Student Says Explosives Were Just 'Sugar Rockets'

TAMPA - The explosives authorities found in the trunk of two University of South Florida students' car were "sugar rockets," or fireworks that would just travel a few feet in the air and smoke, one of the students told investigators, according to a court filing.

The student said he made the fireworks himself because it was cheaper than buying them at a roadside stand, the defense court filing states.

Ahmed Mohamed, 26, was arrested in South Carolina Aug. 4, along with Youssef Megahed, after deputies found what they then described as pipe bombs in the car Mohamed was driving. Both men were charged in a federal indictment with illegally transporting explosives.

Mohamed also was charged with trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives in a video authorities say he made and posted to the Web site YouTube. In the video, prosecutors say, Mohamed showed how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb.

His co-defendant, Megahed, has unsuccessfully sought a separate trial, saying the terrorism-related charges against Mohamed will prejudice the jury against Megahed, who is not accused of trying to help terrorists.

Megahed's attorney, public defender Adam Allen, filed a petition Friday for reconsideration of the decision by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday to deny a separate trial. The trial is set for March.

Allen said he fears that if Mohamed and Megahed are tried together, the jury will perceive Megahed's "guilt by association."

The pleading, which contained new details of the events in South Carolina, is part of series of disclosures and counterdisclosures being made by both sides in this case. It is the most thorough description of the defense case released to date.

In the document, Allen wrote that Mohamed volunteered to deputies who had pulled him over that they would find "fireworks" and fuses in the trunk. Megahed told deputies he had no knowledge of the fireworks.

The devices were 4- to 6-inch pieces of PVC pipe stuffed with stump remover, cat litter and sugar, Allen wrote. A federal prosecutor has said the pipes were filled with a "low-grade explosive" mixture of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and cat litter, with the litter used as a binder to keep the substance from coming out of the pipes, which did not have caps on them.

The prosecutor said the devices were not pipe bombs, and Allen wrote in his pleading that the government has not provided any evidence "that the 'fireworks' would explode if ignited."

Mohamed, an Egyptian national, told investigators that he became interested in fireworks just before July 4, when he became aware of their wide availability as part of Fourth of July celebrations, Allen wrote. He was deterred from purchasing them at fireworks stands because of the high cost, so Mohamed figured he could make them cheaper himself, according to Allen.

Mohamed said he went to YouTube to learn how to make the "sugar rockets," and had ignited them before his arrest. He told law enforcement the devices "did not explode, but traveled a few feet into the air and would make smoke," Allen wrote.

He wrote that Mohamed said he brought the fireworks on their road trip "with the hopes of locating an empty field" where he could shoot them off.

Mohamed told investigators the fireworks were "completely unrelated" to his YouTube bomb-detonation video, Allen wrote. That video "makes absolutely no reference to explosive materials, how to make explosives, or anything closely resembling the items found in the trunk," the attorney wrote.

Megahed's computer, which was seized by the FBI during a search of his parents' home in Tampa, "contained no evidence related to explosives, explosive materials, the YouTube video in question or detonators," Allen wrote. "In contrast, Mohamed's computer hard drive was found to contain information related to explosives and explosive materials."

Reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampa