Saturday night bomb scare Update: Map added Update: Sunday developments Update: Monday follow-up…charges filed
Update 8/6 1:45pm Eastern: Authorities are filing felony explosive charges against the two Middle Eastern men arrested over the weekend…”Authorities in South Carolina are filing charges against two men in connection with a weekend bomb scare. Yousef Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, are facing explosives charges. The two men are USF students. The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office reportedly found a bomb and bomb-making materials — including chemicals, fuses and igniters — in the trunk of the suspects’ car.”
If you believe CAIR, they’re just “naive” University of South Florida students who were on an innocent road trip.
Yeah, that University of South Florida.
Dan Riehl and John Little have more. Writes John: “This case has been weird from the start and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.”
Update 8/5 8:45pm Eastern. Law enforcement in SC will hold a press conference tomorrow on the case. John Little notes the odd handling of the incident to date. Dan Riehl notes the shifting MSM stories.
Here’s a photo of the suspects. Say cheese:
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 in Berkeley County on Monday morning. Among the potential charges is possession of unlawful explosives.
***
Tons of readers are e-mailing me about an incident tonight in Charleston, S.C. It’s way too early to tell what this is all about, but here’s a local report via PJM:
Goose Creek - Berkeley County police pulled over a vehicle in a routine traffic stop near Meyers Road and Highway 1-76 around 6 p.m. The vehicle with Florida tags was driven by two men of Middle Eastern descent. Inside police found explosive devices. Highway 1-76 near Goose Creek has since been shut down. In addition to the FBI (website) , authorities from Goose Creek, Berkeley County, and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are on scene. The Charleston County bomb squad has also been called. Officials on scene say that neighbors are in no immediate danger. They also report that they are unsure if a crime has been committed.
Dan Riehl is following developments.
Another local report, from WISTV, here:
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 via Allah: “No immediate threat.”
FWIW.
Update: Via commenter/blogger Pal2Pal, some interesting info about the area where the car was pulled over…
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 purpose was to dock our nuclear submarines for repairs. The weapons station was often closed to civilian traffic as they moved nukes and ordinance to and from ships with Marine guards on orders to shoot to kill.
Highway 176 leads to the base.
Map added…
Another interesting detail about the base:
Authorities closed a highway outside Charleston for more than five hours Saturday night after police found explosives in the trunk of a car, a newspaper reported, citing an FBI agent. Julie Johnson, assistant special agent-in-charge for the FBI in Columbia, said there was “no immediate threat,” according to The (Charleston) Post and Courier.
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.
John Little pulls together more interesting tidbits like this one in bold:
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 this one:
At 11:45 p.m., Julie Johnson, assistant special agent-in-charge, FBI-Columbia, told reporters amassed at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses that she would answer no questions, but that the FBI was still trying to determine if a crime had been committed.
She said the agency was working with state and local agencies, and that they were going to be there a long time.
Little reports: “I just got off the phone someone from the Naval Weapons Station. ‘Nobody has any comment’ is all I could get out of them. It was a very annoyed ‘no comment’ at that.”
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Categories: Goose Creek, Homeland Security
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Thanks for being on top of it, I had not heard and FXNWS is on in the background.
Careful AJ, but I agree
sorry….emotions got the better of me again…..
I’ll rephraise….Do we have to just ask them politely what they were up to?
No immediate threat???
There were BOMBS in the CAR. That’s pretty freaking immediate if you were to ask me.
I wish I had gotten to see aj’s original comment…
I don’t care how they ask. Get the information out of these two…
It has not yet been established that there were “bombs in the car.” There are conflicting reports.
Another trick to get a lawsuit?
Or cry about racial profiling.
Well, 176 leads right into the Naval Weapons Station, Goose Creek, SC and nowhere else. I wrote about it on my blog, but I’ll repeat, we were stationed there for 3 years and NSW is home to our nuclear submarines and nuclear ordinance and our Nuclear Traning Facility. And I’m not talking about a few guns and some ammo, more like 60 million lbs. of conventional ordinance and who knows how much nuke material and warheads. Civilians were not allowed on base when nuke material was being moved to or from subs or ships and Marine guards had orders to shoot to kill anyone approaching a transport vehicle.
Yeah, they “pulled over a suspicious vehicle”, makes ya wonder what they were doing that drew officers attention to them.
I knew Goose Creek rung a bell, but I couldn’t place it…
The cry will be “Driving while middle-eastern”…
So Mid-Eastern means they are from Ohio? Quakers again?
I knew we couldn’t trust those buggy-drivers…
Oh sure, they look all peaceful and propper in their vests and hats and long beards, but I knew they were up to something…
Hopefully, this turns out to be nothing, but our police seem particularly effective at pulling over would-be criminals, and worse, with “routine” traffic stops.
I tried to find a previous post from someone lamenting what she believed to be inadequate security at a Charlotte (SC?) shopping mall. It seemed kind of silly to me, unless one wishes that we raise our alert status to super-paranoid levels. Unfortunately, murderous Islamic death cultists can strike at random places and random times, but how much of our freedom do we voluntarily relinquish?
Picking up on another post, things are so convoluted right now across the board nationally that one can easily imagine this to be some kind of set-up to put the US on the defensive about racial profiling - so a real attack can be more easily carried out. They watch us minute by minute, and guage our responses accordingly, so this, absurdist as it sounds, is not at all impossible.
Therefore,
I hope it was an actual terrorist act about to be committed. Why? Because it gives us a better excuse in the face of the hords of ACLU lawyers to use such common-sense measures as racial profiling (yeah, I think it’s a perfectly intelligent, common-sense approach to law inforcement, as politically incorrect as it sounds) and the uncomfortable detention of suspects and anything else which common sense deems appropriate when dealing with murder on a gigantic scale being planned and designed by combatants who refuse to play by the rules of the Geneva Convention.
swj719AWG - Quakers don’t drive a buggy, the Amish do. They are very different. Quakers look like everyone else. Chelsea Clinton went to a private Quaker school in Washington. Swarthmore is a Quaker college. They have some of the best genealogy records in their church records of anyone in the U.S. but are best known for being conscientious objectors/pacifists.
It will be interesting to hear more in the morning as to the investigation of this incident …
if the individuals had explosives legally they should have been able to immediately produce their federal ATF license granting them permission to have them …
transporting explosives requires multiple levels of permits, special handling and proper vehicle markings … I don’t think that includes “a passenger vehicle” …
I have a friend who works in the professional fireworks display field who deals with immense scrutiny and legal hoops just to give us the pleasure of fireworks on July 4th and at ball games and such … so this sounds suspicious at first glance
Thanks as always Michelle …
No evidence it is terrorist so please don’t treat it as such, dont play into their hands.
I certainly hope the FBI agents on the scene remember the lessons learned at their sensitivity training sessions. Jerkoff and CAIR are watching.
Thanks for staying up late to keep the information flowing. MM.com and Hot Air have been my source of “important” news since last year’s war in Lebanon.
Whether or not there are bombs on the car, one thing is for sure, our guys are on guard and are doing yeoman’s work.
UPDATE for Allah, KP is on Fox and Friends and it’s 7:17AM!
from the DHS “it is not an act of terrorism” I guess that will be the next thing we hear because nothing says “not terrorism” like a car with bombs in it:-)
Waiting for the usual response: “We don’t know what this event is all about, but we are certain it isn’t related to terrorism!” :ROLLEYES:
Here is an interesting story for “not terrorism” in another country to our north.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/08/05/4394957-sun.html
still sounds fishy. maybe what they had in their trunk was just half the materials to make a bomb with the rest stashed somewhere close by in a safe house. I hope the Feds are monitoring these guys now, if they weren’t already. Now that makes me wonder why they were stopped in the first place. Are we really getting this lucky or is it possible the Feds relayed some information to the local authorities to check it out, just in case.
I’ve spent a good amount of time in Charleston…… Despite what Keith Olbermann (D) will have to say about it, That naval base is definately a high value target. All these reports have been spot on. They have housed some big name enemy combatants (i.e. Terrorists), and there are nukes a-plenty there.
Goose Creek, SC is also home to the Naval Nuclear Power Training Program and Nuclear Power Training Unit (Prototype).
Are we sure they are explosives? Maybe its just extra spicy hummus.
Interstate highway shut down in both directions, ATF, FBI, local bomb squad robot to remove “item” … must have been a non-event.
“No immediate threat”
Huh? For me every time a Muslim is found with any type of explosives its an immediate threat.
Most of my mother’s relatives are from Charleston…and a cousin in GC.
The naval base definitely could have been a target. Maybe even the Citadel…..now that would be interesting.
So far it sounds like a probe. I hope the Navy initiates renewed full background checks on any contractors at the facility and of course, all minor to mid level players with security clearances.
If this Nation is going to get hurt it will be by the people who are on the inside.
The idea that these kinds of high value attacks are being planned strictly from the outside would be naive on our parts.
After watching “BREACH” the other night we must be vigilant about our intelligence assets being used against us.
Another incident involving activities close to Naval Weapons installations.
