Pipe bombs and a birthday party in Carolina

AP/MSNBC:

Two men found with several pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base were charged Monday with possession of an explosive device, authorities said.

A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see whether there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held.

Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were driving through the area on Saturday to vacation at a North Carolina beach for Mohamed’s birthday, their defense attorney said.

“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,” Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said.

Mohamed, 24, said he made pipe bombs from items he bought at Wal-Mart, according to an affidavit with his arrest warrant.

Defense attorney, Dennis Rhoad, said the men have a reason for having the devices and it would become clear in later court hearings.

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Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson asked for high bond, which was set at $500,000 for Mohamed and $300,000 for Megahed, because she said the men were dangerous and a risk to flee.

Mohamed is a native of Kuwait and Megahed is Egyptian, the sheriff said. Both are in the country legally.

Before details about the pipe bombs were released, the executive director of a civil rights organization for Muslims in Tampa criticized the arrest as racial profiling, an accusation South Carolina police denied.

“Definitely this is not related to terrorism,” said Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“Had these been two good ol’ boys from South Carolina driving through and speeding — and even if they did have some fireworks — nobody would have been arrested,” Bedier said.

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I think even "good ol' boys" with pipe bombs are arrested. I can't wait to hear their "reason for having the devices." I am usually pretty good at figuring out why people do things and I can't think of any good reason for a couple of good ol' Muslim boys to be traveling past a detention center for terror suspects carrying pipe bombs. Anyone CAIR to offer a suggestion?