The Discerning Texan

PVC pipe filled with homemade "low-grade explosive mixture'' and a videotape instruction for turning a remote-controlled toy car into a detonator were among the items found in the car driven by two University of South Florida students arrested in South Carolina and now facing federal explosives charges, according to a federal prosecutor.

A judge set bail at $200,000 for one of the defendants, Youssef Megahed, but the government immediately appealed, which means Megahed will remain in custody.

Earlier in the court hearing Friday, an assistant U.S attorney outlined the evidence confiscated from the car driven by Megahed and another suspended USF student -- describing a container and three pipes filled with a low-grade explosive mixture.

The list also included a videotape that instructs viewers on how to convert a toy electric car into a detonator. Defendant Ahmed Mohamed has admitted making the tape, and in it he says he intended the instruction "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle,'' said federal prosecutor Jay Hoffer. Click here for complete coverage of the case.

Hoffer told a federal magistrate today that the government believed Youssef Megahed should be detained because he is a danger to the community and a flight risk. He itemized what South Carolina authorities found in the trunk of a car he and Mohamed were driving that concerned them.

Those items included: three pieces of PVC piping that were filled with a mixture of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and cat litter. Federal authorities called it a potassium nitrate low-grade explosive mixture, and said they also found more of that mixture in a separate container in the trunk.

Additionally they found an electric drill, a box of .22 caliber bullets, a five gallon container filled with gasoline and 23 feet of safety fuse.

FBI analysts said the explosive mixture met the definition for a low-grade explosive. Hoffer said many of the items had been purchased locally, in and around Tampa, by Mohamed.

They also found a laptop computer in the men's car. On the laptop they found a 12-minute video on which a man shows how to turn a radio-controlled toy car into a remote-controlled detonator, Hoffer said.

Mohamed admits that it is him in the video, although you cannot see his face, Hoffer said.

In the video, Mohamed said that he was showing how to make such a device "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another battle,'' Hoffer said.

Mohamed also makes reference to a toy boat in the video. ...

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Media Bias, Terrorism

Labels: 9/11, Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism, Osama Bin Laden

One week after being asked by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to sign on the dotted line, the "flying imams" did just that, dismissing all claims against the unidentified passengers who reported the suspicious behavior of six imams aboard a U.S. Airways flight in November. When the attorneys for the imams included the unidentified passengers (who they listed as John Does) in the complaint, The Becket Fund demanded that the passengers be dropped from the suit and announced that it would represent for free any passengers who were identified and formally named. When the imams' attorneys pressed ahead, the Becket Fund submitted an amicus brief, asking the court to dismiss the claims, and then sent another letter with a blank notice of dismissal for the imams' attorneys to sign. Following further briefing, the imams' attorneys today relented and finally dismissed the John Does.

Their attorney said three weeks ago that he wasn’t planning to name any of them as defendants but not until today did he formally pull the plug. That’s super, but it doesn’t change the fact that we got jobbed on the “John Doe” provision. A true immunity statute would empower the court to dismiss the suit before it goes to trial; the provision we ended up with lets CAIR et al. litigate to the bitter end, with the only penalty available for a bogus claim being an award of attorney’s fees. That’s an exceptionally weak deterrent given the willingness and financial ability of certain Islamist elements to sue their critics into silence. Remember, according to the Wash Times, the lion’s share of CAIR’s $3 million budget comes from just two dozen or so donors; obviously someone has the wherewithal to advance their agenda, and thanks to the “John Doe” flaw, they’ll have every opportunity. In all likelihood it’s the bad publicity the imams have gotten over this incident, not the law, that led them to cut their losses this time.

Labels: Air Travel, CAIR, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Media Bias, Media War, The Left

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security

Varifrank highlights a mortgage fraud story with national security implications:

What began with an identity theft investigation eventually led the FBI to an alleged mortgage fraud scheme involving subprime lenders and dozens of homes in Stockton.

The FBI says Iftikhar Ahmad, 36, made millions by buying and selling more than 100 houses over the past eleven years.

According to a complaint and supporting affidavit filed in federal court, many of the transactions involved a quick turnaround with a dramatic price increase.

One example is the sale of a house at 2228 E. Stadium Drive by Ahmad for $330,000 in March 2006 to one of his three brothers. Ahmad purchased the property just 18 months earlier for $99,000.

In another series of transactions, a house appreciated in value more than tenfold over an eight-year period.

