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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,...

Tuesday, September 03, 2002, 12:00 a.m. Pacific'I love bin Laden ... I hate Bush': Man connected to Ujaama, hijacking suspect speaks outBy David HeathSeattle Times staff reporter A Swedish citizen suspected of conspiring with a former Seattle man to open a terrorist training camp in Oregon also has links to a Swede suspected of planning to hijack an airliner in Europe last week. Oussama Kassir, 36, an unemployed engineer in Stockholm, was an unnamed and uncharged co-conspirator in the indictment of James Ujaama last week. Federal officials say Kassir and another man went to Bly, Ore., with Ujaama in late...

A man arrested in Sweden on suspicion he was about to hijack a plane, was planning to crash the aircraft into a US embassy in Europe, according to a Reuters report. Swedish intelligence sources told the news agency that the 29-year-old Swedish man may have been working with others on the plan. Police are looking for four more men, including an explosives expert. A military intelligence source told Reuters: "We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a US embassy in Europe." The suspected would-be hijacker is still being questioned in Sweden after trying to...

Abu Hamza, the militant, London-based Muslim cleric, maintained close contact with the leadership of al-Qa'eda during the years when it operated a worldwide terrorist network from Afghanistan, according to FBI files. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph state that Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque, north London, dealt personally with Abu Zubeidah, Osama bin Laden's director of operations. Zubeidah, a Palestinian who is now in US custody, communicated bin Laden's instructions and messages from his hideout in Afghanistan to al-Qa'eda cells around the world. Hamza had the power to refer recruits to Zubeidah for "leadership training" in Afghan...

VAESTERAAS, Sweden (AP) — A Swedish court sentenced a former hijacking suspect Friday to four months in prison for weapons violations, saying he hadn't intentionally brought a gun to an airport in August. The district court in Vaesteraas said Kerim Chatty's explanation that he had forgotten the gun in his carryon luggage couldn't be dismissed. The 29-year-old was arrested Aug. 29 at the airport in Vaesteraas, about 60 miles west of Stockholm, after security officials found a 6.35-mm pistol in his hand luggage. He was originally suspected of planning to hijack a Ryanair flight to London, but prosecutor Thomas Haeggstroem...

A Muslim man once suspected of planning to hijack a flight to England has said he was "stupid" to try to board a plane with a gun in his toiletry bag. Kerim Chatty, a Swede of Tunisian origin, sparked a security alert at Vasteras airport outside Stockholm in August when the weapon was found as he headed for a London-bound plane with 189 people on board. He was originally held on suspicion of planning to hijack the plane but the investigation was dropped for lack of evidence. On Friday, Chatty, 29, pleaded guilty in court to two counts of illegal...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — A Swedish man previously suspected of planning to hijack a London-bound airliner was charged Friday with illegal possession of a weapon, after the earlier charges were dropped. Kerim Chatty was arrested on Aug. 29 at a regional airport in Vaesteraas when security officials found a 6.35-milimeter caliber pistol in a toiletries bag during a routine scan. Prosecutor Thomas Haeggstroem filed the latest charges after he dropped the hijack investigation last week because he could not disprove Chatty's claim that he just forgot the gun was in his bag. Chatty, who has previous assault and theft convictions,...

THE CIA believes the Islamic hijacker who was allegedly planning to crash a plane bound for Britain into a US embassy in Europe may have been part of a new wave of terrorists ready to attack American targets in the run-up to the anniversary of the September 11 atrocities. Kerim Chatty, a Swedish man of Tunisian origin, had taken flying lessons in the US state of South Carolina, according to Swedish police. He was arrested late on Thursday night at VŠsterŒs Airport near Stockholm on suspicion of planning a hijacking when he was found with a 6.5mm pistol in his...