Sept 11: Frenchman charged with conspiracy

A man suspected to have been training to be one of the September 11 suicide hijackers has been charged with multiple conspiracy counts in the US.

French Moroccan Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested on August 11 on immigration charges after officials at a Minnesota flying school, where he sought training, grew suspicious and called authorities.

He was held on immigration charges but the FBI showed little interest in his case until after September 11, when detectives once again looked into his case.

The French citizen was dubbed the 20th hijacker amid suspicions that he should have been on United Flight 93, the plane which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

It had four terrorists on board when the other three flights had five, but the FBI shifted its focus to other suspects in other countries as the fifth man on the plane and another man, Ramsi Bin Al-Shibh, was named as the intended 20th hijacker

He lived in south London on and off for nine years, and at one time studied at South Bank University for a business degree.

He was a follower of Abu Qatada, the radical cleric has been named as Osama bin Laden’s representative in London, but has never been charged with any crime.

French investigators said Moussaoui, whose mother lives in France, was seen in 1999 travelling to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and claim to have asked MI5 to put him under surveillance.