DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Terrorist Act on Northwest Flight

Pretty scary stuff. I have to fly with my family next week to Orlando. I will be staying extremely alert.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/


Nigerian who allegedly tried to ignite powder on flight claims al-Qaida ties

Officials: Possible terror attack on Northwest jet

ROMULUS, Mich. - A Nigerian man claiming ties to al-Qaida 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.

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.

Two people saw the attempted attack, and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News. The man was being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.

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.

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.

Abdulmutallab told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be connected to al-Qaida, the terrorism network responsible for the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, 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.

The timing of the attempted attack could be significant. It was eight years ago this week that a similar attempted attack was launched by a British member of al-Qaida who tried to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami by igniting explosives in his shoes. And the attempted attack comes on the same day that the Taliban released a video of a U.S. soldier it is holding captive in Afghanistan.

News organizations, including msnbc.com, initially reported that the government had raised the terrorism alert for flights after the incident. Those reports were inaccurate; the flight alert had been at orange before the incident.

Passengers removed, rescreened
There was nothing out of the ordinary until Flight 253, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was on final approach to Detroit. Although the jet bore the insignia of Delta Airlines, it was operated by Northwest.

Then came the disturbance in the passenger cabin, and that is when the pilot declared an emergency, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, in an e-mail message. The plane landed without incident at 11:51 a.m. ET.



Obama monitoring security from Hawaii



The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane had been taken to a remote area of the Detroit airport and that all passengers had left the plane and were rescreened, along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said, before they were allowed to go on their way.

President Barack Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the White House.

An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure that there no similar attacks, Burton said. Officials would not discuss the security measures, but they said passengers across the country should expect some delays Friday night.


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Read more news from across the U.S.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.

In addition, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his cousin Ramzi Yousef were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.

Asshat...too bad he didn't just blow himself up.

Glad everyone else is safe and sound.

OMFG THAT IS MY AIRLINES AND I WANT TO KICK THAT PERSON'S ASS INTO THE NEXT CENTURY. HOW DARE A TERRORIST ATTACK MY AIRLINE.

However, I am extremely against violence, so I can't kick his ass. I am EXTREMELY PISSED OFF. I HATE TERRORISTS. Stay the eff away from my airlines.

GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.


*Eve is angry if you can't tell*

I am tempted to dial into work to see what is going on, but I won't because I know it will ... off even more.

Don't worry. People don't blame Delta for something like that. The airline isn't responsible for the screening. That is more a problem with the screening at the individual airports.

Pretty soon we will just be herded in to mass changing rooms and be issued paper hospital gowns to wear on all flights, then change back once landed.

Flying has become a royal pain in the ass. It's gotten to the point you are better off driving for trips that take 12 hours or less....especially if you use 2nd leg airports.

The flight was from Amsterdamn. The screener probably just got back from his break where he was eating a special kind of brownie.

Seriously though, I love how a passenger subdued the man. I don't think these terrorists understand Americans. We would much rather kick ass then get our asses kicked.

Also, I thought the Obama administration barred the use of the word terrorists.

It sounds to me like more a failed attempt, than a foiled one. Either the device didn't work, or Achmed got fumblethumbs trying to ignite it. Lucky for the passengers, in any case, or maybe a Christmas Day miracle ...

A known terrorist gains passage on a domestic flight, and in the meantime, we keep frisking 80 year old women before letting them on a plane. The PC madness of not doing the obvious - concentrating on passengers who fit the profile, Muslim men between 18 and 45 years old (give or take) - is going to cost a lot of people their lives one of these days.

Mohammad has about as much connection to al quida as I do.Throw his ass in prison among the general population,let him get his 15 minutes of fame there.
PC= the stubborn belief by left-leaning individuals that you can pick up a turd by the clean end.

Quote:

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It sounds to me like more a failed attempt, than a foiled one. Either the device didn't work, or Achmed got fumblethumbs trying to ignite it. Lucky for the passengers, in any case, or maybe a Christmas Day miracle ...

---

Just saw on TV that the attempt resulted in a fire being started somehow on the plane by this guy.. in fact they talked about it being hatched out using a fire extinguisher by a fast thinking passenger and flight attendent.

