Security experts are dumbfounded at the news that the would be Christmas Day bomber Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab comes from a wealthy, privileged background. His own father Dr. Mutallab, a former government official in Nigeria, informed the U.S. six months ago about his son's radical religious beliefs. The son was put on a terror watch list, but somehow still made it onto a U.S.-bound plane. Dr. Mutallab is said to be devastated by his son's actions.
Abdulmutallab, 23, had lived a gilded life, and, for the three years he studied in London, he stayed in a 2m [pounds sterling] flat. He was from a very different background to many of the other al-Qa'ida recruits who opt for martyrdom.
The charges were read out to him by US District Judge Paul Borman in a conference room at the medical centre where he is receiving treatment for burns. Agents brought Abdulmutallab, who had a blanket over his lap and was wearing a green hospital robe, into the room in a wheelchair.
Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru, is the former economics minister of Nigeria. He retired earlier this month as the chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria but is still on the boards of several of Nigeria's biggest firms, including Jaiz International, a holding company for the Islamic Bank. The 70-year-old, who was also educated in London, holds the Commander of the Order of the Niger as well as the Italian Order of Merit.
Dr Mutallab said he was planning to meet with police in Nigeria last night after realising his son had joined the notorious roster of al-Qa'ida terrorists, and is said to have warned the US authorities about his son's extreme views six months ago.
Police in London were collaborating with the American-led investigation into the would-be bomber. Scotland Yard detectives were searching his flat and two others in the same mansion block in Marylebone, central London. They later cordoned off the street lined with Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Mercedes cars. Police were also understood to be searching the basement of the building.
Abdulmutallab was reportedly on a security watch list, but those who studied with him expressed shock that the person who seemed so quiet and unassuming – a devout Muslim but not radical – apparently came close to perpetrating a Christmas Day massacre.
Security experts quoted in the article say he may have been sedated so that he would not appear anxious at the airport, and that the drugs may have affected his ability to carry out the plan. Experts are not sure yet whether the device failed to explode because it was flawed or because he did not properly execute the plan.
