Shoe-bomb suspect is Briton who converted to Islam in prison

Associated Press WriterLONDON (AP) -- The man who allegedly tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes attended the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged with conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Richard C. Reid at first seemed a normal, street-wise London youth, but he developed extreme views, the chairman of the Brixton Mosque said.

Abdul Haqq Baker said he doubted Reid could have devised the shoe-bombing plot on his own. "I definitely believe there are individuals behind him and that he was a test and they were watching to see if he would succeed," he said.

During an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Saturday, Reid allegedly tried to touch a lit match to a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. Two flight attendants and several passengers grabbed him and used belts to strap him into his seat, and two doctors sedated him with drugs from an airplane medical kit.

The Boeing 767, carrying 197 people, was diverted to Boston with an escort of two fighter jets.

Baker said that Reid converted to Islam while serving a jail sentence and approached the mosque after his release. "He was someone out of prison who wanted to learn. There was no indication or suspicion he was linked with terrorist organizations," Baker said.

Reid joined the mosque in 1998 at about the same time as Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent charged with conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Baker said. The two attended the small mosque at the same time for part of 1998 and may have met, he said.

Moussaoui "made his more radical beliefs known and as a result, in the end, his beliefs were not welcome," Baker said.

Reid, who attended the mosque for two years, became more extreme in his views, Baker said. While the Brixton Mosque teaches "basic, mainstream orthodox' Islam, it has attracted some "extreme elements" who targeted enthusiastic converts like Reid, Baker said.

"I would say he was very, very impressionable," Baker said of Reid, who went took the Muslin name Abdel Rahim. "If they have got the likes of Rahim, there are a lot more and we are very concerned about that."

A small mosque located in a row of Victorian houses, Brixton has a young, multicultural membership that includes a large number of converts.

U.S. prosecutors allege that Moussaoui was in on the plot to hijack and crash airliners in to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying he followed many of the same patterns as the 19 hijackers.

Investigators are still attempting to confirm the suspect's identity in the shoe-bombing attempt. London's Times newspaper and a French police official both have identified Reid as a British petty criminal with an English mother and a Jamaican father.

Richard C. Reid is the name listed on a British passport issued Dec. 7 by the British embassy in Belgium. George Fergusson, consul general at the British Consulate in Boston, said Tuesday that Reid's British passport appeared to be valid.

The Times said Reid was born in Bromley, southeast London, in 1973 to an English mother and a Jamaican father and had served several jail sentences for street crimes such as mugging.

Scotland Yard said it would not comment on whether the man had a criminal record. But a French police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Reid was apparently known to British police for petty theft, and said reports Reid was the son of a Jamaican father and a British mother were apparently true.

After the man's arrest Saturday, French officials initially said they thought he was from Sri Lanka, but Sri Lanka said later he was not a citizen.

A report Tuesday in France's La Provence newspaper, citing police and intelligence sources, said Reid had belonged to an Islamic movement called Tabliq but left because he said it was "not radical enough" for him.

Reid has been charged with intimidation or assault of a flight crew and could face 20 years in prison. He is being held in jail under suicide watch pending a psychological examination.

The FBI has said more charges are likely.

Investigators have not identified the type of explosive material found in devices in Reid's sneakers, but say preliminary FBI tests determined the devices were functional. A source familiar with the preliminary tests who spoke on condition anonymity said the substance could have been a plastic explosive.