Gov’t says Detroit airline bomb suspect flagged mid-flight to be checked after plane landed
By Ben Feller, APThursday, January 7, 2010
Bomb suspect had been flagged for check at landing
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security officials say they had flagged the suspect in the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt as someone who should go through additional security when he landed in the United States.
In a statement early Thursday, the department said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s potential ties to extremists came up in a routine check of passengers already en route to the United States from overseas.
Customs and Border Protection officials screen passengers against terrorist watch lists before international flights leave for the U.S., then check names against a different database while the flight is in the air. It was during this second check that officials flagged the alleged bomber.
The 23-year-old Nigerian man with ties to al-Qaida is charged with trying to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25.
