Vaesteraas, Sweden ? Relatives of a Swedish man suspected of planning to hijack an airplane denied Sunday that his studies at a flight school in South Carolina had any link to terrorism.

“It was just a hobby,” his sister Sarah said. “Like I want to dance, he wanted to fly.”

Kerim Chatty, whose father is from Tunisia and mother from Sweden, was arrested Thursday with a gun in his carryon luggage at an airport in the central city of Vaesteraas as he headed to an Islamic conference in Birmingham, England.

Attorneys prepared for a hearing today to determine whether formal charges should be filed and whether he should be held as the investigation continues.

Police say they are looking for links to terror groups and are in contact with foreign authorities.

Chatty, 29, has a record of assault and theft. He now faces possible charges of planning to hijack a plane and illegal possession of a firearm.

Defense attorney Hans Uggla met with Chatty Sunday for the first time since the arrest and said his client has an explanation for why he had the gun in his toiletries bag as he boarded a Ryanair flight to London.

“He thinks that the police and the prosecutors will believe him,” Uggla said outside the police headquarters where Chatty is being held in Vaesteraas, 60 miles northwest of the capital, Stockholm.

Uggla said he could not elaborate because of a gag order.

On Saturday, the FBI visited the South Carolina flight school that Chatty briefly attended, said the school’s director, Robert Sunday. Chatty was accepted into the school in Conway in September 1996, but flunked out a few months later, Sunday said.

Chatty’s parents and his sister described him as opposed to violence and said they were confident his reason for carrying the gun had nothing to do with hijacking plans.

Sarah Chatty, 19, recalled how excited her brother was about going to the school and said he had a good time and made lots of friends.

“He likes all people. He doesn’t judge,” she said in her studio apartment in Stockholm. “I know it has to be a misunderstanding. … He would never hurt anyone.”