subject: Who Are You Really Sitting Next To? [print this page] For Umar Farouk Mutallab, nicked-named the "Diaper Bomber", it started on December 16, 2009 where he purchased a one-way ticket with cash on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. A known affiliate of terrorist's and terrorist organizations, he was not placed on the Transportation Security Administration "No Fly" list and had obtained a 2-year U.S. travel Visa in 2008.
On December 25, 2009 Mutallab boarded a flight in Nigeria, where he flew to Amsterdam and then to Detroit. He did not have to go through a full-body image screening at either airport. Because he was neither screened nor scanned prior to purchasing his ticket and boarding his flights he proceeded to attempt to detonate an explosive devise that was sewn into his underpants. He was carrying a six-inch packet of high explosives, known as PETN, and a syringe that he tried to set off before the plane could land in Detroit. Passenger, Jasper Schuringa, subdued Mutallab after noticing burning between the suspect's legs while crew members extinguished the flames that started traveling up the walls of the plane.
Mutallab's questionable background emerged during the investigation that included a classified file, terrorist connections and a warning that was made by Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a prominent Nigerian banker and the father of Umar Farouk Mutallab, that his son was a potential threat.
Why was Mutallab able to board a U.S. bound flight in the first place?
This question is causing a lot of people to evaluate the standards in which we proceed to scan individuals who are purchasing as well as boarding flights.
