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Flight 253 Terror Indictment of Suspect Abdulmutallab

By Joel Zand on January 06, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A federal grand jury returned a criminal indictment against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian citizen arrested for attempting to detonate and explosive device on Christmas Day while on a Northwest Airlines Flight 253 flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Abudlmutallab unsuccessfully attempted to detonated a bomb containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) that was attached to his body before the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan airport, but was apprehended and subdued by passengers and crew.

The six-count indictment charges him with:

  • Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction;
  • Attempted murder while on board an airplane;
  • Attempting to destroy and wreck and aircraft;
  • Willfully placing a destructive device (a bomb) on an airplane that would be likely to put it's safety in jeopardy;
  • Possessing of a firearm (i.e., the bomb) to commit a crime; and
  • Possessing a firearm to commit a crime of violence

You can read Abdulmutallab's terror indictment for his conduct on board NWA Flight 253 here:

If convicted, the Flight 253 defendant could face a life sentence in federal prison.

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