In March of 2006, Adnan e-Shukrijumah Was sighted by eyewitnesses in Kern County California. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49061.
He is one of the FBI’s most wanted http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/elshukrijumah.htm. He has been described as the US’s most dangerous fugitive, and is believed to be the man in charge of plans for a nuke attack within the US http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46158.
What most people do not know is the Kern County is home to the US Navy’s weapons research center and serves as depot.
This current report of activity on the opposite coast from California involving a naval weapons center should be sounding alarms within Homeland Security.
I will be interested to see the cause of this “routine traffic stop”.
FROM : RIEHL WORLD VIEW
GOOSE CREEK, S.C. - Two men were detained after police found and detonated a suspicious item found in their car during a routine stop for a speeding violation on a highway near Charleston, Berkeley County sheriff’s Lt. Vince Lombard said Sunday morning.
Lombard said the men were being held pending a charge of unlawful possession of an explosive device, but he would not say what the device was or what bomb technicians from neighboring Charleston County exploded about 2:45 a.m. Sunday.
The item made a loud bang, similar to a firecracker, when it was demolished.
I can’t say what I’m thinking, Michelle would ban me for life;but no immediate threat, LOL
Dersu#33- on the case i see. Thanks.
PS: your “name” reminds me of one of the best movies i’ve ever seen “Dersu Uzala”….Russian flick.
lol backwards its US-RED….
A firecracker? Sure the NY Times wernt the drivers?
Updated story:
Possession of Unlawful Explosives Charges Being Prepared
I’m gonna hazard a guess that it was explosives…
No threat… Bull freaking shoot there was “no immediate threat”. My right… Ummm… Eye. Yeah, that’s it. My right eye.
It’s official. I shall now take the oposite position as DHS on all matters I don’t see coroborated by at least 3 sources.
My father calls it the “MacNamara Effect”.
fuses and caps, 2 muslim men with no right to be here. Think they came in from where.
Mexico maybe?
That is it, and the book is better.
I have the book and DVD.
Dersu my fictional hero.
Ronald Reagan my real life hero.
Soliders giving their limbs and lives for us, my war heroes.
For those that want to know more, click here
Why cant they just spill the beans and let us know what the heck is going on? Is there a time limit on the Freedom of information act or does that even play in?
AJ,
I should have said that Clinton news network reported:
fuses and caps, 2 muslim men with no right to be here.
CNN (Clinton news network) is about to have another report on it. After the commercial.
Sorry sate of affairs having to watch this channel, but they are on it.
FXNSW, have nor seen anything yet on it.
Not to say I did not miss it.
Yeah, I’ve read all the links from you guys (ty) but geez, I guess I’m just a lil impatient today. Between this story and the Hostages I’m goin nutso.
I have just added this update to Pal2Pal:
Afternoon update from abcnews.com:
If they are students, I may have heard CNN
incorrectly.
Likely here on student visa.
Not much better though, just a little.
Vewy Intawesting……..
Note: earlier reports say the “routine traffic stop” was based on info from another jurisdiction, so I don’t think it was so routine. They were watching for these guys and probably have info that they are part of a larger plot of some kind.
Well by now I’m sure alot of other places are being searched/investigated and the wheels are movin….Score 1 for the Home Team….
I dunno, Pal. If this were some kind of anti-terrorist operation I suspect the Feds would have closed in on these guys instead of the local police.
Chances are more than one cell node was heading in that direction making it necessary for the local gendarmes to make the grab.
Bet it dint take long for the Feds to show up.
Any guesses as to the odds of this scumbags/students being deported?
(these)
Word is they’s a hooskow for terrorists close at hand, ajm. No sense in puttin’ ‘em back on the “battlefield”.
I’m good with that if they stay say….4evah
jail first,then deport.
Let them make some new american friends in prison for a few years.
Going to my hunting camp for a few days, need to hear some gunfire.
You folks keep’em at bay!
Terrorism is an inside job…they have lotsa help.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/mark-steyn-jihad-1797347-exposs-column
I dunno, Pal. If this were some kind of anti-terrorist operation I suspect the Feds would have closed in on these guys instead of the local police.
The earliest news report I saw said the FBI was on the scene. That is what sent up my own red flags.
I hadn’t seen that, though I may have missed it.
