WASHINGTON, Oct 13: The US vice president said on Friday a man in custody who was detained in August may have been preparing to be part of one of the teams that crashed hijacked airlines on US cities on Sept 11.

Cheney noted that there had only been four hijackers aboard a flight that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, apparently after a fight on board with passengers, while planes that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon carried teams of five.

This has led to speculation that one team member was missing on the crashed plane. “We think we may have that individual in custody, but we don’t know for sure. It’s one of the individuals who were arrested up in Minnesota earlier this year in August,” Cheney said in an interview with a TV network.

Police in St Paul, Minnesota, on Aug 17 arrested Zacarias Moussaoui after he aroused suspicion by trying to buy time on a jumbo jet flight simulator at a Minnesota flying school. Cheney did not specifically name Moussaoui. —Reuters