- Transatlantic passengers face extra security checks
- Terror suspect’s father one of Nigeria’s most respected businessman
- Alleged bomber was on security database but wasn’t considered threat
Suspect: Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab |
Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, the son of one of Nigeria’s most respected businessmen and former minister and chairman of the country’s First Bank, 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.
But the mixture failed to fully ignite and passengers leapt on the 23-year-old as the jet, from Amsterdam Schiphol airport, came in to land at Detroit Metro airport. He was last night charged with attempting to destroy the plane
The use of small amounts of liquids and powder suggests he managed to circumvent the ban on taking all but limited quantities of liquids on to flights.
As a result, beefed-up security measures have been introduced on flights bound for the US.
They include extra body and hand luggage searches at the departure gate and a requirement that passengers remain seated for the final hour of flight.
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.
Air Canada has also said that during the last hour passengers will not be allowed access to carry-on baggage or to have any items on their laps.
Passengers have been told to expect delays.
Experts say Abdulmutallab 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.
‘Had this been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured,’ US Attorney General Eric Holder said.
Drama: The moment the bomber was taken into custody, as captured on a mobile phone
It has emerged that Abdulmutallab’s was added to a government list of people with terror ties in November, some months after his father went to US embassy officials in Nigeria with concerns about his son’s religious beliefs.
According to reports, his family claims Abdulmutallab was first radicalised while attending the British School in Lome, the capital of Togo, a institution popular with families of all nationalities.
After studying a mechanical engineering course at prestigious University College London he travelled abroad – reportedly to Egypt, Dubai and the middle eastern state of Yemen, the latter a place with a burgeoning reputation as a breeding ground for extremists.
The country has had a reputation as a terrorist haven ever since the 2000 suicide attack against the warship USS Cole, when 17 US sailors died following an attack by a small boat laden with explosives in the port of Aden.
Panic gripped Flight 253 on Christmas Day as the Airbus A330-300 lowered its landing gear. Witnesses said Abdulmutallab emerged from the lavatory after about 20 minutes. He said his stomach was upset, and pulled a blanket over himself as he returned to his economy-class window seat, 19A.
Passengers then described a series of pops that sounded ‘like firecrackers’ as the material flared up, badly burning Abdulmutallab, and igniting the plane’s wall.
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.
 Hero: Jasper Schuringa, who tackled Abdulmutallab |
 Swoop: A police officer outside the ‘bomber’s London home |
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 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.
A preliminary FBI analysis found that the explosive strapped to his leg was pentaerythritol tetranitrate, an unstable explosive related to nitrogylcerin, that is both colourless and odourless.
It was the substance chosen by Richard Reid for his attempt to blow up an American Airlines flight between Paris and Miami in December 2001.
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.
Upmarket: The London apartment block were the alleged terrorist lives
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 Northwest Airlines Flight 253 at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, which departed with 278 passengers on board at 8.45am local time. The jet was painted in the livery of Delta Airlines, which merged with Northwest last year.
Abdulmutallab would have gone through airport security in Lagos airport – which 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 100 millilitres 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 charged last night.
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.
‘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.’
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 said the Nigerian had a two-year entry visa to the US issued in June 2008, despite having known Al Qaeda connections which were listed in intelligence databases. ‘This could have been catastrophic,’ he said.
It was last night reported Abdulmutallab had been on the US counter-terrorism ‘watch list’ of about 550,000 names for two years.
FBI and MI5 investigators are now examining the suspect’s links with Yemen, which has long been a training ground for Al Qaeda, as the possible source of the chemicals.
A Whitehall security source said: ‘Significant investigative resources are being made available to examine whether there is any ongoing threat to British national security.’
Early yesterday, armed police raided several addresses linked to the suspect, including a luxury mansion block in Mansfield Street in London’s West End, where he rented a flat.
Up to 18 officers swooped on the property in the grand seven-storey Regency-style building where apartments sell for up to £3.1million.
By 9am yesterday, around 18 anti-terror officers were in the flat searching for clues. Officers would not comment on whether they suspected there were explosives in the property.
The flat was rented in the name Umar Mutallab, while the electoral roll also lists Kasim and Aisha Mutallab – who are believed to be his siblings – at the same address.
A police spokesman said: ‘Searches are being conducted as part of an ongoing inquiry in relation to the incident on an airplane yesterday.’
Airport security was tightened following the incident. In America, measures included extra bomb- sniffing dog teams, additional screening of carry-on luggage and passengers and more plain-clothes behavioural-detection specialists inside airport terminals.
Some airlines, including Air Canada, were telling passengers that new security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats in the hour before landing; while passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa in Florida were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn’t have items in their laps, including laptops and pills.
A preliminary investigation by Dutch security agents found that security procedures were followed correctly in Abdulmutallab’s case. But they said they could not rule out the potential for dangerous items to pass through security, especially objects that current screening cannot detect.
Meanwhile, Gordon Brown said he would take ‘whatever action was necessary’ to protect British passengers after the terror scare. He said: ‘The security of the public must always be our primary concern. We have been working closely with the US authorities investigating this incident.
