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FBI in Ghana to probe botched US plane attack
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Jan 5, Ghanadot - Some Agents of the US Federal
Bureau of Investigation are in Ghana to find out about the
sojourn in the country of a Nigerian man accused of
attempting to blow up a US airliner, a Ghanaian Deputy
Minister of Information has announced.
According to him "The investigation will allow the FBI
agents to gather more information on the suspect's stay in
Ghana,".
He did not say when the FBI team arrived in Ghana and how
long the agents plan to stay in the west African country.
It is Ghana's first known official comment on the
allegations by Nigerian authorities that the suspect, Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, arrived in Lagos on December 24 on
a Virgin Nigeria flight from Ghana.
Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili had said on
Thursday that the suspect, after arriving from Ghana, spent
less than 30 minutes at the Lagos airport before boarding
his next flight for Amsterdam.
Abdulmutallab allegedly bought the ticket for the bomb
targeted flight in Ghana where his journey began.
The director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA), Harold Demuren, had explained on December
26 that Abdulmutallab "boarded KLM flight out of Lagos on
the 24th December, enroute Detroit, Michigan, USA, via
Amsterdam." "The e-ticket was purchased from the KLM airport
office in Accra on 16th December 2009," he said.
The suspect personally checked in at 20:35 pm (1935 GMT) and
he went "through a normal checking process. His passport was
scanned, his US visa was scanned and the APIS (Advance
Passenger Information System) returned with no objection,"
he said.
His multiple US entry visa, issued in London on June 16 last
year, was not due to expire until June 12 next year, he
added.
Agyenin-Boateng said Ghana was unhappy about not being
informed of concerns about Abdulmutallab whose father had
reported the young man's radical views to the United States
and other foreign security agencies.
"Fighting terrorism is a collective responsibility of every
country and it is therefore important that we share security
information of this nature if we are to fight terrorism,"
Agyenin-Boateng said.
"If we have heard this information (given to the US embassy
in Nigeria) from our Nigerian counterparts, the suspect
would have been subjected to a more thorough screening," he
said.
Nigeria and Ghana are both members of the 15-nation regional
bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Agyenin-Boateng also said that Ghana has purchased a full
body scanner to be installed at the Kotoka International
Airport in Accra, the nation's biggest airport, where
security has been beefed up.
"The scanner, when installed, would ensure that travellers
go through full body scanning and find out if they are
carrying any weapons or drugs," he said. US authorities have
accused the Nigerian suspect of trying to trigger an
explosion on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to
Detroit on Christmas Day with chemicals that had been
stitched into his underwear. He is currently being held in a
Michigan prison.
Washington said Monday stricter measures will be compulsory
on flights from 14 nations, including Nigeria, while random
"enhanced" checks will be carried out on all planes landing
at a US airport.
All travellers from the targeted countries would be
subjected to extra body pat-downs and advanced screening of
baggage, a US official said. Imaging and explosive detection
technology might also be used.
Ghanadot
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