicious items in the trunk during a traffic stop. The two men inside the vehicle are detained at the scene. Lombardo also said information from an investigation in another jurisdiction raised the suspicions of the deputies.
And from a commenter at FR:
Goose Creek is the location of a large naval base. The base is open many areas. There are some areas on the base where the number of military casualties could be fairly sizable on a Saturday night. For that matter, a lot of military dependents could be included. These guys need 50 feet of rope between them after six months with an Egyptian interrogator.
The plot grows thicker
UPDATE III
Well, it appears it went from explosives to items of interest overnight:
A highway was shut down outside Charleston after police found a "suspicious item" in a car during a traffic stop, authorities said Sunday.
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon would not say what the item was, but said that a bomb squad planned to demolish it.
Cannon said two men who were in the car were still at the scene at 2 a.m. An FBI agent said officials were trying to determine whether a crime had been committed.
Julie Johnson, assistant special agent-in-charge for the FBI in Columbia, said there was "no immediate threat," The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported late Saturday.
Law enforcement officials closed the road about 7 p.m. after the traffic stop in Goose Creek, home to the Naval Weapons Station. The station houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.
The traffic stop took place about 7 miles from the sprawling Navy facility.
Johnson said the FBI was still trying to determine whether a crime had been committed but that there was "no immediate threat" related to the traffic stop.
But it does appear it was an explosive of some kind, just not a huge one. The bomb squad detonated it and it went "pop"…not "boom":
The item made a loud bang, similar to a firecracker, when it was demolished, authorities said.
But the men were being held for possession of explosives:
Berkeley County sheriff’s Lt. Vince Lombard said the men were being held pending a charge of unlawful possession of an explosive device.
Now, I’m guessing a pipe bomb. It would not be illegal fireworks because I’ve never heard of anyone calling out the bomb squad over fireworks. From a commenter:
176 leads right into the Naval Weapons Station. It isn’t military families at risk. NWS is the home of 2 sub squadrons and also the storage depot for our nukes and up to 60 million lbs. of conventional ordinance.
Hmmm
UPDATE IV
Just saw on CNN that the two men were not US citizens, were of Middle Eastern decent, and aged 21 and 24. Trying to find word of this on the wires right now.
UPDATE V
CNN, which seems to be the only station reporting on this, is reporting that illegal firearms were found in the car along with one explosive device and igniters. Still haven’t seen anything in print.
UPDATE VI
Finally! ABC news via The Corner:
Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car. The men had at least one ready to go bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals. The men 21-year-old Yousef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed were pulled over Saturday evening during a routine traffic stop near Myers Road and Highway 176. Among the explosive devices found were igniters and fusers. Few details about the suspects are known at this time. They are believed to be students at a Florida college. They are of Middle Eastern descent and are not US citizens. Neither man has been charged, but charges are expected Monday. A press conference will be held at the Berkeley County Sheriff’s office Monday at 11:30 in the morning. Among the potential charges is possession of unlawful explosives. Officials are not at this time releasing any additional information on the number of charges or types of explosive devices they found.
Could be fireworks, could be something else. Either way its mighty strange for these two to have this stuff near that Navy base.
UPDATE VII
Changed the title and took out "loaded" since it now appears that explosives was indeed found but not a huge amount. Enough to cause suspicion tho. Two non-US Middle Eastern men driving by a Nuclear training base with explosive making material is just a bit suspicious.
Dan Riehl has the pictures of the suspects:
UPDATE VIII 08-06-07
Andy McCarthy with some additional information:
In the late evening on Saturday, two non-Americans of Middle Eastern descent, Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed, who appear to be in the U.S. to pursue engineering studies in Florida, were pulled over for speeding in a van on Highway 176 in Goose Creek, near Charleston, South Carolina. Goose Creek is home to the United States Naval Weapons Station, which, among other things, houses the brig where some U.S. citizens alleged to be unlawful enemy combatants have been held.
