Posted on 12/28/2009 10:46:58 PM PST by myknowledge
A Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a US jetliner on Christmas Day was a student at the satellite campus of an Australian university just months ago before disappearing.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was studying for a master's degree in international business at the University of Wollongong's campus in Dubai, vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton said on Tuesday.
Abdulmutallab took classes for about seven months, from January to the middle of 2009.
He defied his family's pleas to remain at the university and graduate by travelling to the terrorism hotbed of Yemen to study Arabic and Sharia law, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The 23-year-old vanished from the Dubai campus about mid-year, Professor Sutton said.
"He commenced in January 2009 but disappeared from the residences around the middle of the year and was excluded from the second semester around August, September, October on the basis of non-payment of fees," Prof Sutton told ABC Radio.
Abdulmutallab had shown no worrying signs while studying for a master's degree in international business.
"He was a normal student, a student that was passing his subjects," Prof Sutton said.
"We had no background on any of his activities outside the university."
The FBI and authorities in Britain, Europe, Yemen and Nigeria are trying to piece together the 23-year-old's movements over the past year to determine why on approach into Detroit on a Northwest flight on Christmas Day Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to set off a bomb containing the explosive PETN, also known as pentaerythritol.
It is believed the detonator on the bomb malfunctioned, likely saving the 278 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
Abdulmutallab suffered serious burns in the alleged bombing attempt and was initially held in a Michigan hospital but has since been transferred to a US federal prison.
Abdulmutallab is the son of an affluent Nigerian family.
His father is the former chairman of Nigeria's First Bank and Abdulmutallab attended prestigious schools, including a British preparatory school in Togo and England's University College London.
A luxury apartment in London where Abdulmutallab lived has been searched by British authorities.
Before the Christmas Day arrest, Abdulmutallab's father told officials in the US and Nigeria he feared his son had been "radicalised".
The Dubai university was established in 1993 by the University of Wollongong and boasts 3,500 students representing 108 nationalities.
It offers specialist undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the areas of business and information technology.
On its website, the University of Wollongong in Dubai promotes how it "is a relatively simple process" for students to transfer to the University of Wollongong in Australia.
"He was a normal student, a student that was passing his subjects," Prof Sutton said.
Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab attended the Dubai branch of the University of Wollongong, studying for a master's degree in international business. No wonder this raised a red flag until I posted this article.
Thanks for posting this additional detail.
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