By Michael D. Shear, Michael Leahy and Spencer S. Hsu
Saturday, December 26, 2009; 12:31 PM
Airports around the world intensified their security for U.S. bound passengers Saturday as American officials sought more information about the motives of a Nigerian man who tried to light an incendiary device aboard a flight as it descended into Detroit on Christmas Day.
Federal investigators are continuing to gather information about the suspect, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, including claims that he is linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. But authorities are operating on the theory that he acted alone, according to an American law enforcement source.
"At this point, there's nothing to suggest that he was part of a wider conspiracy involving others," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to interfere with an ongoing and active investigation.
British Airlines issued a bulletin on its websites announcing that its customers flying into the United States will be allowed only one carry-on item, and attributing the change in policy to American security officials. British Airways said flights bound for the United States from London's Heathrow Airport were delayed between 30 minutes and an hour.
"Arrangements are being put in place at UK airports to implement the additional US requirements," the British government stated in an industry bulletin obtained by the Post.
Airports across Europe and in other parts of the world have also tightened screening measures for U.S.-bound passengers, and airlines are reporting international flight delays and long lines. United Airlines said it expected flights from Europe to the United States would be delayed 20 to 90 minutes for the extra security measures.
Canada, Belgium and France began physically screening passengers and checked bags at boarding gates for flights bound for the United States, authorities said. The Canadian government said the new screening, in addition to a new limit of one carry-on bag per passenger, "are effective immediately and will remain in effect in parallel" with what sources said will be a forthcoming announcement by the U.S. government.
In the United States, Homeland Security officials have not yet raised the terrorism alert status from its current "orange" level, but have said passengers may notice additional screening and security measures at airports in the coming days.
The spike in concern about airline security comes at the height of the Christmas and New Year's travel season, and renews fears about inadequate security procedures that are aimed at keeping the nation's airplanes safe from terrorists.
FBI scientists in Quantico, Va., are testing the powdery material that Abdulmutallab allegedly mixed with a chemical-laden syringe aboard a flight from Amsterdam on Christmas day, said the federal law enforcement source. Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam landed safely about 1 p.m. Friday.
The Associated Press reported Saturday morning that his father, a prominent Nigerian banker, was cooperating with federal investigators.
Abdulmutallab was treated Friday at a hospital for burns after having been subdued by fellow passengers during what some news reports described as an extended scuffle. CNN broadcast pictures Saturday morning of a man being taken into custody and led off of a plane by officials.
Passengers who witnessed the incident on the plane described a chaotic scene on the widebody jet involving what sounded like firecrackers, the glow of flames, smoke.
"What I heard was a firecracker, like a champagne bottle opening. I thought maybe something happened to a window or something hit the plane," said Veena Saigal, who was sitting six rows in front of the suspect, in Row 13. "Then I smelled the smoke. When I turned around, I could see a fireglow."
Some passengers raced away from the flames, she said, clogging the aisles, while other passengers and the flight attendants called for water or hurried to grab fire extinguishers.
"People were just running and they were scared," Saigal said. "They were running towards the center of the plane, running to get away from the flames." In a minute or so -- "It seemed like a long time," she said -- the fire was out.
A passenger she described as a "strong guy" wrapped an arm around the suspect's neck, Saigal said, and began pushing him up the aisle toward an empty seat at the front of the plane, which pilots were preparing to land at Detroit's principal airport.
"He was holding him from the back, with a strong grip," said Saigal, who was completing a trip home to Ann Arbor from India. "He's kind of a hero, I think. When he went back to his seat, we all clapped."
FBI agents interviewed hundreds of passengers, crew members and Abdulmutallab after the plane landed safely in Detroit, and debriefings of witnesses and subjects continued Saturday. Abdulmutallab told investigators that he traveled to Yemen to pick up the mixture and receive instructions, officials said Friday, but they are treating his claims with skepticism and searching for information that would corroborate the statements.
The next major step in the case may be the unveiling of federal criminal charges against Abdulmutallab, but such charges could take time because of the holidays and the early-stage nature of the case.
A Yemeni government official said they were looking into claims that Abdulmutallab came to Yemen to pick up the explosive device and instructions on how and when to deploy it. But the official cautioned it could take time before Yemeni immigration authorities could determine if he ever entered the country. His name is relatively common and also can be spelt in different ways.
If Abdulmutallab is linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, it wouldn't be the first time that the terrorist group has tried to sneak in explosive material past security checks. In August, Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, a suicide bomber sent by the network entered from Yemen into Saudi Arabia with explosives on his body. He was on his way to meet with Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, a senior member of Saudi Arabia's ruling family and head of the kingdom's counterterrorism operations. Assiri, a Saudi national, had informed Nayef that he was going to renounce al-Qaeda.
The prince sent his plane to the southern Saudi border city of Najran to pick up Assiri. He was taken by the prince's personal bodyguards to his heavily guarded house. At some point in the evening, Assiri's explosives were detonated, triggered by a cell phone call. The prince suffered minor injuries.
President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was informed about the incident aboard Flight 253, a spokesman said, and he asked aides to ensure that all measures are in place to provide secure air travel.
Officials said they are not prepared to raise the terrorism alert level, currently at orange -- or the second-highest of five levels -- for domestic and international air travel. However, the Homeland Security Department said late Friday that passengers "may notice additional screening measures, put into place to ensure the safety of the traveling public on domestic and international flights."
ABC News and NBC News reported that Abdulmutallab, 23, attends University College London, where he studies engineering.
Although not on the TSA's "no-fly" list, Abdulmutallab's name appears to be included in the government's records of terrorism suspects, according to a preliminary review, authorities said.
Abdulmutallab has told federal investigators that he had ties to al-Qaeda and traveled to Yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it, according to a federal counterterrorism official briefed on the case. Authorities have yet to verify the claim, and they expect to conduct several more interviews before they determine whether he is credible, the official said.
At the airport, the wide-body jet was met by police cars, an ambulance and some trucks, according to a spectator, J.P. Karas, of Wyandotte, Mich. (The Northwest flight was aboard a Delta airplane; the two companies are in the process of merging.) There were 278 passengers and 11 crew members on board the plane.
Officials described the device as incendiary rather than explosive, pending tests by forensics experts at the FBI. Incendiary devices generally deliver less of an impact than explosive devices. The remains of the device used are being sent to an FBI explosives lab in Quantico for analysis, federal law enforcement and airline security sources told CNN.
For many national security analysts, the Christmas Day incident called to mind the bizarre case of Richard C. Reid, a British citizen who trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Reid attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.
Reid was arrested in Boston, subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In August 2006, authorities in the United Kingdom disrupted a plot to blow up several transatlantic airliners using improvised liquid explosives. The discovery that al-Qaeda was developing new methods to bring down aircraft led to the banning of most liquids in carry-on baggage and prompted research into new detection technologies.
The Northwest incident also comes after a hectic six months in domestic terrorism cases, from the arrest of a Colorado shuttle bus driver, Najibullah Zazi, in an alleged plot to target New York with hydrogen-based chemical mixtures to smaller efforts by groups in Minnesota, Northern Virginia and North Carolina to allegedly translate radical beliefs into action on foreign soil.
Obama was alerted to Friday's incident between 9 and 9:30 a.m. in Hawaii, which is five hours behind the East Coast. After being informed by his military aide, the president convened a secure conference call with John O. Brennan, his counterterrorism adviser, and Denis McDonough, chief of staff at the National Security Council. He later received updates from each man, senior officials said.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) announced late Friday night that the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, which he chairs, would "hold hearings in January to look in to this incident and related security matters."
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the incident was "a disturbing reminder that the terrorist threat is still very real and that we must continue to be vigilant and alert."
Staff writers Carrie Johnson, Anne E. Kornblut, Sholnn Freeman and Scott Butterworth contributed to this report.
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