HIGHLIGHTS: Suspect Had Taken Flying Lessons in the United States & Has a Record of Previous Convictions Including Assault But Friends Say He Has Reformed Himself|| Report Certain to Un-nerve Western Governments||FBI, CIA & M15 Seeking Information on Suspect||Lawyer Forbidden to Reveal Why His Client Carried a Gun in His Handbag Luggage|| STORY: A Swedish man of Tunisian origin, arrested on suspicion he was about to hijack a plane, was planning to crash the aircraft into a U.S. embassy in Europe, Swedish intelligence and police sources said on Saturday.

A top police official said the man had taken flying lessons in the United States -- adding to fears of copycat attacks as the first anniversary of the September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington approaches.

However, intelligence sources and police were at odds over the incident, which began when a gun was found in the man's hand luggage as he boarded a flight to Britain from Vasteras, west of Stockholm. One police official flatly denied the embassy plan.

A highly-placed intelligence source said police were hunting four more men, including an explosives expert, who were believed to have worked on the plan with the suspect, identified by Swedish media as Kerim Chatty and aged 29.

The report was certain to unnerve Western governments who have already ordered extra security precautions ahead of September 11, the anniversary of attacks by hijackers who killed more than 3,000 people by crashing four seized airliners into buildings in New York, Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

FBI SEEKING INFORMATION ON KERIM

Margareta Linderoth, a Sapo official responsible for several departments including the one handling international terrorism, denied that police believed the arrested man was planning to attack an embassy or that four more men were being sought.

James Lamb, assistant chief flight instructor with the North American Institute of Aviation in Conway, South Carolina, said an FBI agent was at the school on Saturday seeking information on Kerim Chatty, a former student who attended the school from September 1996 to April 1997. Lamb said Chatty had been "terminated" for poor performance and lack of progress.

The man's lawyer, Nils Uggla, said his client denied that he had anything to do with terrorism or any attacks.

Asked why his client had a gun, Uggla told Reuters: "He has given an explanation to me and to the police and I am forbidden to give you the explanation."

The suspect was moved to a high security prison and was expected to be charged on Monday with hijacking or illegal possession of a firearm.

Police said they were investigating the man's background for any possible links to militant groups.

CIA AND MI5 READY TO COOPERATED

The military intelligence and Sapo sources said two officers from the U.S. intelligence service CIA and two from Britain's MI5 counter-espionage service had flown to Sweden from Britain, though this was also officially denied by Linderoth.

In Washington, a State Department official said: "The investigation is in the hands of the Swedish authorities and we are prepared to cooperate."

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said U.S. embassies in Europe had not been put on higher state of alert as a result of the incident. The official did not give any other details.

Expressen said the suspect had become a devout Muslim in recent years, regularly visiting a mosque in Stockholm. It quoted his friends as saying he had often spoken of fighting for Islam but was not a member of any organization.

Passengers on the plane, operated by the Irish budget airline Ryanair, included people traveling to an Islamic conference in the English city of Birmingham.

A Sapo source said they had been questioned but had no connection with the suspect.

Officials said the suspect had previous convictions for theft and assault, and a Sapo source told Reuters one of these was for an attack on a U.S. embassy Marine guard in 1999.

PHOTO CAPTION

This is an undated passport photo of Chatty Kerim Sadok, a 29-year-old swedish citizen arrested at the airport in Vaesteraas in central Sweden Thursday Aug. 29, 2002, after a gun was found in his carry-on luggage as he prepared to board a Ryanair flight to England. The suspect's defense attorney Nils Uggla Saturday Aug. 31, 2002, told the media that his client denies that he has anything to do with terrorism or airplane hijacking, amid reports that he had attended flight school in the United States. (AP Photo/Pressens Bild/HO)