Updated Bumped: Two Middle Eastern Men: Bomb Squad At Scene In SC

Update: see here for latest on charges and other angles.

Update6: Still more - the state and Feds seem to be fighting over what the definition of "bomb" is - and the two may be subject to immigration charges, as well: John Little has some interesting and possibly pertinent background on the rocket angle mentioned below.

An officer at the detention center said explosives and possible immigration charges will likely be filed Monday. A news conference is scheduled for Monday at 11:30 a.m.

The law enforcement source, who insisted on anonymity, said the materials included at least one bomb and a number of bomb-making elements, including chemicals capable of being used in the production of bombs, fuses and igniters -- small gunpowder charges used to ignite some explosives.

Update5: Oh, I get it, they were rocket scientists.

Police became suspicious when one of the men tried to hide a laptop computer.   A search of the car turned up pieces of pvc piping, various model rocket motors and other items considered suspicious.

Update4: Reuters - no terrorism link. So why did ABC lede with one bomb ready and material for another at link below and take it down with no correction? I thought only bloggers did things like that?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI said on Sunday that there was no evidence of a terrorism link in the case of two college engineering students who possessed explosive materials in South Carolina over the weekend.

The two men, described in local media reports as non-U.S. citizens of Middle Eastern descent, were taken into custody late on Saturday near Charleston, South Carolina, after local police noticed what looked like explosives in their Toyota sedan during a routine traffic stop.

The FBI said the material proved to be for making homemade fireworks, not dangerous munitions.

"There's no (terrorism link) that we've identified at this point," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told Reuters.

"They got pulled over and had just enough suspicious things to warrant investigation. We don't think there's that much to it. They had some materials to make some pretty good-sized homemade fireworks but not bomb stuff."

Update3: You figure it out, now the link says the following. They are expected to be charged with something related to explosives tomorrow. Maybe they were going fishing? They sure look happy.

There are conflicting reports as to the quantity of explosive making materials in that vehicle.  FBI (website)  reports are saying that there is not believed to be a link to terrorism.

Update2: One bomb ready to go, materials for another using chemicals. Also video at link. It's thought that they may be students.

Goose Creek - Two men are being held in the Berkeley County Detention Center after police find explosive making devices in their car.  The men had atleast one ready to go bomb and bomb making materials that include chemicals.

Something tells me they ain't Irish Catholics: Larwyn reports CNN stated the devices were fuses and igniters of some type.

WIS News 10 spoke with officials at the Berkeley County Detention Center who said 24-year-old Ahmed Mohamed and 21-year-old Yousef Megahed, the occupants of the car, are still in police custody.

So far they have only been charged with possession of explosive devices, but the FBI is working to see if more crimes have been committed.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department tells WIS News 10 the two men are not US citizens.

Update: Latest wire report:

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. - Two men were detained after police found and detonated a suspicious item found in their car during a routine stop for a speeding violation on a highway near Charleston, Berkeley County sheriff's Lt. Vince Lombard said Sunday morning.

Lombard said the men were being held pending a charge of unlawful possession of an explosive device, but he would not say what the device was or what bomb technicians from neighboring Charleston County exploded about 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

The item made a loud bang, similar to a firecracker, when it was demolished.

Update: According to the AP, the two men are still being held at the scene 7 hours later and the bomb squad is going to "demolish" a suspicious device. Blogs of War links to this photo.

Cannon said two men who were in the car were still at the scene at 2 a.m. An FBI agent said officials were trying to determine whether a crime had been committed.

And another Hmm .. via MM:

The Gordo’s main purpose was to dock our nuclear submarines for repairs. The weapons station was often closed to civilian traffic as they moved nukes and ordinance to and from ships with Marine guards on orders to shoot to kill.

Update: Hmm ...

State and federal law enforcement officials were on the scene after the traffic stop in Goose Creek. Television stations reported that two men riding in the vehicle were detained.

