DETROIT: A Nigerian man with possible links to Al-Qaeda was in custody on Saturday after he tried to ignite an explosive device on a US passenger plane as it approached Detroit, US officials said. The suspect, who suffered extensive burns, was overpowered by passengers and crew on the Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam.
The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries, disembarked safely from the Northwest Airlines plane.
Investigators were trying to confirm the man’s claims that he has connections to Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda militants carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Citing US officials, the Wall Street Journal said the Nigerian man had told investigators that Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen had given him the device and instructions on how to detonate it. But NBC, citing anti-terrorism officials, said he claimed to have been acting on his own.
US lawmakers briefed on the Detroit incident said the suspect was 23-year-old Nigerian man Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab, although there were conflicting reports about the man’s full name and the correct spelling.
In Nigeria, Abdul Mutallab, son of prominent former banker Umaru Mutallab, told Reuters that the suspect was his brother. He said their father was planning to meet with police in Nigeria.
Investigators in Nigeria, the Netherlands and the United States were trying to piece together how the man was able to bring dangerous materials on to a plane.
In Britain, police were searching premises in central London in connection with the incident. The man was believed to have spent time in Britain as a student. University College London said it had no record of a student named “Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab.” There was a student by the name of “Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab” who was enrolled between September 2005 and June 2008, but the university said it had no evidence that this was the same person. Dutch counterterrorism agency NCTb said the man boarded a KLM flight from Lagos to Amsterdam, and went through a security checkpoint while in transit at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
European airports tightened security checks on US-bound flights in response to the failed attack.
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 left Amsterdam airport on Friday carrying 278 passengers bound for Detroit. The plane was on approach when the man tried to ignite the device or a mixture of powder and liquid. Witnesses described Friday’s dramatic events when a yet-to-be-identified passenger tackled the suspect, who was then dragged to the front of the plane by the cabin crew and isolated.
“There was a pop,” passenger Syed Jafry, sitting three rows behind the Nigerian, told CNN. “After a few seconds or so, then there was a little bit of light, a little bit of — kind of flamish light and there was fire. And people began to panic almost. Everybody was rushing toward that area and tried to get water, a blanket and fire extinguisher.”
