Richard Colvin Reid, also known as the Shoe Bomber, is a British man who
attempted to detonate explosives packed into the shoes he was wearing, while on
American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. Born to a father who was a
career criminal, Reid converted to Islam as a young man in prison after years as
a petty criminal. Later he became radicalised and went to Pakistan and
Afghanistan, where he trained and became a member of al-Qaeda.
On 22 December 2001, he boarded American Airlines Flight 63 between Paris and
Miami, wearing shoes packed with explosives, which he unsuccessfully
tried to detonate. Passengers subdued him on the plane, which landed at Logan
International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, the closest US airport.
He was subsequently arrested and indicted. In 2002, Reid pleaded guilty
in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism, based on his
attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in flight. He was sentenced to 3 life
terms plus 110 years in prison without parole and is held in a super maximum
security prison in the United States. Background
Reid was born in Bromley, Kent, to Lesley Hughes, who was of white English
descent, and Colvin Robin Reid, a man of mixed race whose father was a Jamaican
immigrant. When Reid was born, his father, a career criminal, was in prison
for stealing a car. Reid left school at age 16, becoming a petty crook who was
in and out of jail, the first time for mugging an elderly person. He began
writing graffiti under the name "Enrol with FRF crew", and ultimately
accumulated more than 10 convictions for crimes against persons and property. He
served sentences at the Feltham Young Offenders Institution and at the
Blundeston Prison. His father advised him to convert to
Islam, telling him that Muslims were more egalitarian and they got better
food in prison. The next time Reid was incarcerated, he converted.
Islamic radicalisation Upon his release from prison in 1996, he
joined the Brixton Mosque. He later began attending the Finsbury Park Mosque
in North London headed at that time by the anti-American cleric Abu Hamza
al-Masri and described as "the heart of the extremist Islamic culture" in
Britain. By 1998 Reid was voicing extremist views, and may have fallen
under the sway of "terrorist talent spotters and handlers" allied with Al
Qaeda. He spent 1999 and 2000 in Pakistan and
trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, according to several
informants. He may also have attended an anti-American religious training centre
in Lahore as a follower of Mubarak Ali Gilani.
After his return to Britain, Reid worked to obtain duplicate passports from
British government consulates abroad. He lived and travelled in numerous places
in Europe, communicating via an address in Peshawar, Pakistan, a city known for
its Al Qaeda connections. In July 2001, Reid flew to Israel, passing through the
El Al airline's very tight security network.
Preparation for bombing Reid and Saajid Badat, another British
man preparing as a terrorist, returned to Pakistan in November 2001, and
reportedly travelled overland to Afghanistan. They were given "shoe
bombs", casual footwear adapted to be covertly smuggled onto aircraft before
being used to destroy them. Later forensic analysis of both bombs showed
that they contained the same plastic explosive and that the respective
lengths of detonator cord had come from the same batch: the cut mark on Badat's
cord exactly matches that on Reid's. The pair returned separately to the United
Kingdom in early December 2001. Reid went to Belgium for 10 days before
catching a train to Paris on 16 December.
On 21 December 2001, Reid attempted to board a flight from Paris to Miami,
Florida. His boarding was delayed because his dishevelled physical
appearance aroused the suspicions of the airline passenger screeners. In
addition, Reid did not answer all of their questions, and had not checked any
luggage for the transatlantic flight. Additional screening by the French
National Police resulted in Reid's being re-issued a ticket for a flight on the
following day. He returned to the Paris airport on 22 December 2001, and boarded
American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami, wearing his special shoes
packed with plastic explosives in their hollowed-out bottoms.
Bombing attempt on American Airlines Flight 63
On 22 December 2001, a passenger on Flight 63 from Paris to Miami,
complained of a smoke smell in the cabin shortly after a meal service. One flight
attendant, Hermis Moutardier, thinking she smelled a burnt match, walked along
the aisles of the plane, trying to assess the source. A passenger pointed
to Reid, who was sitting alone near a window and attempting to light a match.
Moutardier warned him that smoking was not allowed on the airplane. Reid
promised to stop. A few minutes later, Moutardier found
Reid leaned over in his seat. Her attempts to get his attention failed.
After asking "What are you doing?" Reid grabbed at her, revealing one shoe in
his lap, a fuse which led into the shoe, and a lit match. She tried grabbing Reid
twice, but he pushed her to the floor each time, and she yelled for help, and
ran to get water. When another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, arrived to
try to subdue him, he fought her, biting her thumb, and Moutardier threw water in
his face. Several passengers worked together to subdue the 6 foot 4 inch
tall, 200+ pound Reid. They restrained him using plastic handcuffs, seatbelt
extensions, leather waist belts and headphone cords. A doctor on board
administered a tranquiliser to him which he found in the emergency medical kit of
the airliner. This flight was immediately diverted to Logan
International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, the closest US airport.
The explosive apparently did not detonate due to the delay in the
take-off of Reid's flight. The rainy weather, perhaps along with Reid's foot
perspiration, caused the fuse to be too damp to ignite.
