Swedish prosecutor says man planned hijack
A prosecutor today formally requested that a Swedish man suspected of planning to hijack a plane to London be kept in police custody while formal charges are prepared.
Kerim Chatty, a 29-year-old Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin, was arrested last Thursday after a gun was found in his carry-on luggage before he boarded the Ryanair flight in Vaesteraas.
Prosecutor Thomas Haeggstroem requested that Chatty should stay in custody while formal charges are prepared because there is a risk he could destroy evidence or escape.
The suspect also poses a risk of continuing his criminal activity, the request said.
Chatty faces possible charges of planning to hijack a plane and illegal possession of a firearm.
A district court judge was expected to rule later today whether Chatty should be released or kept in police custody for at least two weeks while prosecutors prepare their case.
The hearing was tentatively scheduled for 3pm (2pm Irish time), court spokeswoman Eva-Britt Bjoerk said.
Swedish investigators have said they are in contact with foreign authorities and are looking for links between Chatty and terror groups.
Chatty’s father is from Tunisia and mother is from Sweden. He converted to Islam a few years ago, his lawyer has said.
Defence lawyer Hans Uggla met Chatty, who has previous assault and theft convictions, yesterday for the first time since the arrest.
He said his client has an explanation for why he had the gun in his toiletries bag as he boarded the flight to London Stansted.
“He thinks that the police and the prosecutors will believe him,” Uggla said yesterday outside the police headquarters where Chatty is being held in Vaesteraas, 60 miles northwest of the capital Stockholm.
Uggla said he could not elaborate because of a gagging order, but he has criticised police for not giving him enough information about the case.
Chatty’s relatives said he opposed violence and they were confident that he had a reason for carrying the gun that had nothing to do with hijacking plans.
“The investigations will finally show that he is innocent,” his father, Sadok, said yesterday before slamming the door on reporters.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation visited a South Carolina flight school on Saturday that Chatty briefly attended, said the school’s director, Robert Sunday.
Chatty was accepted into the school in Conway, South Carolina, in September 1996 but dropped out a few months later, Sunday said.
At least three of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks attended or visited flight schools in the United States.
Uggla said Chatty had converted to Islam “three or four years ago” - after attending flight school.
Police spokesman Ulf Palm said investigators were in contact with “foreign authorities.” He has declined to give more details or comment further about a possible motive.
Margareta Linderoth, the director of the national security police, has said that officials were looking for any links between Chatty and terrorist groups. But she said that was not the only line of investigation.
Several passengers already on board the aircraft were evacuated after the gun was found on Thursday.
Police searched the cabin and luggage compartment and the plane took off several hours late without the suspect and other Muslims with whom police initially believed he was travelling.
The others were released after questioning.
Airports in Sweden have tightened security since the hijack attacks that levelled the World Trade
Centre in New York and damaged the Pentagon.
But the gun was found during a routine scan at the airport - a former air force base - in Vaesteraas, situated near the picturesque Lake Maeleren and just an hour’s train ride from the capital.
