Stop me if you have heard this one, 2 Eqyptians are speeding down a highway with a trunk full of explosives. Both are highly educated, but claim that these bombs are merely home-made fireworks. Authorities arrest them men, but immediately claim that there is no suspicion of terrorism.
Yousef Samir Megahed and Ahmed A. Sherif Mohamed are Egyptian Nationals legally here studying engineering at the University of South Florida. They were pulled over doing 60 in a 45. When the sheriff walked towards the car, the men became agitated. They gave permission to search the car, and the sheriff found several pipe bombs and an unidentified liquid in the trunk of the car. Both are now being held with bails of 300 and 500k respectively. Yousef stated he assembled the pipebombs using material purchased at the local Wal-mart. Police say they do not believe Terrorism is a motive.
Now as a guy, I appreciate a good explosion as well as the next guy. Would I make several pipe bombs and cruise around with them in the trunk of my car, I doubt it, especially since if I lived in Florida, I could purchase numerous fireworks legally, including m80 and other fractional sticks of dynamite.
When authorities immediately claim that something is not terrorist related, when a perfectly logical motive is terrorism, it makes me suspicious, especially since these statements usually come too quickly for a motive to be properly researched. Are they keeping the public calm or telling the truth? Is the statement politically motivated? Is our law enforcement hesitant to use the term Terrorist because the suspects in question are Muslim? If these were two Basque's being picked up by Spanish police no such hesitation would exist.
The more important question and one worth watching is what restrictions this political sensitivity place law enforcement under. The families of the men allowed the FBI to search the home without a warrant, but would one have been issued?
A case worth watching to see how it plays out.