Ahmad purchased the home at 327 N. Pilgrim Street in 1997 for $22,000. Investigators say Ahmad bought and sold the same property twice before ultimately selling it a third time in 2005 for $236,000.

Many of the mortgages came from subprime lenders and in some cases the buyers used stolen identities, according to the FBI.

Ahmad also faces money-laundering charges. Here’s the eyebrow-raiser:

Investigators have been unable to determine the exact losses to lenders, but said bank statements from just one three-year period showed Ahmad deposited $8.6 million from escrow closings.

The FBI believes Ahmad sent at least $484,000 of the money to his native Pakistan.

Federal agents searched Ahmad’s home on Barbados Circle in Stockton and the office of the El Camino Motel on East Mariposa Road, owned by his family.

Investigators believe at least 14 people engaged in the scheme, although the complaint names just two other alleged participants.

More: “According to the court documents, the FBI suspects a number of real estate professionals of possible complicity in the scheme. Among those questioned or investigated by the FBI are a mortgage broker, loan officer, escrow officer, notary, and two appraisers.”

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Subprime Mortgage Crisis

On April 19, 2005, Darrick Jackson completed an application to work as a private security guard at an entrance gate to Andrews Air Force Base.

"Have you ever used or been known by another name?" he was asked in the second of 20 queries.

"No," Jackson answered.

He got the job.

Federal prosecutors now allege that Jackson intentionally withheld his Muslim name, Abdul-Jalil Mohammad, to conceal a connection to a controversial imam in Southeast Washington. Jackson, 37, who is no longer in the civilian job, has been charged with making a false statement, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

In a pretrial hearing scheduled for today, prosecutors are expected to argue that they should be permitted to present evidence at trial that they say links Jackson to extremist views. The evidence includes speeches in which the imam wishes for the U.S. government's collapse, essays posted on Jackson's MuslimSpace Web page and a mosque directory listing Jackson as the head of security.

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

Earlier today, I told you that Hussein Dabaja--who dreamed up and helped pay for the Hezbollah billboard in Windsor, Canada--was involved in used car fraud in Ontario, Canada (it was Free Pioneer's scoop). His name kept bothering me because I know about a number of cases involving Dabajas in the Detroit area.

Well, I just realized what it was. Hussein Dabaja--and I believe it's the same one--is the subject of a case I told you about recently. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission recently filed a case against Judge William Hultgren of Dearbornistan District Court, alleging that the Judge improperly tried to get a case involving Dabaja assigned to him and taken away from another judge.

Labels: Hezbollah, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Media Bias

Clipped from michellemalkin.com

Well, you can't say I didn't predict this (I did). Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed and Yousef Samir Megahed--the Smiling Mugshot "Just Fireworks" Muslim terrorists--are tied to Islamic Jihad founder and American frontman, Sami Al-Arian.

Surprise. Surprise. In investigating Pipe Bomb possessors, Mohamed and Megahed, the FBI searched a house owned by a man who now occupies a house owned by Sami Al-Arian co-conspirator and co-defendant, Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Sameeh Hammoudeh. Sounds confusing, but that's how they work. Like the Mob, terrorist groups have a million interlocking companies, directorates, and property (including houses).

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

Two probably but not certainly unrelated stories for you here, starting with the dumber one first. The NYPD was on full alert for a dirty bomb last night thanks to a report of jihadi chatter from … Debkafile, whose credibility is so low that I actually had people snarking at me in the comments after I posted their item in headlines. The cops had no choice but to take it seriously, obviously, and in their defense some of the chatter was awfully specific:

Police confirmed the increased security was in response to receiving information that a dirty bomb may go off around 34th street in Manhattan Friday evening.

The Empire State Building, New York City’s tallest building, Madison Square Garden and Macy’s department store are in the 34th Street neighborhood.

Say, didn’t Al Qaeda’s camps empty out before 9/11, too?

Dan Riehl asked me that last night in response to yesterday’s post about the Roggio’s scoop. Answer, per the 9/11 Commission report: a-yup.

Labels: Al Qaeda, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

Labels: Cyberwar, Divestiture of Jihadist-relateed business, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism

As an American-born spokesman for Al Qaeda threatens to blow up American embassies abroad, intelligence gleaned from last month's British "doctors plot" of car bombers suggests that a Qaeda cell is on the loose in the American homeland.

E-mail addresses for American individuals were found on the same password-protected e-mail chains used by the United Kingdom plotters to communicate with Qaeda handlers in Europe, a counterterrorism official told The New York Sun yesterday. The American and German intelligence community now believe the secure e-mail chains used in the United Kingdom plot have provided a window into an operational Qaeda network in several countries.