Haven't seen it written up anywhere but that is what was said on NBC....

yup,, sounds like a hero to me... thanks for the read

So you are against violence? That's probably a good thing since being a Browns fan can lead to violent acts.

I guess we need to revisit how we handle security again. I'm not saying changes are needed or that this could have been prevented. I do think we as a county have to always keep our guard up.

Officials: Only A Failed Detonator Saved Northwest Flight

Screening Machines May Need to Be Replaced; Al Qaeda Aware of 'Achilles heel'

By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
ABC News
Dec. 26, 2009

Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly.

Bomb experts say there was more than enough explosive to bring down the Northwest jet, which had nearly 300 people aboard, had the detonator not failed, and the nation's outdated airport screening machines may need to be upgraded.

"We've known for a long time that this is possible," said Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar and ABC News consultant, "and that we really have to replace our scanning devices with more modern systems."

Clarke said full body scans were needed, "but they're expensive and they're intrusive. They invade people's privacy."

Al Qaeda, said Clarke, is aware of this vulnerability in the U.S. airport security system. "They know that this is a weakness and an Achilles' heel in our airport security system and this is the second time they've tried it."

In 2001, would-be "shoe bomber" Richard Reid failed in his attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight with a highly explosive chemical known as PETN. He attempted to light a fuse to his shoe on a December 22 American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami but was subdued by other passengers.

According to investigators, the bomb on Northwest flight 253, which was en route from Amsterdam to Detroit when suspect Umar farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly detonated it, contained more than 80 grams of PETN. The material was allegedly sewn into Abdulmutallab's underwear, and was not detected by airport security.

The bomb was built and the plot organized, say U.S. officials, by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen, just north of the capital city of Sanaa.


Suspect Was On Terrorism Watch List
Authorities say the 23-year-old suspect spent months in Yemen being trained for the Christmas Day suicide mission.

Investigators believe Abdulmutallab was connected to al Qaeda by the same radical imam, American-born Anwar Awlaki, who is linked to the American Army major accused of opening fire at Fort Hood in November.

According to investigators, the bomb used yesterday was built in Yemen by a top al Qaeda bomb maker.

Northwest Airlines flight 253 -- operated on a Delta airplane - was getting ready to land in Detroit just before noon Friday when "a passenger caused a disturbance," said Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott. The man, later identified as Abdulmutallab, was trying to ignite when was initially reported as firecrackers.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Abudlmutallab, he boarded KLM Flight 588 from Lagos, Nigeria and transferred to Northwest Flight 253 at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

Prior to the incident, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for about 20 minutes. Upon returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab said he had an upset stomach, and pulled a blanket over himself.

Passengers then heard popping noises similar to firecrackers and smelled an odor. Some saw Abdulmutallab's pants leg and the wall of the airplane on fire. Passengers and crew then subdued Abdulmutallab and used blankets and fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

A passenger apparently saw the suspect holding what a partially melted and smoking syringe. The passenger took the syringe, shook it to stop it from smoking and threw it to the floor. Dutch filmmaker Jasper Schuringa has been identified in the media as a passenger who subdued Mutallab.

Abdulmutallab, who flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then Detroit, was taken into custody at the Detroit airport and was interviewed by authorities there. He was then taken to an area hospital to be treated for burns.

Abdulmutallab was on a terrorism watch list, but not on a no-fly list. Said Clarke, "So once again, we have the U.S. government, as in the case of the Fort Hood attacks, knowing about someone, knowing that they were suspicious, but that information didn't get to the right people in time."

Joseph Rhee and Rhonda Schwartz contributed to this story


Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

We spend over a trillion dollars per year and yet the only thing that saved 300 people's lives is a failed detonator. Security needs to be stepped up, especially now, because if people see how easy it is to sneak a bomb on board, what's stopping others from trying?

Glad everyone on board came away safe and alive.

We can spend all the money we want, the guy got through security over seas, not in the US. Can't say he wouldn't have gotten through in the US, but I'm guessing Nigeria isn't as careful as we might like. I'm more surprised that he got through in Europe when transferring, where they said he should have been checked again.

j/c

Here we see the difference between the u.s. and the people that want to kill as many of us as they can - as many innocent people as they can.