Legal proceedings and sentencing Reid was immediately arrested at Logan
International Airport after the incident. Two days later, he was charged
before a federal court in Boston with "interfering with the performance of
duties of flight crew members by assault or intimidation", a crime which carries
a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The judge ordered
Reid held in jail without bail, pending trial due to the gravity of the crimes
and the perceived high risk that he would try to flee. Officials at the time
indicated that Reid's shoes contained 10 ounces of explosive material
characteristic of C-4—enough to blow a hole in the fuselage and cause the plane
to crash. During a preliminary hearing on 28
December, an FBI agent testified that forensic analysis had identified the
chemicals as PETN, the primary explosive, and TATP, a chemical needed
to detonate the bomb with a fuse and match. The prosecutor obtained a grand
jury indictment and on 16 January 2002, Reid was charged with eight criminal
counts related to terrorism, namely: attempted use of a weapon of mass
destruction, attempted homicide,
placing an explosive device on an aircraft,
attempted murder, interference with flight crew members
and attendants, attempted destruction of an aircraft,
using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, and
attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle.
Reid pleaded guilty to all eight counts on 4 October 2002. On 31 January 2003,
he was sentenced by Judge William Young to the maximum of three consecutive life
sentences and 110 years with no possibility of parole. Reid was also
fined the maximum of $250,000 on each count, a total of $2 million.
During the sentencing hearing, Reid said he was an enemy of the United States and
in league with Al-Qaeda. When Reid said he was a soldier of God under the
command of Osama bin Laden, Judge Young responded:
"You are not an enemy combatant, you are a terrorist" ... "You are not a soldier
in any army, you are a terrorist. To call you a soldier gives you far too
much stature. You see that flag, Mr. Reid? That is the flag of the United
States of America. That flag will be here long after you are forgotten."
Reid reportedly demonstrated a lack of remorse and a combative nature during
the hearing, and said that "the flag will come down on the day of judgment."
He is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX in
Colorado, a supermax facility which holds the most dangerous prisoners in
the federal system. Conspirators
Although Reid had insisted that he had acted alone and had built the bombs
himself, forensic evidence included material from another person. Later, a
British man, Saajid Badat from Gloucester, England, admitted that he
had conspired with Richard Reid and a Tunisian man, in a plot to blow up two
airliners bound for the United States, using their shoe bombs. Badat has said
that he had been instructed to board a flight from Amsterdam to the United
States. Badat never boarded and withdrew from his part of the conspiracy. Badat
did not warn criminal or aviation authorities about Reid.
Badat confessed immediately after being arrested by the British police. The
detonator cord in Badat's bomb was found by experts to be an exact match for the
cord on Reid's bomb, and their explosive chemicals were essentially identical. He
had received the bomb-making materials from an Arab in Afghanistan. Badat was
sentenced to 13 years in prison by a British judge and has since been
released. Changes in airline security procedures
As a result of these events, airlines required passengers departing from an
airport in the United States to pass through airport security in socks or
bare feet while their shoes are scanned for bombs. Scanners do not find PETN in
shoes or strapped to a person. A chemical test is needed. However, even
if the X-ray scanners cannot detect all explosives, it is an effective way to
see if the shoe has been altered to hold a bomb.
In 2011, the rules were relaxed to allow children 12 and younger to keep their
shoes on during security screenings. Alleged role in September 11 attacks
The captured Al-Qaeda terrorist conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui, stated
at his sentencing hearing in 2006 that Reid was a co-conspirator in the 11
September 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, and that Moussaoui and
Reid had intended to hijack a fifth aircraft and crash it into the White
House in Washington, D.C., as part of the attacks that took place that day.
Department of Justice investigators and the federal prosecutors were skeptical
of Moussaoui's claim that Reid was involved in the plot.
Prison restrictions Reid filed a lawsuit against the
restrictions placed on him in prison which controlled his communications with
lawyers and other non-prisoners, limited his access to Muslim clerics, and
prevented him from joining in group prayer at the prison. In 2009, Reid went
on a hunger strike and was force-fed and hydrated for several weeks. It was
unknown whether Reid's hunger strike was related to his lawsuit. The Department
of Justice, after consulting with its Counterterrorism Section, the
prosecuting Federal District Attorney's office, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, allowed these prison restrictions on Reid to expire during
2009, making his lawsuit moot. See also
7 July 2005 London bombings Islamic terrorism
Najibullah Zazi Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
United Airlines Flight 663 incident List of foiled Islamic terrorist plots
in the post-9/11 United States References
External links Staff and agencies. "Mosque leader warns
over extremist converts". The Guardian. "Richard Reid pleads guilty". CNN. 22
January 2002. Harris, Paul; Walsh, Nick P; Wazir,
Burhan. "The Shoe-bomb Terrorist". The Tribune. India.
Shafi, Kamran. "The knives are out". Mikkelson, Barbara. "Reid My Lips".
Retrieved 5 February 2010.