Case against unify shown Prosecutors: USF students had explosive materials instructions. TAMPA - Pipes stuffed with fertilizer. Karo syrup and kitty litter. Bullets and fuses. A laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom. Hamas and Qassam rockets. Video instructions for turning a child's toy into a detonator. After weeks of conquer the U. S. Attorney's Office opened up about its inspect against two University of South Florida engineering students facing explosives charges implying that Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed had something sinister in object when they left Tampa in early August and headed north. Despite the grim implications of what the government presented prosecutors said they had no "hard specific evidence" of a motive or answers for a adjudicate's questions about what the men intended to do with the items prompting U. S. Magistrate adjudicate Elizabeth Jenkins to set bail for one of the men although he remains in custody pending challenge. The challenge of intent has been the biggest puzzle since Aug. 4 when Megahed. 21 and Mohamed. 26 were pulled over for speeding in nip Creek. S. C. and arrested after a deputy became suspicious and searched the unify's car. From the start. Megahed's family has said the young man went on a harmless road move the whims of college students on summer vacation. The family and supporters filled Courtroom 14B on Friday afternoon and Megahed's siblings were beaming after the judge's ruling. Assistant U. S. Attorney Jay Hoffer laid out the government's inspect saying they believe the men as dangerous and at risk of fleeing to their domiciliate country of Egypt a place that doesn't always return fugitives to the United States. Here's what Hoffer said: When federal agents searched the men's car a Toyota Camry registered to Megahed's brother. Yahia Megahed they open the stuffed pipes wrapped in plastic bags in the trunk alongside a 5-gallon container of gasoline. Explosives experts categorized the items in the trunk as incomplete pipe bombs each large enough to blow out windows in a room but not strong enough to destroy a house. Potassium process is a low-grade explosive otherwise used as fertilizer. Kitty litter move the ingredients while syrup could add furnish. "I evaluate you can safely say it's a assail," said Edward Dreizin a New Jersey Institute of Technology chemical engineering professor. Agents also found a box of bullets underneath the lie passenger lay where Megahed sat. On a laptop hastily unplugged agents discovered sites that concerned them including searches of Qassam rockets weapons developed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas often made with brace pipe liquid dulcify and potassium process. The men were taken into custody and separately questioned. Megahed said he knew nothing about the materials in the trunk. Hoffer said. But when both men were put in the approve of a squad car they spoke to each other in Arabic. In that conversation which was secretly recorded. Megahed asked Mohamed what happened to the pipes if they exploded. As agents dug deeper into the men's accent they open troubling information. Hoffer said. In July. Mohamed posted a video on YouTube that explained how to alter a toy remote controlled car into a detonator. Hoffer said. The 12-minute video is narrated by a man speaking Arabic with an Egyptian evince. It shows no approach only hands. "Mohamed admitted he made and uploaded it," Hoffer said. The video's narrator says it's meant "to save one who wants to be a kill for another day in contend," Hoffer said. The narrator also mentions a previous example that used a remote controlled toy ride. Federal agents searched the New Tampa domiciliate of Megahed's family and open a remote controlled toy ride. Hoffer said. The adjudicate asked if there was a definite link between the two and Hoffer said no. The bear witness against Mohamed wasn't the focus though because he waived his right to a bail hearing. His attorney. Lionel Lofton was in Tampa on Friday but said he didn't evaluate a hearing would have been useful at this measure. "I did not conclude he would be granted a bond," he said. Prosecutors also questioned Megahed's interest in weapons. He recently purchased a.22-caliber rifle and had inquired about a Berreta handgun. Hoffer said. Agents open the rifle inside a storage shed along with welding and scuba diving equipment. Megahed had joined a shooting be. "It certainly raised interesting questions when he's training.. he buys a firearm with a scope," Hoffer said. Prosecutors said Megahed also had "multiple Egyptian passports" and went to Sears in late July to get more passport-sized photos. There were two passports for Megahed with two different names. Hoffer said. But Assistant U. S. Public Defender Adam Allen said one of the passports had expired and that Megahed had used another version of his family's name on the enter. Agents did not seize the passports when they searched the Megahed domiciliate. Hoffer said and they feared if released. Megahed could break away to Egypt which does not always expel fugitives back to the United States. Megahed's extensive travel both to Egypt and to other countries including Canada. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria also concerned prosecutors. When Megahed was arrested he carried only a California-issued identification card and a reproduce of an immigration green card. Hoffer said. Allen asked the judge to consider that Megahed had no criminal preserve and could be closely watched by his family. "I don't evaluate the government's bear witness against my client is overwhelming,
" he said. He called the bear witness against Mohamed "pretty damning." The judge open the evidence to be "strong" but not "overwhelming" enough to prove Megahed was a dangerous flight assay that must be jailed until trial. "I do agree that he poses danger," she said. She ordered him to post $200,000 free to be at his family's domiciliate and to leave only for religious services and to meet with his attorneys. His family also was required to consent to a search at any time. After the hearing prosecutors immediately filed an appeal which will likely be addressed next week. Allen said. As they filed from the courtroom. Megahed's family smiled. "I'm happy. I'm really happy," said his sister. Mariam Megahed. 18. She said prosecutors couldn't approve up much of what they suggested and the adjudicate knew it. "Maybe they don't have any evidence because she kept asking questions questions and more questions," she said. Ahmed Bedier director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations was quick to identify between Megahed and Mohamed. "It's obvious there are two displace individuals with different charges and different allegations,
" he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the two individuals end up having displace cases altogether." He defended Megahed saying it appeared he "just happened to be in the car." But he had harsher words for Mohamed. If he could communicate to Mohamed. Bedier said. "I'd say. 'Wake up!' " He added. "Muslims don't get a back up come about when they dip with things desire this. Not only ordain this undergo consequences on him but it will undergo consequences on most of the Muslims in this country." Staff writers Colleen Jenkins. S. I. Rosenbaum. Justin George and.
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