"Because of the London and Glasgow plot, we now know communications have been made from Al Qaeda to operatives in the United States," the counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity. "This plot helps to connect a lot of stuff. We have seen money moving a lot through hawala networks and other illicit finance as well." But this source was careful to say that at this point no specific information, such as names, targets or a timeline, was known about any particular plot on American soil. The e-mail addresses that are linked to Americans were pseudonyms.

Labels: Al Qaeda, Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism, UK

State authorities in South Carolina are saying there will be a press conference later this morning to announce charges. The FBI, meanwhile, seems to be throwing cold water on the whole incident — sometimes they do that because it really is a false alarm, but they have also been known, much like the mainstream media, to understate things when Muslims are involved, so we'll just have to see.

Here's what I think the reporting indicates at this point. In the late evening on Saturday, two non-Americans of Middle Eastern descent, Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed, who appear to be in the U.S. to pursue engineering studies in Florida, were pulled over for speeding in a van on Highway 176 in Goose Creek, near Charleston, South Carolina. Goose Creek is home to the United States Naval Weapons Station, which, among other things, houses the brig where some U.S. citizens alleged to be unlawful enemy combatants have been held.

One of the men reportedly tried to hide a laptop computer. Police became suspicious. Eventually, the vehicle was searched. Initially, there was a report that one completed bomb and other explosives related compounds were found. Later reports indicate that police found PVC (polyvinyl Chloride) piping (which can be used in making pipe bombs but also has many other industrial uses), model rocket motors (model rocket engine igniters can also be used as charges for pipe bombs), and other "suspicious" materials which have not been revealed yet (to make pipe bombs you would need some kind of explosive substance).

Police closed the highway for several hours, well into Sunday morning. Moreover, at about 2:45 a.m., they did a controlled detonation of something — not yet described although it apparently sounded to witnesses like fireworks.

John Little has an update - FBI results on explosives due back in a day, or two.

According to the latest, one of the young men arrested in South Carolina was from Egypt and the other from Kuwait, and they could be looking at from 2 - 15 years. No word on any potential immigration charges. But drivers might want to make a note, it probably isn't a good idea to be speeding with a laptop computer and some other suspicious items in your trunk, especially when you're about ten miles away from two Nuclear Submarines. According to a reader, they are training vessels: (Moored Training Ships, MTSs), for the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit at Charleston. Below is the description via Google Earth. The site is 12 miles from where they were arrested and in the direction from which they were driving.

Here is a very well guarded nuclear sub base up the Cooper River, north of Charleston SC. I found these subs up close during a Waverunner trip down the Cooper. I rode a bit too close to them, and was turned away by gunboats in the river, on guard 24/7. They are teeny fron this perspective, but when you are in the river with them... they are huge!!!! They are painted black, and are at the dock. There are two of them. You will also see the gunboats in the river, and the HUGE dockside hangar, that they are housed in at times. Hope you like this... and yes.. it must be a deep river!!!

If convicted of the charges, Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, could face between 2 to 15 years in prison.

DeWitt said the men were pulled over Saturday night on U.S. Highway 176 while driving more than 60 mph in a 45-mph zone. When an officer approached the car, he saw one of them men fold a laptop computer, which the officer believed was suspicious, DeWitt said.

The officer asked them if he could search the car, which the men agreed to. When he asked if there was anything in the car he should know about, the men said there were fireworks in the trunk.

Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, have been charged by authorities in South Carolina with possession of an incendiary advice, a felony punishable by at least two and up to fifteen years' imprisonment. AP quotes the sheriff as saying: "They admitted to having what they said were fireworks. Based on the officer's judgment at hand, based on what he had seen, we judged it to be other than fireworks." Authorities remain tight-lipped about exactly what they found in the car. Their bomb technicians did detonate something seized from the car at 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

The two are engineering students at the University of South Florida's campus at Tampa — the same school where Prof. Sami al-Arian, while a computer science professor USF's College of Engineering, was running an outpost of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. Al-Arian pled guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to PIJ.

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Islam, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

Labels: Al Qaeda, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

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.

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism

Labels: Bush Derangement Syndrome, Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Nutroots

Labels: Al Qaeda, Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islamic Fascism, The Long War

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Islamic Fascism, Terrorism

Labels: Homegrown Jihad, Homeland Security, Islam, Islamic Fascism