The two men detained in South Carolina over the weekend after police said they found a suspicious item in their car are University of South Florida students, officials said.

At a 1:30 p.m. news conference today, USF Spokesman Ken Gullette said Yousef Megahed is an undergraduate student and Ahmed Mohamed is a civil engineering graduate student.

Mohamed is originally from Kuwait and completed his undergrad education in Cairo. Egypt. He has been at USF since January and was registered for six hours during summer session, Gullette said.

Megahed, originally from Egpyt, has been enrolled at USF since 2004 and had not declared a major. He was registered for three hours this fall, Gullette said.

Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa, said that Megahed is a permanent legal resident studying engineering at USF whose family has lived in the Tampa area for years. "This is his home," Bedier said.

Mohamed, who is from Egypt, is at USF on an exchange program, Bedier said.

Megahed's family members only heard news of his arrest while watching CNN, Bedier said. "They never received a phone call," he said.

A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations accompanied family members to South Carolina late Sunday, Bedier said.

Bedier said he has seen reports coming out of South Carolina that the men merely had fireworks in their car. "We need to know what the facts are," he said.

In South Carolina, Berkeley County sheriff's Lt. Vince Lombard said authorities stopped the men for speeding, then found the suspicious item. Police detonated the item. Lombard 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.

The men were being held Sunday pending a charge of unlawful possession of an explosive device, according to officials in South Carolina.

No charges had been filed as of Sunday afternoon, Berkeley County Chief Deputy Butch Henerey told The Post and Courier of Charleston for a story posted on its Web site Sunday.

A terrorism task force is reviewing evidence, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko.

"At this point, it is too early in the investigation to say there is any link to terrorism," Kolko said.

He referred questions about the suspects, whom he did not identify, to local authorities. The sheriff's office would not comment to The Associated Press but planned a news conference Monday morning.

Authorities closed a mile-long stretch of U.S. Highway 176 at about 7 p.m. Saturday, and federal officials said there was "no immediate threat." It reopened at about 4 a.m. Sunday.

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

The car was heading west, away from Goose Creek, when it was pulled over about seven miles from the sprawling Navy facility, Lombard said.

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

Valerie Kalfrin of The Tampa Tribune and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Swanny Note: In today's society, isn't it dangerous to explode an item with out knowing the composition of the "bomb"

Back in 2002 there was this big story done about the great bomb making capability of Al Qaeda. Then the reports started coming in about DIRTY bombs. So tell me. How smart is the INTELLIGENCE these days of our Gung ho police depts. Now, my second question is....why did they blow up evidence? and not knowing if it had dirty bomb capabilities...I think this shows us that the people in Law enforcement don't have a clue. Since when is a speeding violation enough to search a car?