MIAMI: Two Egyptian students at a Florida university, accused by prosecutors of promoting terrorist attacks, had fireworks and not explosives in their car when they were detained, the FBI reported.
Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, and Yussef Samir Megahed, 21, both engineering students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were arrested Aug. 4 in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and charged with fleeing with hidden explosives in their car.
They were arrested near a naval facility where there is a war-on-terror detention center.
In their trial in Tampa, Florida, however, an FBI lab report was presented showing the Egyptians were carrying a “pyrotechnic blend of sugar and potassium nitrate, the document said.
The pair said they bought fireworks at a department store and planned to set them off at a beach.
Mohamed also was accused of teaching others at the university the use of explosives with potentially terrorist ends. That charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail. -AFP
