SC "Pipe Bomb" Updates: Where There's Smoke There's Fireworks?

A hold has been placed on the pair, which means that if they're bailed they won't actually be free, but will instead be held in an immigration center.

Possible reason? Their roommate seems to have suddenly left the country on Monday. That's.... curious.

It might be simply that he was a Visa overstay or otherwise in the country illegally and decided that he'd better vamoose now that feds were picking apart the apartment. Or it could be more, of course.

Previously I'd discounted the "pipe bomb" report, figuring that was media hype or a careless description of the devices by a cop. However the 9th Circuit Solicitor calls them "pipe bombs" as well, stating "He was in possession of pipe bombs, and materials used to make other bombs...."

A prosecutor's word isn't proof and they have been known to overcharge. Like for trumping up a flushed Koran into a 4-years-in-prison hate crime rap. Still, the prosecutor's claim that these are in fact "pipe bombs" seems significant.

Riehl also zooms in in the exact chemical mix used in these rockets/pipe bombs, and notes the explosive used is expressly not recommended for use in model rocketry for fear of causing a serious explosion.

Michae Chertoff pushes back against CAIR's insistence that foreign Muslim engineering students ought to be completely free of suspicion as they drive around naval bases with trunks filled with explosives. Thanks for small favors.

Finally from Riehl, one of the suspects is giving conflicting statements as to why exactly he had traveled to SC.

More from Flopping Aces:

Sherri Jackson who was Megahed's neighbor until March says FBI agents told her they were terrorists.

Jackson says the FBI came to question her Sunday.

Jackson says things seemed suspicious

She says she saw lot of traffic, a lot of people going back and forth, oxygen tanks being delivered UPS and Fed Ex deliveries and a lot going on.

Jackson's accout is dubious, however, because she claims FBI agents called the suspects "terrorists." This is absurd; even if the FBI believed this, they wouldn't say this to a witness they were interviewing. Prejudice the interview much?

What's it all mean? No idea. I'm already egotistically invested in the proposition that they're innocent of anything beyond routine fireworks-oriented mischief, but obviously there is ample reason for suspicion.

Thanks to dri for the Flopping Aces tip.

posted by Ace at 02:14 PM

| Access Comments