One of the men reportedly tried to hide a laptop computer. Police became suspicious. Eventually, the vehicle was searched. Initially, there was a report that one completed bomb and other explosives related compounds were found. Later reports indicate that police found PVC (polyvinyl Chloride) piping (which can be used in making pipe bombs but also has many other industrial uses), model rocket motors (model rocket engine igniters can also be used as charges for pipe bombs), and other "suspicious" materials which have not been revealed yet (to make pipe bombs you would need some kind of explosive substance).
Police closed the highway for several hours, well into Sunday morning. Moreover, at about 2:45 a.m., they did a controlled detonation of something — not yet described although it apparently sounded to witnesses like fireworks.
The FBI is said to be casting doubt on whether there really was a bomb. Based on what we think we know, this sounds to me like there could be a dispute about whether the components were assembled into something that would qualify under the federal bomb laws (18 USC Sec. 841) as an "explosive material" — as opposed to either (a) uncoupled "blasting agents" and "detonators," which might indicate an intention to assemble bombs, or (b) something totally innocent, which would suggest there has been misreporting about what was found in the van. I do not know whether South Carolina law defines bombs (or "explosive materials") the same way federal law does.
An FBI spokesman is also reported to have said there are no "links to terrorism." As the possession of a bomb would actually be an incident of terrorism, not merely a link to it, I have to think this means there is — at least as yet — no indication that the men being detained have ties to known foreign terrorist organizations. As the intelligence community’s recently released NIE related, however, the mass availability of jihadist ideology (via the Internet in particular) is catalyzing jihadism even in the absence of formal connections to a group like al Qaeda. Thus, the lack of links to known terrorist groups would not be very comforting. I’d also observe that it’s been less than two days since these guys were arrested (on a late Saturday night no less), so there has hardly been time yet to do a thorough investigation of their backgrounds and associations.
It will be interesting to hear what the state authorities have to say.
UPDATE: Charleston Post & Courier reports that the vehicle was a sedan, not a van. Press conference is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Any charges filed at this point will be state, not federal. A CAIR spokesman says it’s all a misunderstanding according to the family — the two men are "really naive kids" who were riding around on a pleasure trip to South Carolina in a car that happened to have fireworks left over from the 4th of July. Feds are continuing to investigate but, again, saying that there are no known links to terrorism at this point.
All just a misunderstanding you see? Out for a pleasure ride.
Yeah….
UPDATE IX 1155hrs PST
Andy McCarthy with some update info:
Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been charged by authorities in South Carolina with possession of an incendiary advice, a felony punishable by at least two and up to fifteen years’ imprisonment. AP quotes the sheriff as saying: "They admitted to having what they said were fireworks. Based on the officer’s judgment at hand, based on what he had seen, we judged it to be other than fireworks." Authorities remain tight-lipped about exactly what they found in the car. Their bomb technicians did detonate something seized from the car at 2:45 a.m. Sunday.
The two are engineering students at the University of South Florida’s campus at Tampa — the same school where Prof. Sami al-Arian, while a computer science professor USF’s College of Engineering, was running an outpost of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. Al-Arian pled guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to PIJ. The FBI, it should be noted, has not altered its earlier statement that no terror ties have been established.
Got to love the FBI, play down anything related to terrorism.
Middle Eastern men driving around with explosives….what terrorism?
UPDATE X 1935hrs PST
Pretty high bail set for a couple of rocket enthusiasts huh?
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.
Just out for a little Sunday drive with their toy rockets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
UPDATE XI 08-07-07 0820hrs PST
Now these guys were on the way to North Carolina on a road which would not get them there and the passenger was on his laptop while the driver sped by the base.
The leader of a Muslim advocacy group who has been talking with Megahed’s family said the two were heading to North Carolina to celebrate Mohamed’s birthday, which was Sunday.
"Family members are very concerned, shocked about what has developed," said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The contents of the trunk might have been part of the celebration, he said.
~~~An affidavit from the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said officers from the bomb squad determined that pipe bombs were in the trunk. Pipe bombs are homemade explosives, and making or having them is a felony.
~~~A Berkeley County deputy said he pulled over the 2000 Toyota Camry for going more than 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. Megahed was driving. Mohamed was using a laptop computer in the passenger’s seat and closed it when a deputy approached, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said.