Goose Creek is home to the Naval Weapons Station and the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig, a military prison where enemy combatants have been held.

Update: They updated the video again - fuller report, no flub. Updated link from below - the Joint Terrorism Task Force is said to be on scene, FBI currently heading the investigation. you can see a bomb squad member in full gear near the vehicle when they zoom in and after the reporter finishes flubbing it over a "robot bomb squad detector thingee" ha. Word from the scene is no danger now, investigation on going and should be for some time. One report indicates it isn't clear if a crime has been committed.

More details:

WIS News 10's sister station in Charleston, WCBD, reports authorities pulled over a suspicious car at around 6:00pm Saturday. Officers asked to search the vehicles, and discovered what investigators say are "possible explosives" located in the trunk.

Once federal agents were brought in and analyzed the situation, an FBI-controlled robot pulled a bag filled with the suspicious items from the vehicle.   

The two men inside the vehicle, which is reported to have Florida tags, have been detained at the scene.   

WIS News 10 talked to an FBI spokesperson who told us she could neither confirm or deny a possible link between the vehicle and a terrorist plot.

Update: CBS affiliate is claiming there was a bomb

UPDATED; Live 5 News
Police in Goose Creek are investigating the discovery of an apparent bomb during a traffic stop.

Highway 176 near Crowfield Boulevard and Old Mt. Holly Road has been shut down.

Sources tell Live 5 News that police stopped a four-door sedan during a routine traffic stop and found what they believe was a bomb inside the vehicle.

Breaking   h/t PJM Looking for updates video at first link

Goose Creek - Berkeley County police pulled over a vehicle in a routine traffic stop near Meyers Road and Highway 1-76 around 6 p.m. The vehicle with Florida tags was driven by two men of Middle Eastern descent. Inside police found explosive devices. Highway 1-76 near Goose Creek has since been shut down. In addition to the FBI (website) , authorities from Goose Creek, Berkeley County, and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are on scene. The Charleston County bomb squad has also been called. Tune in tonight at 11 for details live from the scene.

Comments

[Fred Beloit]

Winkie asks: "Wouldn't it be better to base suspicions on evidence instead of religious affiliation or ethnicity?" Well, good question. After all, it is clear there is absolutely no evidence that religious affiliation...well maybe there is overwhelming evidence of that. But anyway, there is no evidence that ethnicity...well actually there is quite a bit of evidence on this front as well. In any case this isn't about who actually did anything. This is about making diversity more important than our security and retreating from Iraq so the Dems can win election in 2008.

[nowingker]

Fred's impecabble logic:

9/11 was perpetrated by arab muslim terrorists=All arab muslims are terrorists.

Umkay, then. I stand corrected.

Same logic used in WWII, Japanese attacked us=All Japanese are the enemy.

[bloodrage bob]

hmmm. once again, nowinkie jumps in to defend arabs/moslems, ANY arabs/moslems suspected in ANY possible crime. just like he/she does each & every time something like this happens. *each & every time*. regular like clockwork.

almost as if.....as if it was her JOB to do so.

that it, nowinkie? you one of CAIR's net warriors? it WOULD explain your pavlovian, knee-jerk horseshit every time yet another moslem gets busted. it WOULD explain you crowing "see! it wasn't a moslem this time!" when they caught the guys with the homemade colonial submarine last week. it WOULD explain your recent "better no war on terrorism than (one us arabs disapprove of)" statement.

gotta be a tough way to make $6 an hour, nowinkie.

[nowingker]

Its funny, though bob, that I've been right every time.

The cell phone case in Texas.
The bridge case in Michigan.
The pregnant Pakistani woman on the airplane.
The flying imams.
The cartoon LED boxes in Boston.
The VTech shooter.

Every time the wingers have been like, totally, totally sure this was a legitimate terrorist threat, it all comes to nothing....

So, whose the dumbass here?

