Bad hygiene to blame for failed ‘underwear bomber’ plot
Underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives on a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day in 2009. The explosives failed to detonate as Abdulmutallab neglected to change his underwear. (Supplied).
A Nigerian man who hid explosives in his underwear and tried to blow up a transatlantic flight to the US reportedly failed because he hadn’t changed his underpants for two weeks.
Dubbed the ‘underwear bomber,’ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives on a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day in 2009 but his poor personal hygiene meant the device was “degraded” and failed to detonate, NewsCorp reports.
The plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Detroit, and left Abdulmutallab with burns to his groin.
Transportation Security Administration John Pistole told the Aspen Institute this week the device failed because of the length of time Abdulmutallab had worn the same pair of underwear.
“Thank goodness for bad hygiene,” he said.
Abdulmutallab, 27, pleaded guilty in 2012 and was sentenced to life in prison.
He’s being held at the super-maximum security United States Penitentiary Florence ADMAX in Colorado.
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