A SWEDISH man arrested with a gun in his carry-on luggage as he attempted to board a Ryanair flight in Sweden was remanded in custody yesterday while prosecutors investigate charges he planned to hijack the airliner.

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.

Relatives of a man suspected by Swedish police of planning to hijack a Ryanair airliner were confident that evidence would show he was innocent as lawyers prepared for a hearing today to determine if he should remain in custody.

SWEDISH police scrambled yesterday to meet a legal deadline to charge a man of Tunisian origin suspected of a plane hijack plot just days before the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.