That was close.
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/01/2002 1:38:58 AM PDT by MadIvan
The Muslim convert accused of trying to hijack a Ryanair plane from Sweden to Stansted attended an American flying school leaving with a qualification to pilot light aircraft.
The revelation that Kerim Chatty, 29, had taken flying lessons in the US - just like the September 11 terrorists - came as detectives investigated reports that he was planning to crash the plane into an American embassy in Europe, possibly London.
An intelligence officer in Sweden told Reuters: "We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a US embassy in Europe."
If London were the target, the plane would have arrived at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square at around 5.35pm on Thursday, when the area would have been packed with workers and commuters.
There was confusion, however, as to exactly what Chatty, a keep-fit fanatic with a Swedish mother and Tunisian father, intended. Margareta Linderoth, the Swedish security police director, said the reports that US embassies were the target were false and categorically denied that he had been part of a five-man al Qaeda cell. British security officials said that inquiries into Chatty's targets were continuing.
They confirmed, however, that Chatty, who tried to board the Ryanair plane with a loaded gun in a sponge bag, knew how to fly. He spent some time at the North American Institute of Aviation (NAIA) flight school in Conway, South Carolina, leaving in early 1997.
Many of the hijackers of the four planes that were hijacked on September 11 also attended US flight schools.
The NAIA flight school confirmed that Chatty had studied there but said that he had been told to leave after two months because of his temper. Bob Sunday, a spokesman for the school, said: "My understanding is he was not a good student and was terminated from the school. He did not have a suitable temperament for flying."
Security officers in Sweden said Chatty did not leave with a full pilot's licence but had received a qualification allowing him to fly light aircraft.
Chatty was arrested on suspicion of hijacking, and possessing a firearm, after he tried to board a Ryanair Boeing 737 to Stansted, in Essex, carrying 189 people, with the weapon in his hand luggage. Security officials at the small Vasteras airport, 60 miles west of Stockholm, said the weapon was a 6.5mm pistol.
Chatty was believed to be on his way to a conference of Muslims in Birmingham dedicated to purifying Islam, run by Salafi Publications, an Islamic bookshop. Salafi is a strong fundamentalist form of Islam that seeks to return the religion to ancient beliefs.
Adherents are thought to have included Mohamed Atta, the leader of the September 11 hijackers, who was carrying a Salafi tract in his luggage.
Abu Khadeejah, one of the organisers of the conference, said he did not know Chatty.
Police in Stockholm confirmed that Chatty was a Swedish citizen who adopted Islam a year ago. A former boxing champion, he was jailed for nine months in 1998 for possessing a machine pistol and has convictions for possessing a shotgun, theft, driving without a licence and receiving stolen goods.
Nils Uggla, Chatty's lawyer, said his client could explain why he had the gun and that he was not a terrorist. Mr Uggla said: "He denies that this has anything at all to do with terrorism or plane hijacking. He is deeply sorry that he caused trouble for the others who were travelling."
Chatty's parents, who have another son and two daughters, also protested his innocence, as they spoke from their luxury home, which overlooks a lake in a quiet village north of Stockholm.
His mother Gunilla, 54, reportedly said: "He is not a terrorist and it is outrageous for anyone to suggest it. This is all a mistake and it will be proved that our son is innocent. I cannot understand why he had that gun with him. I know it must be a mistake. He would never have hijacked that plane. I cannot stop crying about this. It is a catastrophe for our family."
She admitted, however, that her son had become increasingly committed to Islam. "He had met Muslims in Sweden and was interested in what they had to say, but after he returned from America he was much more serious about it."
Chatty's Tunisian-born father Sarok, 58, also defended his son. "When my son was 19, he was wild, stupid, and even crazy and kept bad company and did make some mistakes and minor misdemeanours, but he changed after those days.
"He acquired the gun then and had it with him since, but he never used it violently, or any way else and he never intended to use it."
Mr Chatty said that he believed that his son had forgotten that the gun was in his luggage after moving flat three months ago, although this contradicted Chatty's own claim that the gun was planted on him.
He said that Chatty had enjoyed a happy childhood and was "just a normal boy".
"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."
Ulf Palm, a spokesman for the Swedish police, said that Chatty, who has been moved to a high security prison, would probably be charged on Monday.
He is being held on preliminary charges of attempting to hijack a plane and illegal possession of a firearm.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are liaising as a matter of course with Swedish authorities and continue to offer every assistance. This may involve sending anti-terrorist officers in due course."