What happens? A guy tries to blow up a plane with innocent civilians on it.........and the u.s. takes the sack and treats him in one of the top hospitals in this area.

Had I done the same thing, and landed in Iran? I would've been beheaded by now.

Yeah, that's what we should aspire to....being more like the Turks........

jc

I think I better show up in a bright orange jump suit and hand cuffs when I go to the airport on Saturday. Sounds like they are treating all passengers as prisoners now.

I'm wondering if I'll be able to get my carry on through security. I carry electronics with me, like my camera(DSLR) lenses, laptop and assorted power cables/battery chargers. Never had a problem getting this stuff through, but after recent events, I don't know.

Somali arrested at airport with chemicals, syringe

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, KATHARINE HOURELD and JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writers Mohamed Olad Hassan, Katharine Houreld And Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writers
32 mins ago

AP MOGADISHU, Somalia – A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Somali man — whose name has not yet been released — was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," said Barise.

A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident in Somalia is similar to the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in that the Somali man had a syringe, a bag of powdered chemicals and liquid — tools similar to those used in the Detroit attack. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified because he isn't authorized to release the information.

Barigye Bahoku, the spokesman for the African Union military force in Mogadishu, said the chemicals from the Somali suspect could have caused an explosion that would have caused air decompression inside the plane. However, Bahoku said he doesn't believe an explosion would have brought the plane down.

A second international official familiar with the incident, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to discuss the case, confirmed that the substances carried by the Somali passenger could have been used as an explosive device.

In the Detroit case, alleged attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab hid explosive PETN in a condom or condom-like bag just below his torso when he traveled from Amsterdam to Detroit. Like the captured Somali, Abdulmutallab also had a syringe filled with liquid. The substances seized from the Somali passenger are being tested.

The November incident garnered little attention before the Dec. 25 attack aboard a flight on final approach to Detroit. U.S. officials have now learned of the Somali case and are hastening to investigate any possible links between it and the Detroit attack, though no officials would speak on the record about the probe.

U.S. investigators said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen — which lies across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. Similarly, large swaths of Somalia are controlled by an insurgent group, al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.

Western officials say many of the hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters in Somalia come in small boats across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. The officials also say that examination of equipment used in some Somali suicide attacks leads them to believe it was originally assembled in Yemen.

Law enforcement officials believe the suspect in the Detroit incident tried to ignite a two-part concoction of the high explosive PETN and possibly a glycol-based liquid explosive, setting off popping, smoke and some fire but no deadly detonation. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, is charged with trying to destroy an aircraft.

A Somali security official involved in the capture of the suspect in Mogadishu said he had a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) package of chemical powder and a container of liquid chemicals. The security official said the suspect was the last passenger to try to board.

Once security officials detected the powder chemicals and syringe, the suspect tried to bribe the security team that detained him, the Somali security official said. The security official said the suspect had a white shampoo bottle with a black acid-like substance in it. He also had a clear plastic bag with a light green chalky substance and a syringe containing a green liquid. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

The powdered material had the strong scent of ammonia, Bahoku said, and samples have been sent to London for testing.

The Somali security officials said the Daallo Airlines flight was scheduled to go from Mogadishu to Hargeisa, to Djibouti and then to Dubai.

A spokeswoman for Daallo Airlines said that company officials weren't aware of the incident and would have to seek more information before commenting. Daallo Airlines is based in Dubai and has offices in Djibouti and France.

Associated Press writer Katharine Houreld reported from Baghdad. Jason Straziuso reported from Nairobi, Kenya

Muslim Cleric Anwar Awlaki Linked to Fort Hood, Northwest Flight 253 Terror Attacks

U.S.-Born Imam Affiliated With al Qaeda Has Been Linked to Several Terror Plots Against Americans

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Dec. 29, 2009
ABC News



Most Americans have never heard of Anwar al Awlaki, but the radical Muslim cleric who may have inspired a young Nigerian man to try to blow up a plane on Christmas Day has been linked to the alleged perpetrators of the deadliest terror attacks on U.S. soil this decade, from 9/11 to the massacre at Fort Hood.

Awlaki twice made headlines last week. Along with several other al Qaeda operatives, the preacher was the target of a U.S. airstrike in Yemen Dec. 24. He was mentioned in articles around the world again the following day, when one acolyte, suspected terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed to detonate an explosive device while aboard a Northwest Airlines jet bound for Detroit on Christmas.

