The initial reports of a disturbance on a flight landing in Detroit were all over Twitter news feeds on Christmas:
An attempted terror attack on a plane landing in Detroit had been thwarted. Initial reports suggested it was fireworks that were used, but later reports were changed stating some form of explosive device and powder were some of the items involved.
Detroit terror attack: Scotland Yard probe ‘British student airline bomber’
A former British university student – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – was led from an aircraft after allegedly trying to blow up 278 passengers and 11 crew members as it prepared to land in the US city of Detroit.
The would-be bomber was foiled only because his explosive device failed to detonate properly as Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam prepared to land at Detroit airport.
As a Dutch video director and producer was hailed as a hero for jumping on the suspect and subduing him, MI5, the security service, and Scotland Yard were investigating whether the Christmas Day bomb plot was hatched in Britain.
They were also seeking to establish whether Abdulmutallab, 23, who is the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, was radicalised during his three years as an engineering student at University College London, which he left in June 2008.
Members of the security services and counter-terrorism detectives – who are liaising with the FBI and other US crime-fighting agencies – want to discover whether Abdulmutallab was a member of a previously unknown al-Qaeda network operating within Britain.
Whitehall sources told The Sunday Telegraph that MI5 had started to examine files of all known al-Qaeda suspects and sympathisers within Britain to establish whether the plot had been missed by the security services.
Sources said they believed it was possible that Abdulmutallab may have been on the fringes of groups being monitored, but the full extent of any possible connections with al-Qaeda may not be known for some time. Abdulmutallab allegedly told investigators that he had spent part of the past year in Yemen, an established al-Qaeda breeding ground.
He is also alleged to have said that it was while he was there that he obtained explosives for the attempted terrorist attack.
A Whitehall source said: “MI5 is obviously looking at its files to see whether Abdulmutallab was known to them. They will want to know who his associates are and what role, if any, they played in this attack.”
Police yesterday sealed off the street where the suspect lived in central London. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “We are carrying out inquiries in conjunction with the US authorities. Searches are being conducted as part of our ongoing inquiries.”
Abdulmutallab is said to have attempted to ignite an explosive device strapped to his leg as the Airbus A330 was preparing its final descent to Detroit. According to US intelligence officials, the bomb was a mixture of powder and liquid.
Abdulmutallab was set alight and suffered serious burns before being overpowered. Two passengers were also injured. As Britain introduced tougher security measures for US-bound flights on Saturday, it emerged that the suspect’s father claimed to have alerted American and Nigerian authorities about his son’s “activities”, having become concerned by his behaviour.
Umaru Mutallab, 70, a prominent banker and former minister, was said to be travelling from his compound in the north of Nigeria, where Muslims form the majority of the population, to the capital, Abuja, to brief security officials.
It is understood that the suspect had been on an intelligence database of suspected extremists in the United States, but he was not on the “no-fly list”, meaning he was known to the authorities but not considered high risk.
Gordon Brown has pledged to take “whatever action was necessary” to protect air passengers.
The Prime Minister said he had been in contact with Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, because of the “serious potential threat”.
“The security of the public must always be our primary concern,” said Mr Brown. “We have been working closely with the US authorities investigating this incident.”
Tighter security and carry-on bag limits were introduced yesterday at British airports for US-bound passengers.
Britons travelling to the US were told that their hand- baggage allowance had been reduced to one item.
In addition, all passengers underwent a second personal and hand luggage search before boarding. The new guidelines were introduced at the request of the US government.
Some passengers flying from Britain to America were also told that they would not have in-flight entertainment.
One passenger, Scott Cullen, 32, said: “Apparently the mapping system which you can use to monitor the plane’s progress is the problem as the American government believes it could be used as a terrorist aid.”
Abdulmutallab had flown on a KLM flight from Lagos to Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, before boarding the flight to the US. The suspect had been granted a visa to travel to the US in June 2008 – valid until June 2010 – after claiming that he planned to attend a religious ceremony.
The Christmas Day incident was reminiscent of the bomb attack by Richard Reid, who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, but was subdued by other passengers. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, is serving a life sentence.
Peter T King, the senior Republican on America’s House Homeland Security Committee, said: “This was the real deal. This could have been devastating.”
President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. Last night Mr Obama was said to have been receiving regular updates while on holiday in Hawaii.
The suspect’s alleged link with Yemen could be significant.
