KHARTOUM, 18 October — A Saudi charged in Sudan with trying to hijack a plane en route to Jeddah will be extradited within 15 days to face charges in his home country, officials here said yesterday.

"The hijacker is of a sound mind and enjoys full mental faculties," Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein was quoted as saying by the independent Al-Sahafa daily.

The paper said that the hijacker, Adel Nasir Ahmed Faraj, 35, had undergone a medical examination which showed he had "full mental faculties," contradicting a police statement Wednesday that he appeared to be mentally "unstable".

Faraj was overpowered by security personnel aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane, which he tried to hijack with a pistol after takeoff from Khartoum on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Prince Naif said on Wednesday that Sudan had agreed to return Faraj under an extradition agreement. The "motives of his act will not be known until after he is returned to the Kingdom," he said.

The Sudanese Justice Minister Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin, later confirmed Faraj would be sent home within about two weeks, according to SUNA, adding that he has been charged by a court in Assises, north of Khartoum.

In the meantime, he will give testimony in the trials of three Sudanese arrested for allegedly helping the hijacker with his plot, he said. A date for their trial has not been set.

Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Hussein Osman told AFP that Faraj, 35, confessed to the offense during questioning that lasted less than 24 hours.

But he said the hijacker did not clearly say what his motive was. "It turned out from the interrogation that there was no political motive behind the hijack attempt and that Faraj was not a member of any political or Islamic organization," he said.

"Faraj said he had some problems that he wanted to announce to the media. At one point (during interrogation) he said he wanted to hijack the aircraft to London and at another point he said he wanted to take it to Doha, Qatar," he said.

The hijacker denied any relationship or sympathy with Al-Qaeda or any other extremist group.

The daily Al-Ayam said earlier that Faraj and the three Sudanese faced charges of terrorism, subjecting a means of transport to danger and illegal possession of firearms. If convicted they face up to 14 years in prison, it said.