Saharareporters has now obtained an exclusive airport CCTV screen-shot of Farouk Umar AbdulMuttallab as he prepared to commence his fateful plane journey out of Lagos. The scoop comes amidst information that his parents and close relatives are headed to the US this week to attend the trial of the alleged “underwear-bomber,” at a time that the United States is announcing that starting today, travelers from Nigeria will now face vigorous new security attention.

This means the AbdulMuttalab family will be among the first Nigerians to undergo airport screening that may include the most comprehensive procedures in the history of air travel.

Farouk’s screen shot comes from a security video at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, and it shows Farouk reading a newspaper as he waited on the security line, presumably trying to present the image of a casual traveler.

Nigeria's Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, had claimed in a public statement that Farouk spent precisely 27 minutes in Lagos before boarding a KLM flight for Amsterdam, transiting on Northwest Airlines flight 253 headed to Detroit, Michigan. Airport sources have told Saharareporters, however, that Akunyili's statement shows that she is ignorant of airport procedures, as they would never have permitted anyone arriving on an airline from Accra, Ghana to board an international bound flight at such short notice.

Under current practice, most passengers traveling outside Nigeria are required to arrive at the airport several hours before departure. A KLM staff also said that the check-in counter usually closes about one hour before departure to enable passenger go through airport checks and screening before boarding.

Also, civil aviation authorities in Ghana have denied the claims that Farouk stayed in Ghana leaving the puzzle unsolved as to his whereabouts after he left Yemen via Ethiopia on December 7th 2009.
The AbdulMuttalab family is heading for the US in heavy numbers. A family source told us that Farouk's father, Dr. Umar AbduMuttallab, along with his mother and sisters are coming into the US before the weekend. The older AbdulMuttalab is credited with reporting his son’s emerging philosophy and his disappearance to the United States, information the US did not seem to have taken very seriously. Farouk is the second boy amongst his mother's seven children.

Under new US rules, all travelers from Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria flying into the country will be patted down and their carry-on luggage will be heavily searched.


Written by Sahara Reporters, New York
Monday, 04 January 2010 12:26

They don come again.I hope its the right pic before anti freedom allies start calling for closure of saharareporters.

That picture could be anybody - Let them show multiple images

Sowore again!

MMA has cctv?

@tpia
you don visit MMA before? no ilaro you dey.