Ryanair terror suspect remanded while hijack charges investigated

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.

Kerim Chatty’s lawyer told the court in Vaesteraas his client was innocent.

The district court judge ordered Chatty detained on preliminary charges of planning to hijack a plane and illegal possession of a weapon. He said charges have to be brought by September 16. It was not clear why a sabotage charge that had been requested by the prosecution was not included.

Wearing a grey T-shirt, shorts and sandals, Chatty, the son of a Swedish mother and Tunisian father, spoke only to confirm his presence in the court before his lawyer addressed the judge.

Judge Thomas Wallin then closed the 90-minute hearing to the public on the prosecution’s request before allowing reporters back in to hear his decision.

Police insisted their case against the 29-year-old had got stronger since his arrest on Thursday. A handgun was found in Chatty’s toiletries bag in a routine check as he boarded a Ryanair flight from Stockholm to London to attend an Islamic conference in Birmingham.

The prosecutor had earlier requested charges of planning to hijack or sabotage a plane or an airport and a secondary charge of weapons possession, prosecutors told the court in Vaesteraas, about 60 miles northwest of the capital, Stockholm.

The case has heightened fears of the possibility of a wider terrorist plot because of the proximity to the anniversary of September 11 attacks in the United States. However, Chatty’s lawyer, Nils Uggla, strongly rejected any association with terrorism or plans to crash the plane: “I haven’t found any information that it’s like that and my client denies it.”

Uggla said on Sunday that Chatty, a Muslim convert, can explain why he had the gun in his bag, but the lawyer could not give reporters the explanation because of a gag order.

Prosecutor Thomas Haeggstroem argued that Chatty should remain in custody while formal charges are prepared because there is a risk he could escape or destroy evidence and complicate the investigation. The suspect, who has previous assault and theft convictions, also could continue his criminal activities, Haeggstroem said.

Investigators have said they are in contact with foreign authorities and are looking for links between Chatty and terror groups, along with other lines of investigation.

Chatty’s relatives said he opposed violence and they were confident he had a reason for carrying the gun that had nothing to do with hijacking plans.

“The investigations will finally show that he’s innocent,” said his father, Sadok, before slamming the door closed at his apartment in a small town midway between Vaesteraas and Stockholm.

On Saturday, FBI officials visited a South Carolina flight school 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 flunked out a few months later.

At least three of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks attended or visited flight schools in the United States, but the hijackers took their lessons in 2000, and German investigators say the plot to fly hijacked planes was probably not conceived until 1999, well after Chatty took his flight courses.

Sarah Chatty said her brother was excited about going to the school. He had a good time and made lots of friends. “It was just a hobby,” the 19-year-old physical fitness student said. “Like I want to dance, he wanted to fly.” She hasn’t spoken to her brother since the arrest but insisted the gun “had nothing to do with terrorism”.