The only way that scenerio would make sense would be if the Feds wanted these guys to believe it was just a “routine stop” in order to take them & the car into custory easier. Kind of a Rube Golbergian way of going about things, but I suppose it could happen.
make that “local ABC channel”.
purplepeep: from the abcnews4 report, I think their very first report:
As I understand the “traffic stop” was for speeding … and I know that in many areas law enforcement is cooperating with adjacent jurisdictions and requesting assistance so they can back off and give the appearance of the perps getting away so they drop their guard and also to lessen the chance of innocent bystanders getting hurt by the get-away attempt resulting in a big wreck …
Still seems to be conflicting reports as to exactly what they had …
As I mentioned in my earlier post (#16) it looks like the initial charges are going to be unauthorized possession of explosives … so no ATF license for possession or transport of explosives was issued to them …
Look forward to hearing what they have to say in that news conference on Monday
Thanks, Pal. But that doesn’t say they were there when these guys were pulled over.
I read it as the other officials were there after the fact.
They were “called in” as was the County bomb squad. If this were a planned terrorist bust I would expect Fed officers would have made the bust and had their own people on hand (e.g. instead of a County bomb squad)
And since this article - and all subsequent articles - state upfront that it was a routine stop it makes sense to me as it is without expanding.
You may think differently, though.
Yup, indeedy. I imagine there’s a lotta agencies checking out a lotta stuff on the two.
To tell the truth purplepeep, I didn’t really think it through that far. I see your point. I guess I made the assumption that the “tip” from another jurisdiction had something to do with the FBI and when local cops pulled over the right car, they notified the FBI immediately and they beat feet to the scene. Of course, it was the middle of the night when I was posting about all this and I can’t vouch for my brain being more than mush.
After the TV series ‘Cops’ (surely the MM crowd watched :-), I expected more speculation about how a “routine” traffic stop became a search of the car’s trunk. Look at the photos again. The car is not the kind where, with the vinyl cover removed, the trunk’s contents are visible. There are many reasons that will stand up in court for the police to open a trunk yet the ‘plain view’ rule seemingly does not apply here. That reason, once stated in the complaint when the two are arraigned, will perhaps confirm or deny the alleged alert from “another jurisdiction.” The driver could have verbally agreed to the search or the search could have been legally made subsequent to their arrest. I also noted where a gas can was taken from the trunk so perhaps it was an inspection following the police officers smelling the heavy oder of gasoline.
That could be, Pal.
But I tend to think that could be a police officer from another county or something like that. Especially since the FBI has juridiction regardless of the state, county, other local governmental boundries that limit local police and county sheriff types.
Hiya Sgt -
Could’ve been a routine traffic violation heads up from a Sheriff from an adjoining county spotted but was too busy to pursue. That’s just speculation, tho.
Yup, court will be interesting. Should find out what the “probable cause” was then, if not before.
From the local ABC channel -
yeah, lots of people take their bombs out for a nice drive in the country….
I officially no longer believe a thing the FBI tells me.
I just LOVED the Channel 4 headline:
“No Link to Terror”
Well, excuse me, but two Arabs with bombs? Seems like classic textbook terror to me!
What’s wrong with the FBI? Why can’t we call terrorists “terrorists any more?
Maybe allowing Muslims with bombs is one more “reasonable accommodation” we have made to make these folks feel like their religion is more accepted?
The FBI has made it clear it thinks the biggest threat to America is Islamophobia and not terrorism by Muslims: http://www.fbijobs.gov/043.asp
It is outrageous; they have two Middle Eastern college students not from this country with bombs. . .and they say it is not “terrorism.”
This is what sensitivity
trainingbrainwashing will do to an agency.Wonder if Christians decided to carry bible bombs if we’d be considered non threatening.
Yeah, sure. Right.
OK, Lets not call them Terrorists, how bout Moderate Progressives?
The FBI’s pronouncements are right out of Groucho Marx: “Who do you believe, me or your own two eyes?”
Of course, the local police could have fallen for a CAIR trap; load up a car with a couple of Muslims with a bunch of cherry bombs and have them violate a minor traffic law so they’d get stopped.
Fireworks are illegal in many states but it’s no big deal, mostly punishable by fines.
At any rate, the reporting on this story is beyond awful, so it’s hard to go by what the media has said. The local ABC affiliate seems inept.
have to wait til the morn to see how this all shakes out.
Two words: Lawsuit pending.
Two Middle Eastern Muslim men with a bomb and you lot automatically assume they are terrorists. Sheesh, talk about Islamophobia…
/sarc
Surprise! “Racial profiling” says CAIR:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-device080607,0,6624970.story?track=rss
Profiling…ah…So
Yeah Lindsay and False Arrest!
Pahhhhhleeeeeezzzzzzzz
Today, the Charleston Post and Courier reported that the FBI has issued a press release urgin Americans to withhold judgement in the SC case as the charges of possessing explosives may not be true.
The link is http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/17/fbi_backs_off_arrests13265/
Something’s not right here.