SC 2 Linked To Sami Al-Arian Investigation

Update: See here for additional updated coverage.

Update: Michelle Malkin adds some additional details and links you'll want to check out on the SC 2 - and this may prove interesting as well.

The fellow who owns the house which houses the fellow who owns the house which was searched in this increasingly tangled web - Sameeh Hammouhdeh - here are Al-Wada's, the Palestinian Right To Return Coalition's, talking points to get him released from prison, which he was, despite the government's continuing belief that he is linked to both Iran and terrorism and I hope the rent check goes to Jordan, otherwise he's in violation, as he agreed to leave the country. You can confirm all that by Googling his name.

And remember to check out Michelle's latest.

Update: Okay, still more - during the Al-Arian investigation, the home that was recently searched was rented to WISE - see page 40 of this pdf from the Al-Arian trial. WISE (World and Islam Studies Enterprise) was one of two groups founded by Al-Arian that led to his arrest. The same individual who owned it then, Noor Salhalb, still owns it, but now rents to students, instead. But, and this is interesting, Salhalb rents out that house and lives in a rented house nearby. He rents his house from a co-defendant in the Al-Arian trial, Sameeh Hammouhdeh. There's video here. Several agencies were involved and there was also another vehicle searched. This would now appear to be the house where the one guy from Mauritania who left for Canada the Monday after all this started was living, as well.

More than two dozen investigators searched the house for more than five hours. They said they were looking for ties linking the men in the home to the USF students arrested.

They pulled out long, large sections of PVC pipe, bags of evidence, and a suitcase.

According to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser, the residence is registered to Noor Salhab. He is listed with the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, and a Google search showed him to be the owner of Pal Realty.

FOX 13 interviewed Salhab and his wife, Ana Salhab, in 2001, when the house was targeted with anti-Muslim graffiti shortly after the September 11th attacks.

He said at that time that he and his family had lived in the home for 14 years.

But even though he owns the house that was searched Saturday, records show he and his wife live in a house nearby at 6004 Soaring Avenue.

Records show the owner of that house is Sameeh Hammoudeh, a co-defendant in the trial of Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian is the former USF professor who was acquitted on most charges of funding terror-related organizations. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Investigators also searched a car Saturday that records showed is registered to Noor Salhab's son, Ghassan Salhab. Neighbors say he and two other men are the current residents of the house that was raided.

Update: Okay, more on the house - this one wasn't the family's, rather, along with their home, police have now searched an additional home linked to a realtor, Noor Salhalb. Ahmed Mohamed was in the process of moving in to the house and it was already occupied by at least one other individual. This would be the house others claim was searched during the Al-Arian investigation. Apparently, whatever was in the trunk, it wasn't enough to convince the Feds this was a completely innocent deal. But it doesn't appear to have been enough to press any charges, either. You might recall Mohamed was the one with the apartment where a neighbor reported some curious activity.

Salhab said a friend of Mohamed is a tenant of the house. Mohamed was looking to move and was invited by the friend to move in, Salhab told Bedier. Mohamed had moved some of his belongings to the house but never fully moved in or paid anything, Salhab told Bedier.

Update: Just wanted to add this bit of context from memory. Some initial reports stated that the car in question belonged to the brother, now identified as Yahia, and that the "fireworks" were his. That could prove interesting given that he was likely a student at USF while Al-Arian was there. It's a thought, anyway.

There's been another strange development regarding the searching of a home in the investigation into Yousseff Samir Megahed and Ahmed Abda Mohamed, arrested for allegedly carrying pipe bombs in their vehicle just miles from a military facility in Goose Creek, South Carolina. According to this report, the home was also searched some years back during the investigation into Sami Al-Arian.

The director of the South Carolina CAIR chapter says the arrests are "wrong," meanwhile the family of Megahed met with him today. They claim he is doing fine and they also dropped off Korans and prayer rugs for both suspects.