The deputy asked to search the car, and the two consented, DeWitt said. When the deputy asked if there was anything in the car he should be aware of, the men said there were fireworks in the trunk, DeWitt said.
The laptop, along with everything else seized from the car, was handed over to the FBI for processing, DeWitt said, declining to elaborate on what they seized or the specific materials found in the trunk.
The FBI also wasn’t saying anything definite about what they found. "Right now, we’re still in the investigative stages," said Denise Taiste, an FBI spokeswoman in Columbia.
Mike in the comment section:
Interesting that the two men claim they were on their way to a brother’s birthday party in North Carolina. If so, they were seriously on the wrong road. If they were heading from Florida to North Carolina there’s no good reason they would have gotten off I-95 and gone East.
Nope, the whole story seems a bit too made up for me.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing this all over the MSM any minute now…
176 leads right into the Naval Weapons Station. It isn’t military families at risk. NWS is the home of 2 sub squadrons and also the storage depot for our nukes and up to 60 million lbs. of conventional ordinance. My husband was stationed there for 3 years as the Dockmaster on the floating drydock that docked our nuclear submarines for repairs. They have the tightest security of any base we were ever stationed at in 26 years in the Navy. See: for map and more.
BREAKING NEWS: Explosives Found Near Goose Creek, South Carolina
This does not sound good. My husband spent the last three years of his Navy career stationed at the Naval Weapons Station, located in Goose Creek, South Carolina. He was the Dockmaster on the floating drydock, USS Alamogordo. The Gordo's main p…
Terror Plot in South Carolina?
A highway outside Charleston, South Carolina has been closed for several hours after police stopped a vehicle and found explosives in the trunk.Julie Johnson, assistant special agent-in-charge for the FBI in Columbia, said there was no immediate threat…
” Lombardo also said information from an investigation in another jurisdiction raised the suspicions of the deputies.”
Too bad its completely false.
Completely false huh? Bomb squad detonated the item and the men were arrested for possession of explosives. Sounds completely false to me.
Go away lefty
yes…if you count a firecracker as a bomb, then yes it was true
Curt, you wrote:
“A vehicle loaded with explosives being driven by two Middle Eastern men were stopped in Charleston…”
Then go to the quote:
“Two men described as being of possibly Middle Eastern origin were in the vehicle, which was stopped on a highway.”
???
Yeah, we call out the bombsquad for firecrackers all the time.
Sigh….
Your question?
they bought some fireworks and got pulled over big deal. stop blowing it out of proportion because of what you saw on CNN.
Ever heard of a “Dry Run”?
Geez you guys are dense. They do not call bomb squads for fireworks. Fire department, yes. Bomb squads and controlled demolition, no.
This is not rocket science lefty.
All nukes were taken apart and moved from Goose Creek in 1996. Don’t get evryone in an uproar. Newscasters are saying, “Car ‘loaded’ with explosives!” They found a small amount that didn’t even hurt the ears of the EOD team tat detonated it.
Newscasters said that last night but if you had read my whole post you would have seen that was changed. On the base:
Along with these two ballistic submarines.
Kinda tells me any story where two middle eastern men are found with explosives is something that should be commented on.
Now this is funny. Some anti-nuke idiots are going to be protesting at the base tomorrow.
They were substances to use for making home made fireworks…like I said…they just said it on cnn…though it is scary at first, I dont know why you would jump to conclusions and put up a post saying “loaded with explosives”…seems like an agenda to me
Substances to make home made fireworks, meaning….explosives. Being carried by two non-US men of Middle Eastern decent next to a Navy base.
Yeah, why would I want to report on that…
Rofl, who has the agenda here exactly?
Damn, but there’s a lot of “dry” and “semi-wet” runs lately.
“The FBI said on Sunday that there was no evidence of a terrorism link in the case of two college engineering students who possessed explosive materials in South Carolina over the weekend.”
YGBFSM! No link to terrorism?
The fucking FBI wouldn’t know a fucking terrorist if he came up and hit them in the mouth.
