TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Affidavit In USF Student's Case Gives Details Of 'Jihadi' Images

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2007

Updated: 09/27/2007 03:36 pm

Youssef Megahed / Ahmed Mohamed

Share Your Thoughts

Read Search Warrant

TAMPA - A University of South Florida student told investigators he made a videotape about remote bomb detonation to help people in Arab countries fight invading infidels, including U.S. military forces, according to an FBI affidavit.

Ahmed Mohamed, 26, was arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina along with fellow Egyptian national Youssef Megahed, 21, after deputies pulled them over for speeding and found what authorities describe as low-grade explosives in their trunk.

Seeking to do a more thorough search of the 2000 Toyota Camry, the FBI filed a search warrant affidavit in federal court in South Carolina on Tuesday, giving new details of the investigation.

Authorities previously disclosed that investigators searched a laptop computer found in the car that contained "jihadi" images, including rockets being fired. A federal prosecutor has said Mohamed admitted making a videotape and posting it on the Web site YouTube. In it, he demonstrates how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb, thereby saving "one who wants to be a martyr for another day, another battle," the prosecutor said.

The newly released affidavit gives more details about the 12-minute videotape of an Arabic-speaking man wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and rubber gloves. The man, whose face is not shown, "shows how a remote-control toy vehicle is constructed and operated, and gives instructions as to the range and distance the remote will operate and the radio frequency on which the vehicle operates," the affidavit states. "A narrator explains how to convert the vehicle into a detonator."

When investigators interviewed Mohamed, he acknowledged making and narrating the video, the affidavit states. He said he "considered American troops, and those military forces fighting with the American military, to be invaders of Arab countries. He added that the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States."

Also on the laptop, the affidavit states, investigators found computer search words to link viewers to the video, "detonator from a distance" and "remote control ignitor fireworks radio wireless converting toy explosives rockets controlled car martyrdoms (sic) suiciders."

The laptop contained a folder titled "Bomb Shock," which contained files on explosives and downloads from Web sites dedicated to explosives, the affidavit states.

Another file was titled "High-Order Explosives" and included "extensive information on the composition and operation of explosives including TNT and C-4," the affidavit states.

Megahed's public defender, Adam Allen, said he found it "interesting" that the affidavit doesn't mention anything his client said while being interrogated. Megahed denied knowledge of the explosives in the trunk, Allen said.

The affidavit goes into some detail about a translation of a seemingly disjointed, cryptic conversation in Arabic between the suspects that was secretly recorded as they were being transported to jail in South Carolina.

Megahed asked Mohamed what he told law enforcement agents, and Mohamed said he told them, "I didn't know what was in them. I don't know."

Asked by Mohamed if he told the deputies "if there is something in them," Megahed said, "Water."
Mohamed then said, "Water! Right? The black water is in the Pepsi."

Megahed asked if Mohamed told them about the gasoline. Mohamed replied, "I have nothing to do with it. I do the fireworks and so … so … so … that is it."

In addition to pipes with the explosives mixture, investigators found a gasoline container in the car.

The affidavit is presented to support a warrant that would permit FBI agents to more thoroughly search the car looking for chemical residues and explosives materials, as well as fingerprints and human hair and DNA for analysis.

They also want to look for "remnants of remote-controlled toys and the component parts of remote-controlled toys and the packaging for said toys," the affidavit says.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT