The University of Memphis student suspected of plotting a terrorist attack on the Memphis International Airport was sentenced last week to 13 months in prison.
Mahmoud Maawad, 29, was arrested last February in his apartment on Mynders near The U of M campus after federal agents found suspicious materials in Maawad's apartment.
According to police reports, federal agents found several DVDs in Maawad's residence describing how to fly a plane and a DVD titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."
Along with the DVDs, authorities found several charts and maps, including one of the Memphis International Airport, $3,330 worth of aviation equipment and information on Maawad's home computer that reportedly linked him with now-dead Iraqi terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarquawi.
Maawad was arrested for buying the DVDs with a depleted bank account and for using a false social security number to enroll at The U of M.
While prosecutors could not charge Maawad with any terrorist related crimes, Maawad did plead guilty to fraudulently obtaining merchandise through Internet orders to Sporty's U.S.A., an Ohio-based company that supplied Maawad with the aviation DVDs.
But despite receiving more than a year in prison for the fraudulent purchases, Maawad will be released sooner than 13 months, according to court records. Maawad will be given credit for time served between arrest and conviction and could be released as early as March.
Some U of M students, including business major Mary McDonald, are concerned that the Maawad incident was not taken seriously enough.
"I really don't think people made a big enough deal over his arrest last semester," she said. "He was obviously planning on more than taking flying lessons. It's just scary to think about if he would have been able to go through with his plan. What if he was planning an attack on campus?"
After Maawad's arrest, authorities were able to obtain several Internet chat room messages that Maawad had posted online.
Maawad had reportedly replied to a post that thanked Allah "for all your Jihad" and stated that the only legitimate Arab states in existence were Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Perhaps more disturbing, though, was Maawad's participation in an Internet chat room that starts with a posting supporting "fierce aggression from the supposedly Arab brothers."
According to reports, Maawad, who identified himself as an engineering student living in the United States, replied to the comment, "I union with you and I completely agree."
If Maawad was planning an attack in the Memphis area, he will be unable to follow it through, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Memphis in a press release. Maawad will be deported to Egypt following his prison term.
Maawad had been living in Memphis legally until his visa expired in 1999.
Although Maawad was never actually convicted of any terrorist related crimes, the idea that he will no longer be near campus is reassuring, McDonald said.
"People in Memphis don't really believe that a terrorist act could affect us. They think more along the lines of an attack on New York or Los Angeles," she said. "But I hope the arrest of this guy is a warning to people that it can happen here."