Awlaki apparently is still alive after the Yemen attack, and has reportedly made calls to Yemini journalists in the last few days. This would not be the first time U.S.-born imam slipped through the hands of American justice.

With much of the senior al Qaeda leadership believed to be in hiding in Pakistan, Awlaki has been able in recent years to fill a niche for those looking to hear and read extremist interpretations of Islam, said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East and terrorism specialist at the Congressional Research Council.

"Some of the benefit of Awlaki was that he wasn't being chased. For a long time he was not under severe pressure, when others were," said Katzman. "He only came to prominence after the Fort Hood shootings. He was not being heavily pursued, and that afforded him a certain amount of liberty, to preach and let people contact him."

After several years of preaching an extreme version of Islam across mosques in the United States, the 36-year-old imam left the U.S. in 2002 following a decision that forced federal authorities to rescind a warrant issued for his arrest related to alleged passport fraud.

Once in Yemen, Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, hooked up with the local branch of international terror syndicate al Qaeda, according to U.S. authorities. Despite moving to the Middle East, through his Web site and audio recordings he preached a message of violence and hate that became popular with a new generation of Muslims raised outside the Arabian Peninsula.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based branch with which Awlaki is affiliated, took credit Monday for Abdulmutallab's botched bombing on Christmas Day.

Awlaki has "no known direct links with al Qaeda Central, but [he has them] with al Qaeda in Yemen," said Bruce Hoffman, a professor and terrorism expert at Georgetown University, in an e-mail.

"[He] is seen as effective in communicating with and radicalizing Western jihadis and wannabe jihadis. & He is a very effective and charismatic communicator," Hoffman said.


Contacts with Terrorists
Among those drawn to Awlaki's message of jihad were men convicted of plotting terror attacks in Toronto and Fort Dix, N.J. Both the British-educated Abdulmutallab and Maj. Nidal Hassan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of gunning down 13 people in November at Fort Hood, were said to be influenced by the preacher.
Awlaki also consulted with two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, in San Francisco. Meetings, a congressional inquiry investigating the attacks said, "may not have been coincidental."

Beginning in 2008 Awlaki began an e-mail correspondence with Nidal Hassan in which the Army doctor asked for and received religious justifications for murder. The two men exchanged some 20 e-mails, according to government investigators.

In one such e-mail, Hassan wrote Awlaki: "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife.

Following the Fort Hood attacks Awlaki called Hassan a "hero" on his Web site.

"The only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army," he wrote, "is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal."

On Monday, the government of Yemen confirmed that failed bomber Abdulmutallab had visited that county in early 2009, raising suspicions that the would-be terrorist met with his spiritual leader.

"It appears that just like with Major Hasan, Awlaki played a role in this," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News' "The Blotter."


Paths to Radicalization
"All roads point back to Yemen, they point back to Awlaki, I think it is a pretty deadly combination," Hoekstra said.
The congressman told "The Blotter" that he would investigate how Abdulmutallab was radicalized, and whether he went to Yemen on his own initiative to meet members of al Qaeda.

Many of the young men who find Awlaki's message of murder and martyrdom inspiring are disaffected youths, who often feel alienated not just in the countries in which they live but within their own families, said Anthony Cordesman, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"These are young men looking for something and who can be easily persuaded. It is difficult to know how many are found through the appeal of the message and a charismatic leader, versus structured recruiting," Cordesman said.

"As a native English speaker born in the U.S., it makes it easier to reach out to Americans, and the host of other Muslims alienated by living in the West," he said.

Awlaki was born in New Mexico in 1971 while his father went to college. His family moved back to Yemen for a time, but Awlaki returned in 1991 to study engineering at Colorado State University.

Following his graduation, he became an imam, leading mosques in Fort Collins, Colo., San Diego and later outside Washington, D.C.

According to a Roanoke, Va., newspaper, Awlaki presided over the funeral of Nidal Hassan's mother while in Virginia.

After 9/11, authorities looked for a reason to legally detain and question the fiery preacher who was known to have met with two of the hijackers.

