Profile of Abdulmutallab:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, appears to have lived a life of privilege.

As the son of one of Nigeria’s most prominent businessmen he had access to international travel and a world-class education. He has been described by one former British teacher as a dream student.{{more}}

But people close to him have said he was increasingly showing extremist views in recent years. His family told the BBC they had not heard from him since October.

Mr Abdulmutallab’s father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said he had approached the US and Nigerian authorities to warn them about his son’s views six months before the alleged attempt to destroy the flight to Detroit.

Nigerian media quoted Mr Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, as saying his son first became radicalised while studying at the British School in Lome (BSL), Togo.

Michael Rimmer, a Briton who taught him history, told the BBC Mr Abdulmutallab had been “every teacher’s dream – very keen, enthusiastic, very bright, very polite”.

He had excelled in Islamic scholarship at the British school and gained a reputation for preaching to other students, said Mr Rimmer.

Mr Rimmer said his former student had always been “very religious” and occasionally aired opinions which were “a bit over the top”.

“In 2001 we had a number of class discussions about the Taliban. All the other Muslim kids in the class thought they were just a bunch of nutters, but Umar spoke in their defence,” said Mr Rimmer.

But he assumed Mr Abdulmutallab was “just playing devil’s advocate, trying to keep the discussion going”.

Mr Rimmer said that if his former student had carried out the attempted bombing, it would be “such a terrible waste” and his parents would be devastated.

Another member of staff, Jackie Amegah, was equally surprised, saying Mr Abdulmutallab had been a “quiet, obedient” and a “perfect example of a good student”.

Efemena Mokedi, a former classmate who played on the same basketball team, said he was shocked to hear what had happened.

“You would never expect this coming from him, he’s a very good guy, a very good chap to hang out with,” he told the BBC.

“He was very sociable, he comes from a wealthy background, he’s well educated … the numbers do not add up,” he said.



Contact severed

Between 2005 and 2008, Mr Abdulmutallab was enrolled on a course in mechanical engineering at the prestigious University College London.

The UCL engineering department has described him as a “well-mannered, quietly spoken, polite and able young man,” who “never gave his tutors any cause for concern”.

Media reports say Mr Abdulmutallab lived in comfort during his studies, in an apartment in a smart neighbourhood of west London which has since been raided by British police.

After graduating in 2008, he told his family he wanted to continue learning, by moving to an Arab country to study Arabic.

His family told the BBC Mr Abdulmutallab’s parents decided to send him to Dubai to study for a post-graduate degree in business management, thinking he would benefit from its cosmopolitan nature and would not be exposed to extremist influences.

But despite his parents’ objections, he abandoned the course before it was finished, saying he was no longer interested and had found an alternative course in Yemen.

He said the seven-year programme would cost nothing and that it did not matter if his Nigerian passport expired – he would be able to obtain a Yemeni one.

When his mother contacted him to urge him to reconsider, Mr Abdulmutallab told her not to get in touch again as he had found “a new life” and they no longer had any ties to him.

It was at this point, the BBC was told, that Mr Mutallab attempted to travel to Yemen to bring his son home. He also sought help from the US, Nigerian and Saudi authorities, telling them he was concerned by his son’s behaviour.



‘Isolated incident’

The Mutallab family, who have said they will co-operate fully with any investigation, say they have had no contact with Mr Abdulmutallab since October, when he was in Yemen.

They have since been told by US officials that he left Yemen, travelling to Ethiopia and Ghana and finally Nigeria, from where he embarked on his alleged bombing mission.

Despite being on a US terrorism database, Mr Abdulmutallab was not on a list of people banned from flying in the country.

He was able to fly from Lagos to Amsterdam and then board a plane bound for Detroit with high explosives allegedly sewn into his clothing. He was badly burned when he tried to detonate the explosives, eyewitnesses said.

Mr Abdulmutallab is reported to have told investigators he had links to al-Qaeda and had received his explosives in Yemen.

But religious leaders in Nigeria have been quick to condemn his actions.

The country’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said the alleged attack was an “isolated incident” which did not point to a wider problem with Islamist militancy in Nigeria.

“We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man,” the Council’s secretary general, Lateef Adegbite, told the AFP news agency.

“We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action.”