Suicide bombers typically take half a dozen years to descend from religious
fanaticism to “martyrdom”, which appears to be the case for this young
Nigerian, a security expert said.
Acting alone as a “clean skin” rather than by mingling with any gang of
British plotters, he evaded the kind of close scrutiny that known radical
suspects now endure. If, as suggested, he made contact with the Yemen-based
cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an idol for the mass murderer at the US military
base Fort Hood, he could have done that via his computer screen.
His last appearance was in a green hospital gown, his left hand bandaged and
cuffed to his wheelchair at a hospital in Michigan on Boxing Day. After
being wheeled in by agents, the charges were read to Mr Abdulmutallab by US
District Judge Paul Borman.
The Nigerian is accused of attempting to destroy an airliner and putting a
destructive device on it. He faces a maximum 20 years’ imprisonment.
The 23-year-old suspect is the son of one of the richest men in Africa. Alhaji
Uma Mutallab, 70, is a former chairman of First Bank and Nigeria’s
ex-Federal Commissioner for Economic Development. Mr Mutallab’s wife is
reported to be from Yemen. The family live in Funtua, in the state of
Katsina in Muslim north Nigeria.
Their son was sent to the British International School at Lomé, in Togo, where
he is remembered for his religious fervour. During Ramadan he declined to
join fellow pupils going to a disco, telling them that it would be
un-Islamic. He defended 9/11 as an act of war, saying that it might have
been necessary because there were American troops on Saudi soil.
“He did have this saintly aura,” said Michael Rimmer, a Briton who taught Mr
Abdulmutallab history. Mr Rimmer added that sometimes he expressed religious
opinions that were “a bit over the top”.
“In 2001 we had a number of class discussions about the Taleban. All the other
Muslim kids thought they were a bunch of nutters, but Umar spoke in their
defence.”
Charles Anaman, a former school friend, recalled more innocent shared
pastimes: playing basketball, watching videos, listening to hip-hop music.
“He was a calm person,” Mr Anaman said.
Mr Abdulmutallab won a place at University College London to study mechanical
engineering and stayed there for three years from 2005. Home was the
family’s three-bedroom basement apartment in Mansfield Street, near Harley
Street, which the police have been searching.
In June 2008 he was given a four-year multiple-entry visa for the United
States by the American Consulate in London. He visited Houston for 11 days
that August.
The rift with his family worsened because of his “extreme views about
religion”, according to a brother quoted by the Nigerian newspaper This
Day. He told his family that he wanted to go to an Arab country to learn
Arabic.
For a while he was in Egypt, but his family encouraged him to take a
postgraduate degree in business studies in Dubai. They hoped that the
cosmopolitan atmosphere would prevent him from becoming even more extreme.
However, he abandoned the United Arab Emirates, saying that he had found an
alternative course in Yemen that would take seven years to complete. When
his mother asked him to reconsider, he told her to stay away because he had
found a new life and was breaking all family ties.
“We know Farouk’s extreme views and were always apprehensive of where it may
lead him to,” the unidentified brother said. “He has maintained his distance
from us and we never bothered him much. He always wanted to be left alone,
so we respect his wishes.” The brother said that the bomb suspect was
“quiet, nice and gentle” and “morally upright”.
British authorities refused him a visa in May because they suspected that he
was trying to attend a bogus college course. Soon afterwards his father
became so concerned with his extremist views that he alerted the US Embassy
in Nigeria, Nigerian security and the Saudis. The family last had contact
with Mr Abdulmutallab in October when he was in Yemen.
He travelled to Ethiopia and then Ghana. The return ticket for his trip to
Detroit, via Amsterdam, was bought at KLM’s office in Accra on December 16
for $2,831 (£1,770). Unusually for a potential suicide bomber, he took the
trouble to change his return destination, replacing Ghana with Lagos. He
arrived in Nigeria on Christmas Eve.
Last month he was put on the US Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a
watchlist of 550,000 names. He was never regarded as dangerous enough to
reach the 4,000-strong “no-fly” list. British authorities have a record of
him, believed to be based on the Americans sharing their own list.
According to American sources, Mr Abdulmutallab appears to have been telling
all, purporting to have been part of a plot by al-Qaeda in Yemen, which gave
him the bomb and instructions to detonate it. Some reports say that he
claimed that a cleric in Yemen put him in touch with the bombmaker, who
sewed explosive powder into his underwear.
His father said that he was flying from his home to meet Nigerian security
officials to talk about his son.
“I have been receiving telephone calls from all over the world about my child
who has been arrested for an alleged attempt to bomb a plane.
“I am really disturbed. I would not want to say anything at the moment until I
put myself together . . . I have been summoned by the Nigerian security and
I am on my way to answer the call,” he said.
