The suspected Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was indicted Wednesday in Detroit on six counts relating to his alleged attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
“The charges that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces could imprison him for life,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “This investigation is fast-paced, global and ongoing, and it has already yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads. Anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool—military or judicial—available to our government.”
The Justice Department, in a press release, laid out the criminal counts in the indictment as follows:
*Count one of the indictment charges Abdulmutallab with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
*Count two of the indictment charges him with attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
*Count three of the indictment charges him with willful attempt to destroy or wreck an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
*Count four of the indictment charges Abdulmutallab with willfully placing a destructive device on an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which was likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft. This violation carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
*Count five of the indictment charges him with use of a firearm/destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a consecutive mandatory 30 years in prison.
*Count six of the indictment charges the defendant with possession of a firearm/destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence, which carries a consecutive mandatory 30 years in prison.
“The attempted murder of 289 innocent people merits the most serious charges available, and that’s what we have charged in this indictment,” the new Detroit U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said in a statement.
