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By JOCELYN NOVECK
PARIS (AP) - The man who allegedly tried to ignite explosives aboard an
American Airlines jet was apparently known to police in Britain for petty
theft, a French police official said Tuesday.
In London, Scotland Yard said it would not comment on whether the man,
identified on his British passport as Richard C. Reid, had any record.
The French police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also
confirmed reports that the man had spent the night before Saturday's flight
at an airport hotel paid by the airline, because he had missed the previous
day's flight.
A few other details emerged Tuesday about the man, whose background remains
sketchy to investigators. A report in the La Provence newspaper, citing
police and intelligence sources, said he had belonged to an Islamic movement
called Tabliq but left because he said it was "not radical enough" for him.
The police official said French police had no information about that.
French border police, the French intelligence agency and anti-terrorist
police are all conducting investigations.
The man showed little emotion at his first court appearance Monday in
Boston. He was ordered held pending a bail hearing Friday.
In court papers, he was identified as Richard C. Reid, the name listed on a
British passport issued Dec. 7 by the British embassy in Brussels.
The French police official said French media reports that Reid is the son of
a Jamaican father and a British mother from Kent were apparently true. But
U.S. investigators have said they think it is his mother who is Jamaican.
The French official said Reid was apparently known to British police for
petty theft; it is still not clear where the man lived.
The official also said American Airlines paid the man's hotel bill from
Friday night, reported as $175, because he missed Friday's flight after
being questioned extensively by French border police, who were alerted by
the airline.
The man was given the green light but was too late to catch the plane.
French border police have said that since the man's passport was in order
and he had no police record, they had no reason to stop him from boarding.
LCI television showed footage of the hotel, the Copthorne, and the travel
agency where he bought his ticket, apparently a Paris-Miami-Antigua
roundtrip.
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