US charges plane bombing suspect

27/12/2009| IslamWeb

A Nigerian man has been formally charged with attempting to set off explosives on a US passenger aircraft on Christmas Day.

A federal judge read the charges to 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in a conference room at the University of Michigan Medical Centre in Ann Arbor, where the suspect is being treated for burns.

Agents brought Abdulmutallab into the room in a wheelchair. He had a blanket over his lap and wore a green hospital robe.

The judge asked Abdulmutallab if he understood the charges against him. He responded in English: "Yes, I do."

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that preliminary analysis had shown that the suspect had strapped pentaerythritol, which he tried to ignite, to his body.

Passengers said that the suspect's trousers and the aircraft wall caught fire before he was overpowered by passengers and crew.

US media, citing anonymous officials, reported that Abdulmutallab had admitted to having explosive powder taped to his leg that he sought to ignite by using a syringe filled with chemicals.

Screams of fear

Richelle Keepman, a passenger aboard the plane, said she first noticed a disturbance in the cabin when she heard screams.

"We were in the back of the plane and we heard some screams and some flight attendants ran up and down the aisles," she said.

"I think we knew at the point when we saw the fear in the flight attendants' eyes and they grabbed the fire extinguishers."

US officials described the incident as an "attempted act of terrorism".

The Delta Airlines Airbus, with 289 people on board, was on final approach to the US city of Detroit from Lagos, via Amsterdam, when passengers say they saw a puff of smoke and heard a sound like firecrackers.

British police raided several addresses in London, where Abdulmutallab was believed to have previously studied.

"We are in liaison with the US authorities and searches in London are being conducted as part of ongoing enquiries," the Reuters news agency quoted a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police as saying.

"The searches are being carried out at more than one address," she said, declining to give further details.

Enhanced screening

In the US, homeland security officials said enhanced security measures had been put into effect after the failed attack.

"Passengers may notice additional screening measures put into place to ensure the safety of the travelling public on domestic and international flights," they said in a statement.

Officials have said that "Abdulmutallab was added to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) security watch list", which includes about 550,000 people in November 2009.

However, the Nigerian was not on the smaller Terrorist Screening Data Base (TSDB) and was not flagged for mandatory secondary screening or included on the "no fly" list, an official told the AFP news agency.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Delta-Northwest Airlines plane N820NW is pulled back to the terminal at the Detroit Metropolitan airport in Romulus, Mich., Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009.

Al-Jazeera