Click here and scroll down for several extended previous blog posts on the case. Also the computer has been returned and research suggests Yahia Megahed was also a student at USF. That could explain the Al-Arian link. No word from the FBI on tests done on the contents of the car trunk.

Agents took a suitcase possibly belonging to 24-year old Ahmed Mohamed who is one of the men arrested for carrying pipe bomb making material.

Neighbors tell us the FBI also took from the home large pieces of PVC pipe. Neighbors also say the home was searched several years ago in relation to the Sami Al-Arian case. He is the USF professor accused of raising money for terrorist organizations.

The Megahed family includes mother Ahlam, son Yahia, 24, daughter Mariam, 18, and son Yassien, 10. Originally from Egypt, they have lived in the United States for 10 years, five of those in Tampa.

Samir Megahed is a retired civil engineer who, with Yahia, operates a computer consulting business.

Comments

[mensablonde]

Thanks for your coverage of this, Dan. Your blog is becoming one of my favorites.

As more information becomes available it seem increasingly unlikely that this situation is "nothing."

[old trooper]

Why am I not surprised?

Infiltration is a going concern and has been a threat for years.
Charities for Arab causes were always suspect.

The destruction of our Nation and economy was always their plan.

Nothing new here as America is Fat, Complacent, Decadent and very Ignorant.
How quickly we forget the events of September, 11, 2001.

It was ugly and dangerous but life here, in denial, ignorance and with Democrats in power, goes on, like December, 6, 1941 and September 10, 2001.

The next whack on the US will be a hard one.

Pro Active is not happening. Partisan Reactive is.

Hold on, it will be a very ugly ride.

[BMOON]

Agree with the trooper.

The government will not invest sufficient srveillance of Muslims in the US - especially those fitting the profile - due to leftist lawyers threats. The citizenry will have to do it.

But can they be dragged away from their reality shows before reality bites?

We soon will know.

[S. Weasel]

"He is the USF professor accused of raising money for terrorist organizations."

Accused? Hasn't he actually been convicted of it now? Big difference.

[HeatherRadish]

S Weasel--On April 14, 2006 Al-Arian pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining eight charges against him.

Doesn't sound all that innocent to me.

[pst314]

"He is the USF professor accused of raising money for terrorist organizations."

Ever since the sixties, American universities have had a willingness--no, a preference--for hiring terrorists and terror-apologists.

[M. Simonms]

In my earlier comments I thought a wait and see attitude would be good.

I think I have seen enough. There are too many close connections.

[M. Simonms]

In fact it now looks like that the Feds took the opportunity presented to roll up this ring.

[rich]

Just the goldarndest coincidence. Nothing to see here. Really. Insensitive of you even to notice. Move along now.

[templar knight]

It looks to me like there is a nest of vipers in Tampa that need to be dealt with. These radicals continue to be allowed to enter the US. Why?

[crosspatch]

Well, things are certainly being shown in a new light. My guess is the computer is giving them leads. And probably the computer taken out of the house too.

[Anon_Cop]

Here's a tip for you - At least half of the terrorism task force is in Charleston investigating this case. Makes you wonder how they've been flying under the press' radar.

[PersonFromPorlock]

I dunno. All this activity looks to me like the Feds riding off in all directions, hoping something - anything - will turn up to justify the effort they've already put in. My guess is the two students will eventually cop to spitting on the sidewalk and get deported, the Feds will look grim for the cameras and the whole thing will go away. I could be wrong.

[Purple Avenger]

"My guess is the two students will eventually cop to spitting on the sidewalk"

I recall Hawash wound up confessing to everything eventually. I was originally so convinced he was innocent and persecuted I wrote my senator about it asking for an explanation. I was wrong.

How could one of Intel's engineers with a white American wife be a terrorist? Well, he was. He gamed everyone.

[Phoenix]

"All this activity looks to me like the Feds riding off in all directions, hoping something - anything - will turn up to justify the effort they've already put in."

Would you rather they not bother?

[Captain Joe]

If they were shooting squirrels in a public park where the Hell is PETA?