It was reported on Thursday that Yemeni war planes were believed to have killed two al-Qaeda leaders and a Muslim extremist religious leader connected with the US Army officer accused of killing Army personnel in Fort Hood, Texas, last month.
Syringe bomber of Flight 253 detonates explosives strapped to leg with hypodermic needle
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1238574/Syringe-bomber-flight-253-detonates-explosives-strapped-leg-hypodermic-needle.html#ixzz0aq0cUvCb
The London-based terrorist who attacked a US airliner on Christmas Day tried to bring down the plane by mixing two explosive compounds using a hypodermic syringe.
Wealthy banker’s son Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab apparently injected a syringe of chemicals into a pack of combustible powder strapped to his leg in an attempt to cause an explosion over Detroit.
The use of small amounts of liquids and powder suggests he managed to circumvent the ban on taking all but small amounts of liquids on to flights.
But the mixture failed to fully ignite and passengers leapt on the 23-year-old Nigerian as the jet, from Amsterdam Schiphol airport, came in to land at Detroit Metro airport.
Experts say Abdulmutallab, who was sitting in a window seat on the left-hand side of the plane, hoped to cause a blast big enough to tear a hole in the fuselage, which would have had devastating results as the plane began its descent over a heavily-populated area. His attempt led to new security measures on flights yesterday.
The terror started as the Airbus A330-300 lowered its landing gear. Witnesses said Abdulmutallab emerged from the lavatory with a pillow pressed to his stomach and returned to his economy-class window seat, 19A.
Passengers described a series of pops that sounded ‘like firecrackers’ as the material ignited, badly burning Abdulmutallab.
Film producer Jasper Schuringa from Amsterdam was sitting in seat 20G when the device ignited. He leapt over the back of the seat and scrambled over four other passengers to pummel Abdulmutallab, who had a blanket covering his lap.
Mr Schuringa then saw a ‘burning object’ – which he said resembled a small, white shampoo bottle – between the student’s legs. Mr Schuringa said: ‘It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs. I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands then threw it away.’
He screamed: ‘Water! Water!’ as he pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane. Fellow passengers poured bottles of water on the blaze, while flight attendants tackled the flames with fire extinguishers.
Mr Schuringa said Abdulmutallab seemed dazed. ‘He was staring into nothing,’ he said.
The producer said he then stripped off Abdulmutallab’s clothes to make sure he did not have other explosives on his body. A crew member helped handcuff him.
He said other passengers applauded as he walked back to his own seat.‘I don’t feel like a hero,’ he said: ‘It was something that came completely naturally. I had to do something or it would be too late.
‘My hands are pretty burned, but I am fine. I am shaken up. I am happy to be here.’
A fellow passenger, Stephanie van Herk, 22, who was sitting one row in front of Abdulmutallab, said she heard a loud bang, then saw a flame leap from the student’s lap as smoke filled the air. ‘The flame was higher than the seat,’ she said. ‘Then everyone started screaming. It was panic. Flight attendants shouted, “What are you doing? What are you doing?’’
‘They called for water and the man began pulling down his burning trousers.’
Another passenger, Melinda Dennis, said: ‘Abdulmutallab’s entire leg was burned. But he didn’t show any reaction to the pain.’
Once on the ground, the plane was immediately guided to the end of a runway, where it was surrounded by police cars and emergency vehicles and searched by a bomb-disabling robot.
Abdulmutallab was taken to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor, where he was treated for second-degree burns, but he is expected to survive.
He reportedly boasted that he was given the explosive by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, who ordered him to blow up the plane over US soil.
An intelligence source told The Mail on Sunday that his mother is believed to have been born in the Middle Eastern state, which has become a major Al Qaeda base.
The attack came six months after the suspect’s father, a prominent Nigerian banker and politician, had warned Nigerian security agencies and the American embassy that
his son’s extremist views could pose a security threat. Family sources said Dr Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, who recently retired as chairman of the country’s First Bank, was ‘devastated’ to hear of his son’s actions and was close to collapse.
The family claim that Abdulmutallab became radicalised while attending the British International School in Lome, the capital of neighbouring West African country Togo. At the school, which takes in both Muslim and Christian pupils, Abdul had a reputation for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates and earned the nickname ‘Alfa’, meaning Islamic scholar.
He is said to have become totally estranged from his family in recent months and told them he wanted nothing to do with them again. Mr Mutallab said his son ‘might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that’.
At the school, which takes in both Muslim and Christian pupils, Abdul had a reputation for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates and earned the nickname ‘Alfa’, meaning Islamic scholar.