Further details of Chatty's months in the US emerged last night. After leaving his flying course in South Carolina, he moved to Pembroke Pines, a Florida town near Palm Beach and north of Miami, close to Delray Beach, where nine of the September 11 hijackers lived.
In Pembroke Pines, Chatty is reported to have lived in a flat with three or four other men of Arab appearance.
He is thought to have attended several other flying schools, including another in South Carolina and one in Florida.
That was close.
Regards, Ivan
Yeah, he got worse.
The same could be said for Euan Blair (the Prime Minister's son). However Euan Blair reacted by getting drunk and throwing up at Leicester Square. This fellow carries a gun in his carry on in an attempt to hit London.
Regards, Ivan
A highly placed intelligence source said police were hunting four more men, including an explosives expert, who were believed to have worked on the plan with the suspect.
This may be germaine to our previous discussion, especially since it was 1997.
BTW, Conway is near Myrtle Beach if anyone wonders where it is.
After leaving his flying course in South Carolina, he moved to Pembroke Pines, a Florida town near Palm Beach and north of Miami, close to Delray Beach, where nine of the September 11 hijackers lived. In Pembroke Pines, Chatty is reported to have lived in a flat with three or four other men of Arab appearance. He is thought to have attended several other flying schools, including another in South Carolina and one in FloridaA new cell, or part of the old one? Did he train at the Venice school?
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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police are scrambling 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 September 11 attacks on the United States. More... |
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Well, let me tell you something, you Swedish Bitch in a Luxury House overlooking a lake...there are one hell of a lot of people who are having trouble stopping crying since 9/11 when the buddies of your spawn butchered their family members!
If you are looking for sympathy, may I suggest the dictionary...you will find it between suicide and syphillus!
I would like to believe that this near miss will awaken the people of Britain - but I think we can all picture the editorial in the Mirror and the Guardian – “America should withdraw their embassies from Europe as they pose a threat to the safety of the nation blah blah blah...”
Only to the extent that they demand the US Embassy be closed so there are no Muslim targets on their precious soil.
Excerpts from OEB's link:
- a newspaper reported police had already questioned him since September 11 after he visited Saudi Arabia- Swedish security services had interviewed Chatty about possible contacts with radical Muslim groups after he returned from Saudi Arabia where he had been studying Islam.
- A highly-placed intelligence source said police were hunting four more men, including an explosives expert, who were believed to have worked on the plan with the suspect.
- A source in Sweden's Sapo security police said Sapo had been told by the government to play the latest incident down at a politically sensitive time, two weeks before an election.
- James Lamb, assistant chief flight instructor with the North American Institute of Aviation in Conway, South Carolina, said an FBI agent was at the school on Saturday seeking information on Kerim Chatty, a former student who attended the school from September 1996 to April 1997. Lamb said Chatty had been "terminated" for poor performance and lack of progress.
- Another Sapo source told Reuters the security police were working on the theory that the group were planning to crash at least one plane, and possibly more, into a U.S. embassy. They did not know which embassy had been targeted.
- Swedish police do not believe the arrested man or anyone he was working with were part of bin Laden's al Qaeda guerrilla group. Instead they believe a copycat attack was being planned.
- Swedish papers said the suspect had become a devout Muslim in recent years, regularly visiting a mosque in Stockholm. It quoted his friends as saying he had often spoken of fighting for Islam but was not a member of any organisation
- His father was quoted by Aftonbladet as saying the suspect had made two trips to Saudi Arabia to study Islam and was there when the September 11 suicide attacks took place. His latest visit was in February this year.
Either the Swedes don't want to upset the royals, or we've asked them to go easy...
I do question the part about flying the plane into the US embassy. From the air, it would be hard to find. You need a good target...which is why the twin towers (sticking up on the south end of Manhatten) and the Pentagon (go down the river and aim slightly south when you see the large pentagonal building) were hit, and the Pennsylvania plane would have probably hit the US Capitol, not the whitehouse, which is hard to see from the air...
I haven't flown over London so what do you guys who fly to Europe guess was the target?
When my son was 19, he was wild, stupid, and even crazy and kept bad company and did make some mistakes and minor misdemeanours, but he changed after those days.
Translation: "I dun been manifested by a miracle, I don' eat no swine, I don' drink no wine."
Crazy caucasian bitches would never understand that their marriages (or, more possible, just copulating) with Musli bullshit machos inevitably lead not only to their own suffering in the end of the day, but to creation of weird offspring which doesn't feel itself at home with neither Mom's, nor Dad's religion and culture.
Thus the need not just to 'convert' to Islam, but to become an Islamist, i.e. a terrorist.
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