A 23-year-old Nigerian native was caught on December 26th trying to blow up Northwest Delta flight 253 which was going from Amsterdam to Detroit. The Nigerian, whose name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was caught by the other passengers of the flight just a few moments before it landed on its destination. More specificly, Abdulmutallab was stopped in his attemp by Jasper Schuringa, a video director and producer from Amsterdam. Schuringa is now very popular for his heroism all over the world. Multiple sources say that the explosive device started a fire on the legs of the suspect and on the wall of the plane. Abdulmutallab was taken into custody and sent to the University of Michigan Burn Center (Ann Arbor) to be treated for second and third-degree burns on his thighs.
Here's a picture of the suspect taken in 2004 on a Duke of Edinburgh Award test in Cameroon:
The US authorities were told by passengers of the flight 253 that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab went to the airplane bathroom, came back about 20 minutes later saying he had a bad stomach ache, then they heard a "pop" in the airplane, and started smelling smoke, which was followed by the fire.
According to preliminary analysis, with the support of the criminal complaint, the FBI found that the device used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab contained pentaerythritol (PETN), which is highly explosive.
The suspect will be facing the charges of willfully attempting to destroy an aircraft and willfully placing and causing to be placed a destructive device on an aircraft. These charges are equivalent to a penalty of about 20 years in jail.
This was a painful experience especially for the passengers of flight 253, but it seems the suspect is giving a lot of useful information to the FBI...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment