2 Charged With Pipe Bombs Near Navy Base

In this copy of an arrest photo provided by the Berkeley County Sheriff (S.C.), Yousef Samir Megahed is shown. Yousef Samir Megahed, was charged Monday, Aug. 6, 2007, in South Carolina with possession of an incendiary device, authorities said. (AP Photo/Berkeley County Sheriff) (AP)

"They're so confident that they don't have anything in their home that they gave the keys to some agents. The father voluntarily allowed them to go search the home unsupervised," Bedier said.

The two men were stopped for speeding Saturday night on U.S. Highway 176 near Goose Creek, which is the site of the Naval Weapons Station and houses the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.

They were heading west, away from Goose Creek, when they were pulled over about seven miles from the sprawling Navy facility, police said.

Officers became suspicious because the men quickly put away a laptop computer and couldn't immediately say what they were doing in the area or where they were going, DeWitt said.

A deputy then found what he thought were explosives in the 2000 Toyota Camry and called the bomb squad. Technicians confirmed the devices were pipe bombs and destroyed them, according to sworn statements in the arrest warrants.

Authorities closed a mile-long stretch of the highway Saturday night and didn't reopen it until about 4 a.m. Sunday.

University spokesman Ken Gullette said Mohamed is a civil engineering graduate student who came to the school in January. He earned his undergraduate degree in Cairo and was in the country on a student visa.

Megahed, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is an undergraduate and has been at the university since 2004, but has not declared a major, Gullette said.

Neither has ever been arrested by campus police or disciplined by the university, Gullette said. Both were enrolled in classes this summer. Gullette said the university is cooperating with authorities.

If convicted of the felony charge, the men would face from two to 15 years in prison.

Goose Creek, with a population of about 30,000, is about 20 miles north of Charleston.

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Associated Press writers Katrina A. Goggins in Columbia and Mitch Stacy in Tampa contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS that affidavit said devices, not pipe bombs.)