‘Because of the serious potential threat posed by the incident, I have spoken to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, whose officers have been carrying out searches of properties in London.
‘We will continue to take whatever action is necessary to protect passengers on airlines and the public.’
A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: ‘The US authorities have requested additional measures for US-bound flights. We are monitoring the situation and will make any assessments as necessary as this develops.’
Airport operator BAA said: ‘Passengers travelling to the United States should expect their airline to carry out additional security checks prior to boarding. To support this important process, we would advise passengers to leave more time to check in and limit the amount of baggage being taken on board the aircraft.’
Last night, many suggested motives for the attack were being explored.
One theory was that it may have been launched in revenge for US and Yemeni security forces thwarting a planned Al Qaeda bombing of the US Embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa – an operation that left 34 terrorists dead.
However, one federal counter-terrorism official who asked not to be identified said he believed Abdulmutallab had acted alone. Although the suspect told officials he was directed by Al Qaeda, the official expressed caution about that claim, saying ‘it may have been aspirational. It’s too early to say what his association is’.
Another senior Department of Homeland Security official said that the materials Abdulmutallab took on to the plane were ‘more incendiary than explosive’.
Meanwhile, a senior US politician on the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Pete Hoekstra, said officials in the Obama administration and law-enforcement sources had told him the suspect may have had contact with Anwar Al Awlaki, a leading radical cleric linked to Al Qaeda, and said to have known three of the 9/11 bombers.
President Obama was kept informed about the unfolding drama as he spent Christmas with his family and friends at a secluded Hawaiian beach house.
Terror that was born in Africa
Analysis by Mark Almond
For the passengers and crew trapped in claustrophobic terror on the Delta flight to Detroit, Christmas Day came close to being a day of death, not the traditional celebration of new life.
At first sight the choice of December 25 is as incendiary as possible for someone wanting to spark a global Muslim-Christian war.
Thankfully, the would-be suicide bomber, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, wasn’t thinking clearly. Like Richard Reid in December 2001, his bizarre behaviour frustrated his fiendish plot. What was going through his mind is probably impossible for the rest of us to fathom.
But below him wasn’t the Bible-bashing WASP America hated by jihadi fundamentalists. Detroit is the Muslim capital of America.
Warning: Was the attack on Delta 253 the result of Muslim civil wars?
Had Abdulmutallab’s bomb brought the plane down Lockerbie-style, its wreckage would have slaughtered people on the ground below, some probably part of the 150,000-strong Muslim community in Detroit.
It is not clear how many Muslims were among the passengers, but some of the names of eye-witnesses to the drama on board are as Muslim as the would-be bomber’s own.
Did he consider them expendable, or even part of the global enemy of his sinister jihad? Past suicide bombers have dismissed Muslim casualties as a price worth paying because God would recognise his own.
Although Abdulmutallab was screaming about Afghanistan when he was overpowered, it is to Africa we should look for the source of his fanaticism.
Because of the symbolism of Christmas Day, it is easy to forget there is also a terrorist civil war among Muslims going on.
In the past year, Abdulmutallab’s native Nigeria has witnessed bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims, and also violent attempts to impose rigid Sharia law on fellow Muslims by the local equivalent of the Taliban.
Hundreds of people were killed in July in a brutal clash between the Nigerian army and these rebels from Boko Haram based in the city of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram wanted strict Sharia law and a ban on Western education as well as foreign films and music. Their victims were Muslims who did not conform to their version of God’s will.
Across a swathe of territory between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, a bitter struggle between Muslim sects is being fought out.
From the Western Sahara to Somalia and Yemen on either side of the entrance to the Red Sea, Sunnis and Shiites, friends and foes of Al Qaeda, are battling it out. Their conflict draws in outsiders. Christian Ethiopians back one side in the Somali civil war.
French and American agents help West African governments against local rebels. Although since September 11, 2001, terrorism has seemed global, the local turf wars between rival Muslim prophets and gangsters feed into the international crisis.
It is easy to dismiss the bloody civil wars in Yemen, Somalia and around the fringes of the Sahara as from another age.
But what links the terror on a airliner over Mid-West America with Yemen and Nigeria is a combination of international air travel, instant communications and the internet, and the seething hatreds and frustration of millions of underemployed but educated young men in North Africa and South-West Asia.
It is the poisonous but potent cocktail of resentments and rivalries that should worry us more than the failings of airport security on Christmas Day.
It is believed Abdulmutallab was a link in the chain connecting the conflict inside Yemen with anti-American fundamentalists who want to copy Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist tactics.
He was on American security watch-lists because of his links with Yemeni firebrand Anwar Al Awlaki who was in email contact with the Muslim US army psychiatrist who shot 13 of his fellow soldiers in Fort Hood, in Texas, last month.
Although Al Qaeda has a grip on the public imagination as the centre of a spider’s web of terrorist cells, numerous fundamentalist preachers such as Al Awlaki promote terrorist acts against Westerners and Muslims.
In the West, we are still barely touched by the civil wars between rival fanatics in Africa and Asia. Let’s hope it stays that way, but what hope is there for people on the ground there?
l Oxford historian Mark Almond is Visiting Professor of International Relations at Turkey’s Bilkent University
