NewsMax Wires, NewsMax Staff
Monday, Sept. 2, 2002

The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Karem Chatty, was apprehended Friday when he tried to carry a loaded pistol inside his hand luggage aboard Ryanair flight FR685, which was heading to London from Vasteras airport, 60 miles northwest of Stockholm.

"We believe he was going to hijack the plane," a spokesman for the Swedish police told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday. Chatty, born in Sweden of Tunisian parents, was charged with planning to hijack a plane and held in jail pending a court appearance in Sweden next week.

BBC and ITN television news in London said late Saturday that Swedish police had denied a report that Chatty planned to ram the airliner into a U.S. embassy somewhere in Europe, in the same fashion as hijackers who steered planes into New York's World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon in suburban Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11.

Margareta Linderoth, head of Sweden's national security police, said: "It's false information. I deny it absolutely."

However, Linderoth did confirm the suspect had taken flying lessons, and Swedish police said he had a criminal record that included a firearms offense, and that he had been convicted of theft and assault.

In 1999, Chatty was sentenced to 12 months in prison for aggravated assault after he and two friends wounded a U.S. Marine in a bar.

BBC said the security chief also denied a report that said Swedish police were searching for four other men, including an explosives expert, who might have been working with the suspect. Chatty was traveling with 20 other Muslims on their way to an Islamic conference in Birmingham, England, via London.

The U.K. Press Association said police in Sweden confirmed that Chatty had been at least partially trained as a pilot at a flight school in the United States. The suspect had attended flight school in Conway, S.C., but had not graduated.

After the World Trade Center attack, Chatty was pointed out to the FBI by his former flying instructor. Reportedly, FBI agents looked at Chatty some months ago but found no reason to ask Swedish authorities to arrest or detain him.

Chatty's defense attorney, Nils Uggla, said his client "denies that this has anything at all to do with terrorism or plane hijacking. He is deeply sorry that he caused trouble for the others who were traveling," according to the U.K. Press Association.

Swedish authorities said the suspect was planning to attend an Islamic national conference for some 3,000 followers of Salafi, a fundamentalist Muslim sect.

Chatty's companions were allowed to fly on to Britain after they were questioned.

Despite spotty official denials of a terrorism connection, British newspapers on Sunday reported that intelligence sources were of the opinion that the suspect planned a terrifying rerun of Sept. 11.

They claim Chatty intended to crash the plane into a U.S. embassy in Europe after seizing it following take-off from Sweden.

According to those news reports, Chatty lived close to where nine of the Twin Towers gang, including leader Mohamed Atta, were based.

The incident has heightened security at all airports in the world and put U.S. embassies on highest alert.

President George Bush said that he is "deeply disturbed" about the events in Sweden and will have a briefing from the National Security Council.

Chatty, who was arrested at Vasteras airport, 60 miles west of Stockholm, is now being detained in a high-security prison. He is expected to be charged Monday.

According to reports, Chatty's friends said he wanted to join the jihad, or holy war, but said he did not necessarily wish to be aligned with any particular group.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Al-Qaeda

War on Terrorism

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