He is said to have become totally estranged from his family in recent months and told them he wanted nothing to do with them again. Mr Mutallab said his son ‘might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that’.
Last night, questions were being asked about how a man ‘known’ to international security officials got the material on board.
Abdulmutallab was thought to have boarded KLM Flight 588 in Lagos, transferring on to Delta Airlines Flight 253 at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which departed with 278 passengers on board at 8.45am local time. He would have gone through airport security in Lagos Airport –which had cleared a US security audit only last month – but faced only minimal further checks in the transit lounge in Holland.
Passengers are banned from carrying more than 100ml of liquid on to flights following a plot in August 2006 plot to blow up US-bound flights using liquid explosives carried in innocent-looking drinks containers. But exemptions apply to medicine, baby milk and syringes or ‘EpiPens’ used to injected vital drugs or insulin.
A security source said: ‘Once again, the terrorists have moved the goalposts –exploiting a weakness or a loophole in the measures designed to stop them.’
Abdulmutallab is said to be a student at University College, London. The university confirmed a student with a similar name was enrolled on a mechanical engineering course there from September 2005 to June 2008, but could not confirm whether it was the same person being questioned by US authorities.
Abdulmutallab reportedly said on his visa application to gain entry into the US that he planned to attend a religious seminar.
A US diplomatic source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘An investigation is under way into exactly what the man who claims to be his father told the embassy.
‘As a result of information received by the embassy, Abdulmutallab was put on a low-level list of people with possible terror links. This should have showed up on the computer system and the visa should have been cancelled.
‘An investigation is now under way to find out how it slipped through the cracks, and why Abdulmutallab was not put on the “no fly” list. It looks as though someone failed to connect the dots. They may not have taken this suspect seriously enough.
‘The suspect may be mentally unstable. We will dig very deeply into what happened. Something went wrong.’
New York congressman Peter King, a Republican who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, said the device was ‘fairly sophisticated’ and contained an explosive that ‘appears to be different from what we’ve encountered before’.
Last night, questions were being asked about how a man ‘known’ to international security officials got the material on board.
Abdulmutallab was thought to have boarded KLM Flight 588 in Lagos, transferring on to Delta Airlines Flight 253 at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which departed with 278 passengers on board at 8.45am local time.
He would have gone through airport security in Lagos Airport – which had cleared a US security audit only last month – but faced only minimal further checks in the transit lounge in Holland.
Passengers are banned from carrying more than 100ml of liquid on to flights following a plot in August 2006 to blow up US-bound flights using liquid explosives carried in innocent-looking drinks containers. But exemptions apply to medicine, baby milk and syringes or ‘EpiPens’ used to inject vital drugs or insulin.
A security source said: ‘Once again, the terrorists have moved the goalposts – exploiting a weakness or a loophole in the measures designed to stop them.’
Abdulmutallab is said to be a student at University College London. The university confirmed a student with a similar name was enrolled on a mechanical engineering course there from September 2005 to June 2008, but could not confirm whether it was the same person being questioned by US authorities.
Abdulmutallab reportedly said on his visa application to gain entry into the US that he planned to attend a religious seminar.
A US diplomatic source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘An investigation is under way into exactly what his father told the embassy.
‘As a result of information received by the embassy, Abdulmutallab was put on a low-level list of people with possible terror links. This should have showed up on the computer system and the visa should have been cancelled.
Alleged Christmas Day terrorist is charged
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6787774.html
By DEVLIN BARRETT and EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writers © 2009 The Associated Press
Dec. 26, 2009, 3:52PM
WASHINGTON — A 23-year-old Nigerian man was charged Saturday with trying to destroy a Northwest Airlines flight with a powerful explosive device attached to his body as the jetliner approached the Detroit airport on Christmas Day.
When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab set off the device he sparked a fire instead of an explosion, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Detroit.
Passengers told federal investigators that Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for about 20 minutes. When he returned to his seat, he said he had an upset stomach and pulled a blanket over him. Passengers then heard a popping noise, similar to a firecracker. They smelled an odor and some passengers saw Abdulmutallab’s pant leg and the wall of the airplane on fire.
A passenger told federal investigators that Abdulmutallab was holding a partially melted syringe that was smoking.
A preliminary analysis of the device shows that it contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol. Convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid used this material when he tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes.
One law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the suspect had used a condom or condom-like bag to hide the PETN near his genitals. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
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