LONDON (AP) — The man who allegedly tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes was a British petty criminal who converted to Islam while in jail, a British newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Times of London said the man, who has been identified as 28-year-old Richard C. Reid, attended the same south London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged with conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Abdul Haqq Baker, chairman of Brixton Mosque, told the newspaper he remembered Reid as "an amiable, happy-go-lucky individual, always wanting to get involved in things and helping."

During an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Saturday, Reid allegedly tried to touch a lit match to a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. Two flight attendants and several passengers grabbed him and used belts to strap him into his seat, and two doctors sedated him with drugs from an airplane medical kit.

The Boeing 767, carrying 197 people, was diverted to Boston with an escort of two fighter jets.

Investigators are still attempting to confirm the suspect's identity. Richard C. Reid is the name listed on a British passport issued Dec. 7 by the British embassy in Belgium, but after the man's arrest Saturday French officials initially said they thought he was from Sri Lanka and named Tariq Raja. U.S. investigators said they thought his mother was Jamaican. Officials said he also went by the name Abdel Rahim.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the man was not a Sri Lankan national and French border police said they believed he was British.

George Fergusson, consul general at the British Consulate in Boston, also said Tuesday that Reid's British passport appeared to be valid.

The Times said Reid was born in Bromley, southeast London, in 1973 to an English mother and a Jamaican father and had served several jail sentences for street crimes such as mugging.

The newspaper did not offer sources for its information on Reid's criminal record, or say when he attended the mosque. Baker, the mosque leader, told the British Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday that Reid had come to the mosque after leaving prison, asking to learn the tenets of Islam.

Baker said Reid at first seemed a normal, street-wise London youth, but he developed extreme views.

"By the time he left he was clearly arguing for his fight with the non-Muslims and this warped understanding of jihad," Baker said, according to The Times.

Baker also said he doubted Reid could have devised the shoe-bombing plot on his own.

A report Tuesday in France's La Provence newspaper, citing police and intelligence sources, said Reid had belonged to an Islamic movement called Tabliq but left because he said it was "not radical enough" for him.

Reid has been charged with intimidation or assault of a flight crew and could face 20 years in prison. He is being held in jail under suicide watch pending a psychological examination.

The FBI has said more charges are likely.

Investigators have not identified the type of explosive material found in devices in Reid's sneakers, but say preliminary FBI tests determined the devices were functional.