Swedes scramble to charge terror suspect

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.

Intelligence and police sources said on Saturday that the man, whom Swedish media have identified as 29-year-old Kerim Chatty, had been planning to hijack a Ryanair flight to Britain and crash the plane into a US embassy in Europe. He was arrested Thursday after a gun was found in his hand luggage at Sweden's Vasteras airport, west of Stockholm. Any charges must be brought by noon today under Swedish law.

“It’s hectic. There are many things we have to do. We do not want him to be set free on Monday,” said police spokesman Ulf Palm.