Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

passenger: Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab onto plane without pass
mlive.com ^ | 12/26/09 | Sheena Harrison

Posted on 12/26/2009 11:55:38 AM PST by American Dream 246

A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport, and believes at least one other person from the flight was arrested on Friday at Detroit Metro Airport.



Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.

Kurt HaskellLori and Kurt HaskellHaskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'”



Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab's lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.

The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn't see Mutallab again until after he tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.

Haskell said the flight was mostly unremarkable. That was until he heard a flight attendant say she smelled smoke, just after the pilot announced the plane would land in Detroit in 10 minutes. Haskell got out of his seat to view the brewing commotion.



“I stood up and walked a couple feet ahead to get a closer look, and that's when I saw the flames,” said Haskell, who sat about seven rows behind Mutallab. “It started to spread pretty quickly. It went up the wall, all the way to ceiling.”



Haskell, who described Mutallab as a diminutive man who looks like a teenager, said about 30 seconds passed between the first mention of smoke and when Mutallab was subdued by fellow passengers.



“He didn't fight back at all. This wasn't a big skirmish,” Haskell said. “A couple guys jumped on him and hauled him away.”



The ordeal has Haskell and his wife a little shaken. Flight attendants were screaming during the fire and the pilot sounded notably nervous when bringing the plane in for a landing, he said.

“Immediately, the pilot came on and said two words: emergency landing,” Haskell said. “And that was it. The plane sped up instead of slowing down. You could tell he floored it.”

As Mutallab was being led out of the plane in handcuffs, Haskell said he realized that was the same man he saw trying to board the plane in Amsterdam.



Passengers had to wait about 20 minutes before they were allowed to exit the plane. Haskell said he and other passengers waited about six hours to be interviewed by the FBI.

About an hour after landing, Haskell said bomb-sniffing dogs detected something in a fellow passenger's bag at Detroit Metro Airport. He says the FBI told passengers to move to another area of the airport following the incident. “They said, 'It's not a safe area. Read into that what you want.' I interpreted it to mean that there's a bomb in his carry-on.”



Though Haskell says he saw that man led away in handcuffs, he has yet to see anything discussed publicly about a second arrest – even though he believes it may somehow be connected to Mutallab's foiled terror attack. “I know what I saw.”



A call to the FBI on Saturday afternoon has not yet been returned.


TOPICS: Breaking News
KEYWORDS: 0golf4you; afghanistan; african4detroit; africanqueen; airlinesecurity; corruption; dv; economy; elections; flight253; freedom; hoser; islam; israel; jihadinamerica; joker; justice; military; muslim; northwestflight253; nowheyjose; obama; obombercare; pl; religion; sarahpalin; taliban; teaparties; terror; tm; veterans; waronterror
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 161-170 next last
To: CedarDave

Cedar this guy had this smuggled onto the plane stuff in his anus.

So you mean to tell me, that 1 hour and 5 minutes before landing is NOT a good time to detonate a bomb assembled in the bathroom or at your seat?

The whole idea that NOW we not only make the terrorist behave and sit in his seat...what about the guys who see something and want to jump hias ass to STOP HIM.

The GUY who jumped this nut, leapt out of his seat to do so, so now HE TOO will be breaking the law.

The idea to make people stay in their seat would have had detrimental consequences YESTERDAY! It was due to the fact someone DID leap out of his seat to stop this.

Janet and Obummer have this all wrong. They are doing the work for the terrorist to make it EASIER for them to detonate a bomb.


61 posted on 12/26/2009 2:07:28 PM PST by antivenom (If FOX "is not a news org," it's equally appropriate that the White House is "not real government")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246
I'm not the sentimental type. But this sh-t makes me proud:

“A couple guys jumped on him and hauled him away.”

It's one thing to *think* you'll do it. It's another to do it. I would venture to guess that 10-20% of American men will jump now. Before 9/11 I would bet that all but 1-5% would wonder what the heck was going for too long.... not being wimps, but not aware that they need to jump.

I want interviews with those guys. How come I haven't heard about them? Are they in the hospital with burns?
62 posted on 12/26/2009 2:14:06 PM PST by laxcoach (Government is greedy. Taxpayers who want their own money are not greedy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246
[...] confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass.

