Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (عمر فاروق عبد المطلب; also known as Umar Abdul Mutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born 22 December 1986) popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber", is a Nigerian terrorist who, at the age of 23, attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, US on 25 December 2009.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed to have organised the attack with Abdulmutallab; they said they supplied him with the bomb and trained him.

Connections to al-Qaeda and Anwar al-Awlaki have been found, although the latter denied ordering the bombing.

Abdulmutallab was convicted in a U.S. federal court of eight federal criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people.

For the 2004–05 academic year, Abdulmutallab studied at the Sana'a Institute for the Arabic Language in Sana'a, Yemen, and attended lectures at Iman University.

Abdulmutallab began his studies at University College London in September 2005, where he studied Engineering and Business Finance,.

He organized a conference in January 2007 under the banner "War on Terror Week", and advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers, speakers from Cageprisoners, and former Guantánamo Bay detainees.

One lecture, Jihad v Terrorism, was billed as "a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad".

During those years, Abdulmutallab "crossed the radar screen" of MI5, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, for radical links and "multiple communications" with Islamic extremists.

At the age of 21, Abdulmutallab told his parents that he wanted to get married; they refused on the grounds that he had not yet earned a master's degree.

and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in June 2008.

He was president of the school's Islamic Society, which some sources have described as a vehicle for peaceful protest against the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom.

in the War on Terrorism.

During his tenure as president, along with political discussions, the club participated in activities such as martial arts training and paintballing; at least one of the Society's paintballing trips involved a preacher who reportedly said: "Dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise."

He was well liked as president of the society and considered to be moderate though politically engaged.

He organized a talk about the detention of terror suspects, and walked down Gower Street in an orange jumpsuit.

On 12 June 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for and received from the US embassy in London a multiple-entry visa, valid until June 12, 2010, with which he visited Houston, Texas, from August 1–17, 2008.

After graduating from university, Abdulmutallab made regular visits to the family town of Kaduna, where his father was known for financing local mosque construction and other public works.

The father was described by The Times in 2009 as being "one of the richest men in Africa."

He is a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development.

The family comes from Funtua in Katsina State.

Abdulmutallab was raised initially in an affluent neighbourhood of Kaduna, in Nigeria's north.

Abdulmutallab attended Essence International School and also took classes at the Rabiatu Mutallib Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, named for his grandfather, at that time.

He also attended The British School of Lomé, Togo.

He was considered a gifted student, and enjoyed playing PlayStation games and basketball.

According to multiple people who knew him at the time, Abdulmutallab became very pious in his teenage years, detaching himself from others his age.

He condemned his father's banking profession for charging interest, which is prohibited in Islam, and urged him to quit.

In May 2009, Abdulmutallab tried to return to Britain, ostensibly for a six-month "life coaching" program at what the British authorities concluded was a fictitious school; the United Kingdom Border Agency denied his visa application.

His name was placed on a UK Home Office security watch list which, according to BBC News, meant that he could not enter the UK.

Passing through the country in transit was permissible and he was not permanently banned; the UK did not share the information with other countries.

This status was based on his visa application being rejected to prevent immigration fraud rather than for a national security purpose.

Intelligence officials suspect that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula member, Anwar al-Awlaki, may have directed Abdulmutallab to Yemen for al-Qaeda training.

Abdulmutallab's father agreed in July 2009 to his son's request to return to the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen, to study Arabic from August to September 2009.

He arrived in the country in August.

Abdulmutallab was the only African in the 70-student school.

A fellow student at the Institute said Abdulmutallab would start his day by going to the mosque for dawn prayers and then spent hours in his room reading the Quran.

On 16 February 2012, he was sentenced to 4 life terms plus 50 years without parole.

He is incarcerated at ADX Florence, the supermax federal prison in Colorado.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is the youngest of 16 children.

of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a wealthy Nigerian banker and businessman, and his second wife, Aisha (who is from Yemen).