Awlaki was arrested twice in the 1990s for soliciting prostitutes, and federal authorities in 2002 hoped to catch and arrest him for violations of the Mann Act, a law that prohibits the transportation of people across state lines for illegal purposes.

Though born in New Mexico, Awlaki claimed in 2002 that he was born in Yemen when applying for a visa to attend college in Colorado -- an alleged incidence of passport fraud.

A warrant was issued for his arrest, but one day before Awlaki was detained in an airport on his way to Yemen, investigators learned that an assistant district attorney had rescinded the warrant.

U.S. Attorney David Gaouette defended the decision to rescind a 2002 felony arrest warrant for Awlaki, telling ABC News' "The Blotter" that his office determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

As reported by ABC News, the warrant for Awlaki, an al Qaeda recruiter and self-described "confidant" of alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, was rescinded a day before Awlaki was intercepted as a terror suspect at JFK airport in New York in October 2002. Authorities had to release him, and he soon left the country for Yemen.

The warrant would have given terror investigators the right to hold Awlaki, who was on a terror watch list, on charges of felony passport fraud. "It was a determination of our office that we couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and we asked the court to withdraw the complaint," Gaouette, U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, told ABC News. Gaouette, who in 2002 was the assistant U.S. attorney who supervised the Awlaki case, said he took responsibility for rescinding the warrant.

Gaouette also said that Awlaki's terrorism-related background had no bearing on the decision to drop the case. He said he could not continue with a case just "because someone has a bad reputation."

ABC News' Joseph Rhee contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/anwar-awlaki-li...tory?id=9437561

UK Sun News:

Bomb plotter: 'More like me'

By STAFF REPORTERS
UK Sun

Published: 28 Dec 2009

FAILED plane bomber Umar Abdulmutallab has bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to launch attacks on the West.

The 23-year-old Nigerian has told security chiefs of a sinister network in Yemen who are ready and waiting to strike.

The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.

The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.

It was there London-educated Abdulmutallab prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet.

The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London.

They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike.

A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of many ready to attack planes and kill tens of thousands.

"We know there are four or five radicalised British Muslim cells in the Yemen.

"They are due back within months when they will be under constant surveillance."

The 25 suspects, of Pakistani and Somali descent, were radicalised in UK mosques.

Some had been to university and studied engineering or computer sciences.

Others were former street gang members.

Special Branch monitored them as they flew to Yemen, in the Middle East, from British airports in the spring and summer.

In almost every case, their tickets were paid for in cash and bought less than a week before travel.

The source added: "Imams would have promised them rewards in heaven for becoming suicide bombers prepared to kill Westerners."

Today Alan Johnson confirmed Abdulmutallab had been refused a new visa and placed on a watch list last May after applying for a bogus course.

Mr Johnson said: "If you are on our watch list then you do not come into this country. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country but you cannot come into this country."

The Home Secretary said US authorities should theoretically have been informed, and he doubted there had been a "hiccup" in procedures.

American officials have said Abdulmutallab was on one of their "long" watch lists, but was not banned from travelling.

Mr Johnson also said he did not believe Abdulmutallab was acting alone.

He added: "We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or (there were) other people behind it - I suspect it's the latter rather than the former."

Dutch cops are investigating claims that an accomplice helped Abdulmutallab board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

A US couple on the flight, Kurt and Lori Haskell, said they saw a tall, well-dressed man aged about 50 with Abdulmutallab on Friday morning at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

The Haskells have claimed the man spoke for Abdulmutallab and attempted to get him aboard Northwest flight 253 without a passport.

Abdulmutallab's family released a statement today saying they alerted security agencies two months ago after losing contact with him.

The Nigerian's parents described his disappearance as "completely out of character" and a "very recent development".

Abdulmutallab's family said they had lost contact with him while he was studying abroad.

The statement said: "His father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to Nigerian security agencies about two months ago and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago".

The warnings came as another Nigerian was last night held in Detroit on the same flight attacked on Christmas Day. It later emerged the man had fallen ill.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen warned the West four days before Friday's attack that a bombing was imminent.

Terrorist Mohammed al-Kalwi issued the video threat in the wake of a Yemeni airstrike on a militant training camp.

Al-Kalwi was reportedly killed in another airstrike on Thursday.

President Barack Obama's administration is to review all airport security.