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Detainee Had Studied to Be a Pilot in U.S. September 1, 2002 By ALAN COWELL LONDON, Aug. 31 - Swedish authorities said today that a man arrested at a Swedish airport with a gun in his carry-on luggage as he tried to board a London-bound flight had studied at an aviation school in the United States and had a criminal record. However, almost two days after the man, identified as Kerim Chatty, 29, was arrested, a senior Swedish official denied reports attributed to Swedish intelligence and police circles that he had planned to seize the plane and attack an American embassy in Europe in a conspiracy with four other men. There was no word either on whether the man was suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda. The reports nonetheless deepened apprehension among European security officials that, days before the commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, anti-Western militants might be planning copycat attacks on this side of the Atlantic. Margaretha Linderoth, Sweden's security police director, denied that Mr. Chatty was part of such a conspiracy. "It's false information," she said. "We are not looking for four more men." Earlier, Reuters had quoted an unidentified military intelligence source as saying, "We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a U.S. embassy in Europe." Mr. Chatty underwent training at the North American Institute of Aviation in Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach. He was dismissed from the school's pilot program for poor performance, a top school official said tonight. The flight school specializes in training foreign pilots, particularly students from Scandinavia, who arrive with special visas allowing them to attend school and later work in the United States. School officials go to Scandinavia every year to test and recruit potential students, according to the school's Web site. Mr. Chatty was arrested late Thursday as he tried to board a flight operated by Ryanair, a low-cost carrier, out of a small airport in Vaesteraas, 60 miles northeast of Stockholm. He was identified as belonging to a group of about 20 Muslims on board the plane that was heading for a conference in Birmingham, England, arranged by a Muslim sect known as Salafists. The sect describes itself as a purist strand of the Islamic faith. Its spokesman in Birmingham, Abu Khadeejah, said the conference organizers did not know Mr. Chatty. He also said the Salafists reject terrorism and had condemned both Osama bin Laden and the attacks last Sept. 11. The Swedish police said they might hold Mr. Chatty until midday Monday before seeking court action against him. He is being held on suspicion of attempted hijacking and illegal possession of a firearm. Nils Uggla, his defense lawyer, said that Mr. Chatty, a Swedish citizen of Tunisian descent, could explain the presence of a handgun found in his luggage. "He denies that this has anything at all to do with terrorism or airplane hijacking," Mr. Uggla said. Several passengers already aboard the aircraft were evacuated while police officers searched the cabin and luggage compartment. The flight school in South Carolina opened in 1972 and has trained about 3,500 pilots over the past three decades, according to its Web site. The school offers a six-month course that trains students to fly and work as flight instructors, the first step to obtaining a commercial pilot's license. At about $35,000 including housing, the course is considered a bargain compared to comparable European programs. Beginning in 1997, the school was 1 of 21 in an experimental program in the southeastern states that used the Internet to report foreign students who did not show up for classes to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. All schools are required to report students who do not show up for classes, but reporting was spotty before Sept. 11. One of the hijackers came into the United States on a student visa but never reported to the California school that he was supposed to attend. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents visited the school twice after Sept. 11 during sweeps of flight schools across the country, The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported last year. Robert Sunday, the school's chief operations officer, told The Sun News at the time that his school took extra care in admitting its students. Typically students are required to have J-1 visas, a special educational visa that requires tougher screening than a typical student visa. Mr. Sunday also said the school immediately reports students who do not show up for class. In May, a fire destroyed the administrative offices of the school. James Lamb, an instructor at the school, said he could not be sure whether Mr. Chatty was a student because student records were destroyed in the fire. Morgan Martin, a former state legislator from Conway who serves on the state Transportation Commission, said the school had a good reputation. "As far as I know it is a well-respected and well-run operation," he said. Swedish newspaper reports depicted Mr. Chatty as a recent convert to Islam. He had been convicted of theft and assault charges, relating to a brawl with American marines at a gym in Stockholm and an earlier scuffle at a bar, according Mr. Uggla, the defense lawyer. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/international/europe/01SWED.html?ex=1031886147&ei=1&en=602b1ac88f0011a4 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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