This is what Osama bin Laden could look like today. The FBI's laboratory in Virginia have aged old photos of 18 most wanted terrorists. If anyone thinks they have seen one of these people, the FBI has a scheme that will reward them financially for their trouble. Since its inception in 1984 the Rewards for Justice Program has paid millions of dollars to people who have provided information that resulted in the capture, prosecution or death of terrorists and for people who have been responsible for preventing a terrorist act.
After the Nigerian man tried to blow up an American Airline on Christmas Day, the photos were released as the US announced it would strengthen air security. This includes randomly screening more passengers, more federal air marshalls and employing more people on the Terrorist watch list.
In the UK, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been placed on their watch list in May 2009 after applying for a visa to study at a bogus college. He had been living in London between 2005-2008 on a study visa at University College in London. He was a ligitimate UK student on a legitimate student visa and hadn't been in the UK for 14 months. However in May 2009, when he made an application for another student visa, it was refused. Once it had been refused, he automatically went on the UK watch list.
Washington said he was added to their watch list of some 550,000 names last month after his father warned US officials in Abuja about his son's radical behaviour. Unfortunately, the US security let their guard down and he slipped through the net. Any wonder President Obama was furious with his security people, it was a very close call and airport security will never be quite the same ever again.
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