Police probe al Qaeda link to Swedish 'hijacker'

3.00pm - By KIM SENGUPTA

Kerim Chatty, who has been accused of attempting to hijack a Ryanair flight from Sweden to London, has links with Islamic extremists including a high-level al Qaeda suspect, security officials say.

The Swedish government highlighted how seriously it was taking the affair by taking the highly unusual step yesterday of informing other political parties about progress in the case, a step undertaken when there is deemed to be a threat to national security.

It was disclosed that while serving a sentence for violence at Osteraker prison, near Stockholm, Mr Chatty, 29, struck up a friendship with a follower of Osama bin Laden, named as Oussama Kassir, who allegedly plotted to set up a terrorist camp in the US.

Mr Kassir, 36, a Swedish resident alleged by the FBI to have identified himself as a hitman for bin Laden, said he became Mr Chatty's friend and mentor in prison in 1998, teaching him to pray and become "a good Muslim" after the younger man's conversion to Islam, but denied either were involved with al Qaeda.

He said: "He is not like me, who loves bin Laden or talks about jihad. He doesn't understand about bin Laden, it is like talking to a child. He is a good guy. He wanted to learn how to live a good life. I taught him how to pray and do right. It pleases me he has become a good Muslim."

The FBI alleges that Mr Kassir travelled to the US via the London mosque run by the controversial imam Abu Hamza al-Masri and became involved in a 1999 plot to set up a "jihad training camp" at a ranch in Oregon.

He was accused of being an accomplice to another alleged associate of Abu Hamza, an American national James Ujaama, who was one of six men charged last month with plotting terrorist attacks. His link with Mr Chatty will increase speculation that last week's alleged attempted hijacking was part of a conspiracy to attack US targets.

Mr Chatty, who has a Tunisian father and a Swedish mother, visited Saudi Arabia twice to study Islam and was in the kingdom on September 11. He was questioned by police on his return. The court where he is to appear today will decide whether he should be charged or kept in custody while investigations continue.

Police in Stockholm are liaising with officers from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch and officers from the CIA and FBI.

The prosecution will present its evidence at the hearing in Vasteras today, to establish which charges can be laid. The court will then go into private session as the judge hears from the suspect and his lawyer before deciding whether to remand Mr Chatty for further investigation, free him or ask the police to charge him immediately.

If Mr Chatty is remanded in custody the prosecutors have a further two weeks in which to gather evidence. A police spokesman, Ulf Palm, said Mr Chatty was likely be charged with planning a hijack or illegal possession of firearms, with further charges to follow. If found guilty he could be jailed for life.

Mr Chatty, who had taken flying lessons in the United States, like the 11 September hijackers, had planned to fly the Ryanair Boeing 737 into an American embassy in Europe, Swedish intelligence sources told the Reuters news agency.

The agency said police were hunting for four other suspects, including an explosives specialist, a claim denied by Margareta Linderoth, the director of Sweden's national security police, and by sources in London. Reuters' sources claimed the Swedish government wanted to play down "Arab terrorist threats" to avoid extreme right-wing parties exploiting it as a racial issue in the run-up to the general election in two weeks' time.

British security sources say Mr Chatty's extremist connections are still being unravelled. But they admit that Richard Reid, the alleged "shoe bomber" awaiting trial in America, was initially thought to have been acting alone before his al Qaeda links were discovered.

Mr Chatty claims he was catching flight FR685 to attend an Islamic conference organised by the Salafi sect in Birmingham. Mr Reid is a member of the sect, as was Mohamed Atta, the suspected leader of the 11 September hijackers.

FBI agents questioned staff at the North American Institute of Aviation in Conway, South Carolina, the flying school where Mr Chatty was a student in 1996. He left the course after being judged a poor student but, according to his family, finished his training at another school in Florida.

Mr Chatty is said to have told police that he was carrying the 6.5 calibre pistol found in his hand luggage "for personal protection, since I felt I was under threat, especially at the place I was going to".

He added: "If I had planned to hijack the plane, I wouldn't have hidden a pistol in my washbag, I would have hidden it somewhere else."

Mr Chatty's father, Sarok, 58, and mother, Gunilla, 54, said their son's interest in Islam had deepened after his flying course. They said their son's involvement in criminality ­ he has convictions for theft and assault ­ stopped with his growing interest in religion.

Mr 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."

He added: "I am a Muslim but not a practising one. My wife is a Christian but we gave Kerim a normal Swedish upbringing. He was always very kind and popular. His teachers used to say that he was a peacemaker who would always break up fights in the playground." One of Kerim Chatty's arrests resulted from a brawl. He is also said to have acted as a bodyguard for an underworld figure.

- INDEPENDENT