Shoe-bomb suspect under suicide watch

BOSTON -- The man who allegedly tried to blow up a jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes was under suicide watch Tuesday, and British officials said they believe he was born in England.

The suspect, identified as Richard C. Reid, remained under the suicide watch at the Plymouth County House of Correction pending a psychological examination, said Chief Deputy Timothy Bane of the U.S. Marshal's office.

Authorities said they were still trying to determine his motive, saying the material hidden in his shoes could have caused a "major disaster" had he set it off during a trans-Atlantic flight.

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.

French investigators had no information about that report, said a French police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

FBI Special Agent Charles Prouty in Boston said the agency was investigating whether Reid had links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and hadn't ruled anything out. But a government official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday that investigators had nothing to link Reid to the terror network.

Richard C. Reid is the name listed on a British passport issued Dec. 7 by the British embassy in Belgium, but after his arrest Saturday French officials initially said they thought he was from Sri Lanka and named Tariq Raja. U.S. investigators said they thought his mother was Jamaican. Officials said he also went by the name Abdel Rahim.

But on Tuesday, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the man was not a Sri Lankan national and French border police said they believed he was British.

George Fergusson, consul general for the British Consulate in Boston, said Tuesday that Reid's British passport appeared to be valid.

"We have no reason to believe it is not legitimate," he said.

"His passport says he was born in the United Kingdom, in England," he said. A more specific birthplace was not available.

Reid apparently was known to police in Britain for petty theft, a French police official said Tuesday. In London, however, investigators would not comment on whether he had any record.

During an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, Reid allegedly tried to touch a lit match to a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. Two flight attendants and at least a half-dozen 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.

Reid appeared before a U.S. magistrate on Monday, and when asked if he understood the charge -- intimidation or assault of a flight crew -- he answered quietly: "Yeah."

Reid, 28, also asked for a court-appointed attorney. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. The FBI said more charges are likely.

Investigators would not identify the type of explosive material they said was found in devices in Reid's sneakers, but said 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.