Just in from AP:
WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities brought charges Monday against a British man they claim conspired with admitted al-Qaida member Richard Reid to use shoe bombs to blow up planes in midair.
A federal grand jury indictment unsealed in Boston charges Saajid Badat, 25, with attempted murder, trying to destroy an aircraft and other counts related to the alleged conspiracy with Reid, who also is a British citizen and Muslim convert.
Reid’s attempt to blow up a Paris-to-Miami flight on Dec. 22, 2001, was thwarted by attendants and passengers after he tried to light a fuse leading to the concealed plastic explosives in his sneakers.
According to the indictment, Badat “admitted that he was asked to conduct a shoe bombing like Reid” when he was arrested in Britain last November. Bomb components similar to Reid’s — including an explosive compound known as TATP — were found at his home, the indictment said.