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Dubai says it is not investigating failed airline attacker

Arab World Materials 30 December 2009 13:25 (UTC +04:00)
Dubai, where the man charged with attempting to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day lived for much of this year, said it had not opened an investigation into the incident, local media reported Wednesday.
Dubai says it is not investigating failed airline attacker

Dubai, where the man charged with attempting to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day lived for much of this year, said it had not opened an investigation into the incident, local media reported Wednesday.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aged 23, spent most of the first seven months of 2009 in the United Arab Emirates studying at a university before heading to Yemen in August, where he allegedly received training from al-Qaeda, DPA reported.

"He stayed here briefly and we don't have any suspicions of the involvement of other members with the Nigerian man. We were not approached by any agency before or after the incident," the head of Dubai police, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, was quoted as saying in Gulf News.

"There was no reason to be suspicious of this man during his stay in Dubai, and we do not put people under surveillance for no reason," the chief of police added.

Wollongong University, where he studied in Dubai, has handed over student lists to the police, including names of all Abdulmutallab's peers, The National reported, noting that as yet, officers had not conducted interviews with students.

Yemen, too, has said it was not aware of terrorist links of the Nigerian man who tried to blow up the plane on orders from the branch of al-Qaeda based in the poor Gulf country.

Sanaa said it granted Abdulmutallab a visa, in part, based on his previous residency permits.

Abdulmutallab studied Arabic in a Sanaa institute before he left the country days before he attempted to ignite explosives on the Detroit- bound airliner.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group claimed responsibility for the plot, saying it was in retaliation for the US assistance to Yemeni authorities in the air raids that killed 64 of its members in Yemen earlier this month.

Nigerian security authorities, like those in Yemen, said they were looking into the information available and carrying out investigations.

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