Fake. Look at how it's folded, and see the border...it doesn't match for 2009 bording passes.





;-)

63 posted on 12/26/2009 2:16:02 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: antivenom

.......WHY wait....

Fear of death


64 posted on 12/26/2009 2:16:35 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Lukenbach Texas is barely there)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint
It could be that the transfer between planes did not require a pass through Amsterdam immigration.

Sorry guys but I flew numerous times from Europe - Amsterdam to here or somewhere else and I ALWAYS had to show my passport like 20 times in EACH airports, and even when I show my tickets when entering the plane I had to show my passport as well, in each airports.
65 posted on 12/26/2009 2:17:36 PM PST by American Dream 246
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: antivenom; CedarDave
Why not detonate the device in the bathroom?

Maybe because it is equipped with a sensitive smoke detector?

66 posted on 12/26/2009 2:19:27 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

I am assuming “vegetarian” isn’t because of an animal-rights stance, unless it was a photo-safari. :-)


67 posted on 12/26/2009 2:24:26 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mreerm
what can be done about this stupid double standard...that W got attacked for the same things that 0 gets a pass???

Are you giving a pass to a guy who claims he saw a suspicious boarding but said and did nothing?

I believe if it were a known liberal who'd done that, there would be outroar at him--with people posting about how he left everyone at risk.

68 posted on 12/26/2009 2:28:47 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

BOOKMARK


69 posted on 12/26/2009 2:32:03 PM PST by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MediaMole

True, but nw would have not let him aboard w/o it.


70 posted on 12/26/2009 2:33:29 PM PST by MindBender26 (Obama is what you get when you let the O.J. jury selects a president !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: antivenom

Atsa Rog!


71 posted on 12/26/2009 2:36:21 PM PST by MindBender26 (Obama is what you get when you let the O.J. jury selects a president !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Eleven Bravo 6 319thID
OR....he wanted to explode the plane over Detroit, achieving maximum damage!

This was the scenario a few years back.....multiply planes were to explode once they were close to their destination in the US.

Thankfully the plot was found out.

72 posted on 12/26/2009 2:39:33 PM PST by Guenevere (....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Gondring

yep...Gondring (troll) you got him.

there’s NO WAY a piece of paper could be folded.

my guess...you’re on 0bama’s payroll/morning-conference-calls to troll...........


73 posted on 12/26/2009 2:39:42 PM PST by mreerm
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

On what airline/flight did he come into Amsterdam without a passport/visa. Do Nigerian authorities use their watch list and/or no-fly list for non-US airlines and non-US destinations? The more I think about it the more questions I have.


74 posted on 12/26/2009 2:41:46 PM PST by bergmeid (obama. With a small o.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

“You really think a muslim needs a passport in UK? Please...”

Yeah, isn’t Islam part of the European Union ?


75 posted on 12/26/2009 2:44:59 PM PST by PLMerite (Ride to the sound of the Guns - I'll probably need help.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246
Some folks here are going to be mighty embarrassed when the next bomber managing to get on an airplane looks like Beaver Cleaver, granny or a nun.

Leni

76 posted on 12/26/2009 2:45:15 PM PST by MinuteGal (Bill O'Reilly: 9/8/09: "Communism is not a threat to us anymore"-10/20/09: "Obama is not a Marxist")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MinuteGal
You could be right..............

..but they haven't yet....have they?

77 posted on 12/26/2009 2:52:52 PM PST by Guenevere (....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite
Yeah, isn’t Islam part of the European Union ?

Nope, European Union is part of Islam now.
78 posted on 12/26/2009 2:53:11 PM PST by American Dream 246
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

I flew through Amsterdam several years ago and am a grandmotherly type. My friend and I were pulled from the line and questioned extensively. And yes, we definitely needed our passports.


79 posted on 12/26/2009 2:55:14 PM PST by twigs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: American Dream 246

If true, than no more planes from the EU. Just not safe enough.


80 posted on 12/26/2009 3:00:33 PM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 161-170 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson