Nigerian terror suspect’s family says man disappeared, father sought help to bring him home

Terror suspect’s family releases statement

LAGOS, Nigeria — The family of the Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner says he disappeared while studying abroad.

In a statement released Monday morning, the family of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab says that after his “disappearance and stoppage of communications while schooling abroad,” his father reached out to Nigerian security agencies two months ago. The statement says the father then approached foreign security agencies for “their assistance to find and return him home.”

The family says: “It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day.”

The statement did not offer any specifics on where Abdulmutallab had been.