TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Expert Discusses Devices At Heart Of Explosives Trial

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

TAMPA - Trying to show that the devices at the center of a federal explosives trial were dangerous, prosecutors today presented an expert witness who testified they could easily be assembled into an incendiary device.

But Richard Stryker of the FBI explosives lab testified he had to try five configurations of the devices, along with safety fuse and a partly filled gasoline can, before he could start a fire.

Stryker testified in the trial of Youssef Megahed, a former University of South Florida student charged with illegally transporting explosives and possessing a destructive device.

The defense maintains Megahed had no knowledge of the devices his friend, Ahmed Mohamed, had placed in the trunk of the car they used for a road trip to South Carolina. Moreover, the defense maintains the devices were homemade model rockets meant for entertainment, not destruction.

Megahed and Mohamed were arrested Aug. 4, 2007, after a traffic stop when deputies concluded the items were pipe bombs. Prosecution experts, who said the devices were not pipe bombs, described them as "low explosives," which work by rapidly burning, rather than detonating.

The devices consisted of four roughly 4-inch sections of PVC pipe stuffed with a mixture of powdered sugar or corn syrup and potassium nitrate, or stump remover. Some of the items had plugs at one or both ends made of kitty litter.

Stryker said the items could not be considered rockets because they didn't have nose cones or fins to control their direction of travel.

"If this were launched, as it were, it would spin wildly out of control," he said.

They could be considered "rocket motors," which are attached to rockets and propel them, he said.

Both sides stipulated in court that a federal attorney general-approved list of explosive materials includes potassium nitrate explosive mixtures and safety fuse. Authorities also found safety fuse and a partially filled gasoline can in the trunk of the car.

Stryker said he tested devices he made to replicate those found in the car, using various proportions of potassium nitrate and sugar. Some mixtures didn't react at all when he tried to light them.

The most potent mixture "burned violently with a forceful expulsion of gas," he said. "You could hear the gases escaping, but there was no loud boom."

Stryker took the most potent mixture and assembled a device, which he put together in various arrangements with a partially filled gasoline can and safety fuse. Four of the arrangements did not result in fire, Stryker said.

The fifth configuration burned a hole in the can, causing gas to leak and catch fire, he said. He put that assembly into a car to demonstrate that the vehicle would catch fire.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Adam Allen, Stryker disputed the notion that the pipes were pyrotechnic devices, as opposed to explosives.

But then he said, "I don't know what the end use of this material is, per se. I don't know if it was intended to produce light, smoke or heat."

Mohamed, also a former USF student, is serving 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to helping terrorists by posting on YouTube a video in which he demonstrates how to detonate a bomb with a remote-controlled toy.

Megahed, who is not charged with terrorism, faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

The trial continues.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT