FirstBankNigeria.com
December 26, 2009

Former bank official Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, thought to be the father of the suspected terrorist.

The alleged father of a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day reportedly warned the U.S. about his son’s fanatical religious views and activities, the New York Post reported.

Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, believed to be the suspected terrorist’s father, told a Nigerian news outlet that six months ago he alerted the U.S. Embassy to his son’s fanatical religious views, the Post reported.

He allegedly told Nigerian newspaper This Day that he had informed both the U.S. Embassy and the Nigerian security services of his 23-year-old son Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s activities, the Post reported.

The U.S. government did create a file on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, the intelligence community’s main repository of information on known and suspected international terrorists, in November 2009, Reuters reported.

He was not put on the no-fly list because authorities couldn’t find enough negative information on him, a U.S. administration official said Saturday, according to Reuters.

“There was insufficient derogatory information available on the subject at that time,” the official said, according to Reuters.

“Thus, he was not watchlisted as of December 25, 2009.”

The father, an ex-Nigerian minister and bank chairman, traveled to Northern Nigeria to talk to security agencies Saturday, the paper reported.

He said he knew that his son had left London to travel, but said he was not aware of where he went, the paper reported.

“I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that,” he said, according to the paper.

A source reportedly told the Post that the father was surprised that his son was able to travel to the U.S. given his extreme views.

The younger Abdulmutallab is accused of setting off a device aboard a Northwest flight upon landing in Detroit, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have been an explosion.

He was reportedly subdued and restrained by the passengers and flight crew. The airplane landed shortly thereafter, and he was taken into custody by Customs and Border Patrol officers.