Famous
But
Incompetent
There are clearly a lot of redflags here that indicate this is probably more than a fireworks incident. It seems like they have done a pretty good job of keeping a lid on this story which is very suspect to me. However, I don’t think realistically Charleston would have been a target, despite the fact there is Navy Base there. This was probably an operation in the developing stages. The fact that the vehicle was tagged in Florida is very key here. Why would they drive all the way up to Charleston with so many prime targets in Florida? Maybe they were on their way somewhere more important. Like Washington, D.C., where this week the security on Capitol Hill was upgraded after recent chatter gave way to clearer threats. In fact, the security upgrade was squarely focused on vehicle inspections. So there are a few possibilities. This was a plot in the middle stages of development and they were still aquiring materials to carry this out with. Or this was an imminent attack, focused on the Capitol and there are more suspects at large. There is a very clear reason why we can determine that there are more suspects at large and that reason is past history. In the Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania one vehicle ladden with a small amount of explosives was driven into the gate and detonated. Seconds there after a truck loaded with a large amount of explosives tore through the hole created by the first bombing and destroyed the embassies. Another possible target could have been the White House. In the recent torrent of Al Quaeda videos one featured a video of George Bush standing in the Rose Garden with flames super imposed on the White House. This could be a huge conclusive leap but it seems like a very serious situation in a very critical time as far as intelligence goes and like the old saying goes where there’s smoke there’s fire. I see a whole lot of smoke around this one and I suspect that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes right now than we probably realize.
Maybe they were delivering a small amount of material for use later and were going to stash it for use by themselves or others as they didn’t seem to have a realistic plan at this point. Also, if that is possible then maybe the police and feds better be watching for more leads. I know, i know throw out the profilers, ha, ha, and be on the look out for little old grannies. Were they lost on the way to study hall??? Steve
Fireworks…yep, and if cops had pulled over Timothy McVeigh as he drove a truck load of fertilizer and drums of gas, he’d have just said, “Hey, I’m doing some farming.” Nah, I gotta go with the bomb squad idea…you don’t call them unless it’s serious.
Bottom line: They were NOT US CITIZENS, yet had firearms, explosives, precursors, and detonators (yet more proof that gun laws are useless).
They had explosives inside their vehicle. These were more than firecrackers. They also had detonators, and bomb making material in thier trunk. One does not need detonators for fireworks!
Lastly: They were under investigation in another jurisdiction, which made the police suspicious.
Yes the FBU seems incompetent, again, but these local police seem to be on the ball.
Meanwhile, a reporter who was investigating an Islamic business for ties to terrorists was executed and the left buries its head again.
2 charged with felonies in explosives scare; Authorities tightlipped on what was found in car
You couldn’t see my question? Okay, I’ll spell it out.
The article you linkd to and quoted said “described as Middle Eastern.” You play telelphone and pass it on to your readers as a fact that they’e Middle Eastern. That’s bad journalism, bad bloggin, and bad use of human communication in general. (It’s what the game telephone is supposed to teach us.)
And please, erase what you’ve already started to write. The fact that they did in fact turn out to be of Middle Eastern descent is not what I’m talking about. This was long before that was confirmed.
Hey look everybody, I played bad telephone….I feel so bad.
Go away Thom, the comments you post do not…let me make this clear…DO NOT make you appear to be an intelligent person. I understand this was the point in your comments but your really losing on that one. If you have something pertinent to the subject of the post, then comment….if not
Go away back to KOS where I’m sure they will welcome you back with open arms.
Deport all Muslims = Get rid of the problem
Thom: Guess what? The two men ARE Middle Eastern!
And now felony charges have been filed:
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/07/felony_charges12391/
Oh, and fireworks are legal in South Carolina. If we called the bomb squad out every time a car pulled out of the Fireworks Mega store we’d need to hire more bomb squad guys.
Interesting that the two men claim they were on their way to a brother’s birthday party in North Carolina. If so, they were seriously on the wrong road. If they were heading from Florida to North Carolina there’s no good reason they would have gotten off I-95 and gone East.
And who’s fiddling with a lap top computer when you’re getting pulled over for doing 60 mph in a 45 mph zone?
There are so many military facilities down here. I could name three that have played key roles in the Iraq war within a hundred mile radius of my house. So this story is something that concerns residents here.