2 Egyptians Face Terror Charges In S.C.

Two Egyptian students attending a university in Florida were indicted Friday for carrying explosive materials across state lines, and one of them was charged with teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.

Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of South Florida in Tampa, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives. He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., on Aug. 4, where they have been held ever since.

Both men are Egyptian nationals, authorities said.

The two were stopped with pipe bombs in their car near a U.S. Navy base in South Carolina where alleged enemy combatants have been held. They were held on state charges while the FBI continued to investigate whether they were linked with terror.

Mohamed was charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, which is a terrorism statute, a Justice Department official said. The crime faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Both men are being held at a county jail in South Carolina. A preliminary hearing on the state charges is set for Sept. 21.

Defense attorney Andy Savage did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The indictment, a sheet that officially brings charges against the defendants, was handed up in Tampa.

In South Carolina, where Mohamed and Megahed have been held in the Berkeley County jail, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd praised state and federal authorities for cooperating in the four-week investigation that initially did not look like a terrorism case.

"The arresting deputy's vigilance and the immediate response of our local investigators and prosecutors are highly commendable," Lloyd said in a statement.

Since the Aug. 4 arrest, authorities sought to determine whether Mohamed and Megahed were fledgling terrorists or merely college students headed to the beach with devices made from fireworks they bought at a Wal-Mart store in their car, as they claimed. The local sheriff in South Carolina said the explosives were "other than fireworks."

The charges follow several searches in Tampa, including of a storage facility and a park where the explosives might have been tested, authorities said.

Both Mohamed and Megahed are in the country legally on student visas, officials said.