(CNN) -- The father of a man suspected of trying to bring down a Northwest Airlines jet recently contacted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria about concerns that his son had "become radicalized" and could be planning something, a family source told CNN Saturday.
The son, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was charged in a federal criminal complaint Saturday with attempting to destroy the plane Friday on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan, and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft, the Department of Justice said.
A preliminary FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive. In addition, FBI agents recovered what appear to be the remnants of the syringe from the vicinity of Abdulmutallab's seat, believed to have been part of the device.
Abdulmutallab was to make an initial court appearance at a hospital later Saturday. Read the federal criminal complaint and affidavit
The father, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, recently retired as chairman of First Bank PLC in Nigeria, one of the nation's premier banks. He contacted the U.S. Embassy about his fears, said the source, who lives at the family home in Kaduna in northern Nigeria.
About three months ago, the family source said, the father contacted various security agencies and the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, the capital, about a text message he had received from his son the day before.
The son informed his family that he was leaving school in Dubai, where he had gone to get a second degree, to move to Yemen. He implied that he was leaving "for the course of Islam."
The family member said the son "had no family consent or support." He "absconded to Yemen."
"His mother has not been sleeping for months. She is on medication to sleep," the source said.
His information about the son was forwarded to the National Counter-Terrorism Center, and the son was added to a general watch list, a data base of suspected terrorists. But the official said "the info on him was not deemed specific enough to pull his visa or put him on a no-fly list."
Abdulmutallab suffered severe burns Friday when he ignited a small explosive device aboard the plane, and was hospitalized at the University of Michigan burn trauma center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
His apparent plans were foiled by crew members and passengers, and he was taken into custody for questioning by the FBI, authorities said.
The family source said Abdulmutallab received a college degree at the University College of London, where spokesman Dave Weston said a man named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab was enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering Department between September 2005 and June 2008.
His last-known London address was a basement apartment in a wealthy neighborhood. On Saturday, counterterrorism police officers police went in and out of an ornate building on Mansfield Street where Abdulmutallab apparently lived.
Abdulmutallab was granted a multiple-year, multiple-entry tourist visa at the U.S. Embassy in London in June 2008, a senior U.S. administration official familiar with the case told CNN on Saturday.
At the time, there was "no derogatory information that would have prevented him from getting a visa," said the official.
2 comments:
Kama jarbio hili la ugaidi lingefanikiwa, ingekuwa ni kosa la Wamarekani wenyewe! Baba wa mtoto kawatonya kuwa mtoto wake amekuwa na mwelekeo wa ajabu wa Kiislamu, kawatarifu wanausalama wa Nigeria, wa Marekani na nchi za Magharibi, na bado jamaa aliwa anadunda mitaani na kufanikiwa kupanda ndege.
Kama si uzembe ni nini?
Baba Mwislamu tena Alhaj. kamtosa mtoto wake mwislamu....halafu watu wengine wanadhani Waislamu wote ni magaidi. Sisi Waislamu tuige mfano wa huyu baba Alhaji Umar Mutallab.
Ili tuonyeshe kweli Uislamu ni diniya amani. Tupinge vitendo vya kuharibu amani na utulivu duniani.
Huu ni mtizamo wangu.
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