Airport grenade suspect in court - Gatwick's north terminal was evacuated

europe.cnn.com Monday, February 17, 2003 Posted: 1226 GMT

LONDON, England -- A Venezuelan man charged in connection with the discovery of a live grenade at a London airport has been remanded in custody.

Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan is accused of three offences under the UK's Terrorism 2000 Act after a the device was allegedly found in his luggage at Gatwick Airport.

The 37-year-old appeared at London's Bow Street Magistrates' Court on Monday where he was formally accused of possession of an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act, possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property, and carrying a dangerous article on a British registered aircraft.

District Judge Nicholas Evans ended the five-minute hearing by telling the defendant that he was transferring the case to the Old Bailey under Section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act.

There was no application for bail and Rahaham-Alan was remanded in custody to February 24.

Following the incident, last Thursday, passengers at Gatwick were evacuated from the airport's North Terminal and outbound flights were suspended.

The terminal remained closed for several hours, at a time when the country was on high alert with light tanks and more than 400 soldiers being deployed at Heathrow airport amid fears of attack.

BA launched an investigation into how the grenade got on to the plane undetected.

The airline said its policy is to screen all baggage before allowing it onto planes.