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Shoe Bomb Suspect Linked to Al-Qaida
Wednesday, January 16, 2002
(15:33 ET)
By Karen Gullo
Associated Press Writer

Richard C. Reid is shown in this December 2001 handout photo from the Plymouth County Jail, in Plymouth, Mass., made available Monday, Dec. 24, 2001. Reid, a 28-year-old British citizen, is accused of trying to ignite explosives in his sneakers aboard an American Airlines flight.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

Ashcroft said if convicted on the charges brought against him, Reid could be sentenced to five life terms.

WASHINGTON -- AP
A federal grand jury on Wednesday charged alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid with being an al-Qaida trained terrorist in an indictment Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed as fresh proof of the government's ability to prosecute terrorists.

Ashcroft said the charges ``alert us to a clear, unmistakable threat that al-Qaida could attack the United States again.''

The attorney general discussed the charges shortly after a federal grand jury in Boston handed up a nine-count indictment, saying, ``We must be prepared. We must be ready. We must be vigilant.''

The indictment alleges that Reid attempted to kill the passengers on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22.

``Richard Reid did attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction, consisting of an explosive bomb placed in each of his shoes,'' against Americans, said the 12-page indictment.
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2002 © The Associated Press.

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