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Investigators: Phone cards link Reid to al Qaeda

Shoe bomb more like hiking boot than sneaker

Sources say a palm print and a hair that didn't belong to Reid were found inside the shoe, contradicting his story that he built the bomb by himself.

By Susan Candiotti
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New evidence has emerged linking Richard Reid, who is charged with trying to blow up a U.S. commercial jet by lighting explosives in his shoes, to one of Osama bin Laden's European cells, CNN has learned.

The new link to al Qaeda, the terrorist network run by bin Laden, involves phone cards.

When he was arrested in Boston, Reid carried a pre-paid phone card that was compatible only with public phones in Belgium, according to European law enforcement sources.

Phone records show that card was used to place a call to a cell phone linked to another Belgian pre-paid phone card. That second card was found in the Brussels apartment of suspected al Qaeda terrorist Nizar Trabelsi. He was arrested in Brussels on September 13 and is implicated in a plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

The U..S. government charged in its indictment filed last month against Reid that the 28-year-old British citizen had links to al Qaeda. Investigators also believe there was some kind of European-based cell involved in the plot to down a trans-Atlantic American Airlines jet.

VIDEO CNN's Susan Candiotti reports investigators used phone cards to link suspected shoe bomber Richard Reid with the terror network (February 8) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Timeline: The shoe bomber case    EXTRA INFORMATION Read the charges U.S. vs. Reid (FindLaw) (PDF)   THE SYSTEM Airport security: A system driven by the minimum wage PREVIOUS WARNINGS Warnings over airport security preceded attacks COMPARING U.S. TO EUROPE Outside the U.S., a different approach to air security SOLUTIONS Boosting security puts focus on government's role  GRAPHS & CHARTS  • Top 25 Airports  • Airport Security by Year  • Airline Security by Year  • Airport Wages

"It is certainly going in that direction, that this was an operation that was plotted and hatched in Europe," said Steve Pomerantz, a retired FBI counter-intelligence expert.

Authorities say that on December 22, Reid tried to ignite explosives in his shoes while aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. Flight attendants and passengers stopped him, wrestling him to the floor. The plane was escorted to Boston by F-16 fighter jets and Reid was taken into custody.

CNN has obtained photographs of the explosive footwear, which are more like hiking boots than sneakers, as originally reported.

The explosives -- a potent combination of four to six ounces of TATP and PETN -- were molded to fit inside the soles of the shoes that were made in Indonesia.

TATP is the highly volatile, heat-and-friction-sensitive chemical triacetone triperoxide. Explosive experts said it can be made from ingredients that can be bought at any store that handles common chemicals.

TATP was allegedly used as an explosive additive needed to detonate the bomb's main ingredient -- the hard-to-detect, plastic explosive PETN hidden in shoes. The safety fuse that Reid allegedly tried to light also contained black powder, according to sources.

Had the shoe had exploded near the fuselage, it could have blown a hole in the aircraft. Reid was sitting in a window seat, a source said.

Reid has told investigators he learned how to combine the chemicals from a recipe on the Internet. However, a palm print and a hair that didn't belong to Reid were found inside the shoe, contradicting his story that he built the bomb by himself.

Reid has pleaded innocent to nine terrorism-related charged filed against him in connection with that incident.

He could face up to five life sentences if convicted of all charges.