Bomb suspect came from elite Nigerian family

As a member of an uppercrust Nigerian family, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab received the best schooling, from the elite British International School in West Africa to the vaunted University College London.

But the education he wanted was of a different sort: Nigerian officials say his interest in extremist Islam prompted his father to warn U.S. authorities.

The son of a prominent banker, Abdulmutallab became estranged from his family as an adult. Devoutly religious, he gave few clues in his youth that he would turn radical, friends and family said.

Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to destroy a Northwest flight on Christmas Day with 278 passengers on board. The detonator on his explosive apparently malfunctioned and he was subdued by other passengers.

-- AP