VAESTERAAS, Sweden — A Swedish court sentenced a former hijacking suspect today to four months in prison for weapons violations, saying he hadn't intentionally brought a gun to an airport in August.
The district court in Vaesteraas said Kerim Chatty's explanation that he had forgotten the gun in his carry-on luggage couldn't be dismissed.
The 29-year-old was arrested Aug. 29 at the airport in Vaesteraas, about 60 miles west of Stockholm, after security officials found a 6.35-mm pistol in his hand luggage.
He was originally suspected of planning to hijack a Ryanair flight to London, but prosecutor Thomas Haeggstroem dropped the charges because of a lack of evidence.
Chatty, who has previous assault and weapons convictions, told investigators he found the gun in a borrowed car a few weeks before his arrest. He said he put it in his bag and forgot about it when he left for the airport to fly to an Islamic conference in Birmingham, England.
Chatty was also convicted on a second weapons violation involving a gun unrelated to the airport incident.
To own a gun in Sweden, a person must register for a permit with police, who can approve or disapprove the application. All firearms must be registered individually. Chatty had no permit for either gun.
His actual prison sentence will be 50 days because prisoners in Sweden only serve two-thirds of the full sentence and Chatty already spent 30 days in jail during the investigation, according to his lawyer, Nils Uggla.
Uggla said he would not appeal.