Shoe bomb suspect arraigned

Steve Leblanc

Monday, Dec. 24, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

BOSTON -- A man who allegedly tried to set off explosives hidden in his shoes while flying on a jetliner was ordered held in federal custody today, and authorities said they had no evidence to link him to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

A government official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators had no clues linking the suspect, listed in court papers as Richard C. Reid, to the al-Qaida network.

Reid, 28, dressed in a prison jump suit and sitting alone in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein today, responded, "Yeah" when she asked if he understood the charge against him, intimidation or assault of a flight crew causing interference with their duties.

He was ordered held in federal custody until a bail hearing Friday, and faces a maximum 20 years in prison if convicted. The FBI said more charges are likely.

Airports around the country and in Europe ratcheted up security yet another notch, requiring some passengers to send their shoes through X-ray machines before boarding.

A potential tragedy was averted on Saturday's flight when two flight attendants and at least a half-dozen passengers aboard the Boeing 767 jetliner grabbed the man and used belts to strap him into his seat while two doctors used drugs from the airplane's medical kit to sedate him.

The FBI said explosives were detected in preliminary tests on the man's sneakers.

The hulking suspect's identity remains unclear. He was listed in court papers Sunday as Richard C. Reid, 28, the name on his British passport, and officials at Scotland Yard said they believed the suspect was a British national. But French authorities identified him as a Sri Lankan named Tariq Raja.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday ordered U.S. airlines and airports to be more vigilant in screening passengers' shoes. The order follows a similar one issued Dec. 11 warning that hijackers might try to smuggle weapons in their footwear, and it posses a challenge for U.S. airports.

In the United States, the current generation of walk-through machines that screen passengers for weapons can't detect plastic explosives, and most airline passengers and their carry-on bags aren't checked for explosives by other means, such as bomb-sniffing dogs.

Reid was being held under constant watch in a jail in Plymouth, according to Mike Seele, spokesman for the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department.

Passengers said they had noticed the tall, ponytailed man standing alone and stone-faced before boarding.

"He had a blank look," said Nicholas Green, 27. "The people who had seen him remembered him."

During the flight, the suspect, who was sitting behind the wing in the coach section, lit a match, but put it in his mouth when confronted by flight attendant Hermis Moutardier, according to an FBI affidavit.

She told the captain and returned to see Reid with a match held to the tongue of his sneaker, then noticed a wire protruding from the shoe. She tried to grab the sneaker, but Reid allegedly pushed her to the floor, and she screamed for help.