[David]

"Wouldn't it be better to base suspicions on evidence instead of religious affiliation or ethnicity? It's fine to say, hey, these arab guys are near a military base, from out of state, they've got a lap top and some weird looking 'potential' fireworks...let's check it out. No problem."
--------------------------------------------------------

I think we are in agreement. They were stopped because they were allegedly speeding. They were apparently searched because they appeared to be hiding a laptop and appeared to be middle eastern. They consented to the search. No problem so far.

What happened next isn't clear. Did someone overreact to some leftover fireworks just because they were in the trunk of an arab's car? This remains to be seen. If the cops and the media overreacted, they should admit it and apologize. Several years ago in Florida, two middle eastern college students were driving down through the everglades and stopped for lunch. They were overheard saying things that sounded like they were discussing a terror attack. A concerned citizen made a phone call. They were stopped, questioned, and held for several days before being released. I'm sure this had ramifications in their lives.

It's no secret that law enforcement and prosecutors and the media circus often overreact. But it happens to us white boys too. Just think back a few months to the Duke lacrosse players who were villified for something they did not do.

Let's hope the facts in the Charleston firecracker case get cleared up quickly, before it goes to far---in either direction.

[bloodrage bob]

and beslan, nowinkie? and the christian missionaries (conveniently unarmed) who the brave moslems bravely beheaded? shot? and the (conveniently disarmed) contractors in iraq - the ones kos bravely mourned "screw em"? the schoolgirls shot in afghanistan? the schoolgirls shot/beheaded in thailand? the teachers shot/beheaded in thailand? the massive wave of rapes in scandanavia?

were you right about *those*?

so *maybe* you're not merely a dumbass, nowinkie: MAYBE you're a CAIR tool. because - try as i might - i never ever seem to hear you rage about the moslem pigs behind those atrocities. or the hundreds of others just like them, only slightly less infamous. i can't recall any angry posts from nowinkie blasting the moslem-led, moslem-sponsored genocide that's still ongoing in darfur. or the still-in-operation slave markets owned & operated by the moslems of sudan.

no .... no, just ringing and suspiciously prompt kneejerk, lemminglike defenses of whichever moslem has been busted for suspicious activity today. *remarkably* prompt defenses, actually. almost as if they were - oh, i dunno - as if they were already written & ready to be plugged in as needed.

[Rich Casebolt]

"It is a fact that there was no Al Quada in Iraq until some time in 2004."

Abu Musen al-Zarqawi **late** leader of AQ in Iraq, was in Iraq prior to the invasion ... and he was already associated with AQ at the time, IIRC.

And regardless ... the fact that their footprint (regardless of sheer numbers; see below) is so large indicates that THEY think Iraq is an important front in this war.

Therefore, denial of Iraq to Al Quada is a legitimate objective in the GWOT ... and therefore, justifies our continued presence there.

"Our own military have admitted it,"

Link, please ... I'd like to see if what you are talking about is "no operational ties", as opposed to presence.

"... just like our own military have admitted that Al Quada makes up a minority of fighters and that they are responsible for a minority of the attacks against our soldiers and Iraqi civilians."

A "minority", capable of persuading locals ... by payoff and by threats ... to do their dirty work for them.

A "minority", with influence and capability beyond their numbers.

The recent progress in Anbar and Dialyah ... and the stated motivations of the tribal leaders to cooperate with us and bring about that progress ... speak to this.

But then again, I guess we shouldn't let the truth get in the way of any chance to tear down the Main Enemy in the White House, because "theocracy" is around the corner ...

... yeah, right.

[concerned citizen]

So......after all of that verbosity for two days, has anyone found out what the two Muslim college students from Florida actually had in the car, what was on their computer and what were the charges? I have tried to get an update and all I hear is they were to be charged with something and the FBI is now out of the loop. I still say it is a "DLR" (doesn't look right) and I hope all Americans will continue to be vigillant and aware that terrorism is now part of our everyday life.