SWEDEN: Swedish police were last night strongly denying suggestions that a man arrested boarding a Ryanair flight last Thursday was planning a major terrorist attack along with four accomplices.
It is understood the man, named as Mr Kerim Chatty (29), will appear in court today. Police said the man would probably be charged with planning a hijack or illegal possession of firearms and possibly further charges. He could face life imprisonment if found guilty.
However, Mr Johan Carlson, a police spokesman in Stockholm, told The Irish Times that suggestions from security sources that the man was part of a terrorist group planning to attack US targets in Europe were untrue.
"We are strongly denying those suggestions. We regard those reports as inaccurate," he said.
He said Ms Margareta Linderoth, the security police director, had already made it clear that such reports were based on false information. She said the police were not looking for any accomplices at this stage.
Last night, the police were attempting to meet a legal deadline to press charges against the man, who is of Tunisian origin. Prosecutors have until midday today to convince a court to remand him in custody for two more weeks or free him. The court will announce its decision today and formal charges would follow later if a case were made.
"It's hectic. There are many things we have to do. We do not want him to be set free on Monday," a police spokesman told Reuters.
Mr Chatty was arrested on Thursday at Vasteras, a small airport near Stockholm, after a gun was found in his hand luggage as he tried to board a Ryanair flight to Britain.
Fears about Mr Chatty's intentions heightened after it was revealed he had attended flying lessons in the US. He was dropped from the course because he was a poor student, a spokesman for the South Carolina school said. Over the weekend, agents from the FBI took files from the school containing information about Mr Chatty.
His Swedish mother and Tunisian father yesterday defended their son, who converted to Islam four years ago.
They said his interest in Islam deepened after he met a group of Muslims during his time at the flying school. They told a British newspaper that he was "studying at a Muslim school" in Saudi Arabia at the time of the September 11 attacks. His mother, Ms Gunilla Chatty, said: "I cannot understand why he had that gun with him. I know it must be a mistake. He would never have hijacked that plane."
The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reported he was questioned in Sweden about contacts with radical Muslim groups after the September 11 attacks.
Mr Chatty has convictions for theft and assault, after he clashed with US marines in Stockholm five years ago. He was jailed for six months for his part in the fight.
Police sources told Reuters that agents from Britain's MI5 counter-espionage service and the CIA intelligence agency were helping with the investigation. This too was denied by Ms Linderoth, but a spokesman said police were now liaising with foreign authorities.
Police questioned a group of 20 Swedish Muslims on the Ryanair flight who were travelling to an Islamic conference in the English city of Birmingham.
They were subsequently released and police said they are not suspected of any crime.