Terrorist attack foiled aboard U.S. jetliner

[Syt]

MSNBC: Nigerian allegedly tries to ignite powder on flight but is subdued

ROMULUS, Mich. - A Nigerian man tried to light a powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it landed Friday in Detroit in what senior U.S. officials called an attempted act of terrorism.

Flight 253 with 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard was 20 minutes from the airport when passengers heard popping noises, witnesses said. Passengers saw the attempted attack, and at least one of them jumped on the man and subdued him, airline officials and passengers said.

The man had "some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite" in a bag strapped to his body, U.S. officials told NBC News. Other officials told NBC station WDIV-TV of Detroit that the device was a mixture of powder and liquid, which failed to ignite when the passenger tried to detonate it during the plane's descent into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
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Stricter security measures were imposed on airline travel, but those were not specified.

Federal officials identified the man as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria, who was traveling one way, without a return ticket. Dawn Griffith, who was waiting for her husband on the plane, said she saw the man being carted away on a gurney or bed, with his bandaged hands handcuffed to the railing.

The man was being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.

In terrorism files?
Rep. Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, who was briefed on the incident, said Abdulmutallab was known in federal counterterrorism files and may have been on the government's list of suspicious passengers banned from flying in the United States.

King said the incident raised troubling questions about airline security. "It must be looked into" how Abdulmutallab was able to sneak a "somewhat sophisticated device" on board, he said.

A spokeswoman for police at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam declined comment about the case or about security procedures at the airport for Flight 253. Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest has a heavy load of transit passengers from Africa and Asia to North America. 

Abdulmutallab told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States, counterterrorism officials said.

A counterterrorism official said Abdulmutallab, who was subdued by the crew of Northwest Air Lines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday and boarded the flight in Amsterdam on Friday.

[Tonitrus]

Ahem.

http://languish.org/forums/index.php?topic=3284.0

[Syt]

I don't have time to read all topic titles in their entirety.

[jimmy olsen]

Since the plane was headed to Detroit I like to imagine the event went something like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9tai4JlWmQ

[Tonitrus]

[jimmy olsen]

WTF?

[Syt]

Since the plane was headed to Detroit I like to imagine the event went something like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9tai4JlWmQ

[Martinus]

So, let me get this straight. For all the insane, over-the-top, annoying and intrusive safety measures put in place at the airports, a black muslim guy named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab managed to get explosives on board of an airplane? 

[Sheilbh]

So, let me get this straight. For all the insane, over-the-top, annoying and intrusive safety measures put in place at the airports, a black muslim guy named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab managed to get explosives on board of an airplane? 

A black Muslim guy already being investigated by US agencies (though he wasn't on a no-fly list).  Despite this I'm not allowed to carry a can of coke on board

[Martinus]

At least we are safe from the true menace: the grandmas with their heart medicine.

[DisturbedPervert]

How did this dude even get a visa   

[Martinus]

I'm just glad that the London airport security obviously prioritizes well and when faced with:

A. A 23 y.o. Muslim Nigerian student with known AQ ties, flying from London to the US on Christmas, on an unspecified business and carrying a bomb.

and

B. A 32 y.o. gay Polish lawyer, returning from a Halloween performance of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and carrying a pink feathered boa.

considered the latter to be a bigger threat to the society, and searched his hand luggage thoroughly. 

[Bluebook]

How did this dude even get a visa   

You dont need a visa to get on the plane do you? You need it to get out of the airport at your destination.

[DisturbedPervert]

The airline won't let you board the plane without a visa and I'm assuming Nigeria isn't one of the countries that get visa on arrival in the USA

[Martinus]

I'm waiting for BBC to post a poll: "Should Nigerian Muslims detonate explosives on board of airliners departing from London?"