British student charged with attempt to blow up Northwest Airline plane

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 28/12/2009.

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Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a British-based student has been charged in federal court after attempting to ignite an explosive device on board a Northwest Airlines plane from Amsterdam just before it landed in Detroit on Friday last week. The student claims that he was instructed by al Qaida to detonate the plane over US soil.

23 year-old Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab is a Nigerian national, who was studying engineering at University College in London. He was the primary suspect in the attempt to detonate an explosive aboard Delta-Northwest Flight 253.

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab is the son of millionaire Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria. The former minister told police that he was unsure about his son’s whereabouts as they searched his home.

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab boarded KLM Flight 588 to Amsterdam in Lagos, Nigeria. In Amsterdam he caught connecting Delta-Northwest Flight 253 to Detroit, stating stated that his reason for traveling to Detroit was to attend an Islamic ceremony in Michigan. The man suffered second and third-degree burns on his upper extremities and was treated at the University of Michigan Medical Center before being transferred into federal custody.

According to an unnamed source, there is: “direct intelligence that links this suspect to al Qaeda in other countries beyond Nigeria, including persons of interest currently living in the UK and the United States.” The source also went on to say that the investigation in the U.S. is just beginning, and it is expected that “federal authorities will be interviewing at least three other individuals in the greater Detroit area. The status of other aircraft and flights are also of significant concern.”

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