Passenger 'Heard Pop, Saw Smoke and Fire'

A passenger sitting three rows behind the 23-year-old Nigerian man who allegedly tried to detonate an explosive aboard a Detroit-bound flight heard “a pop and saw some smoke and fire.” Then, Syed Jafry tells the Free Press, “a young man behind me jumped on him.” Jafry, a US citizen returning from the United Arab Emirates, said the response made him proud to be an American.

And while Jafry said there was 10-15 minutes of commotion surrounding the incident, another Northwest passenger knew nothing about it until the plane landed. The man’s wife says she thinks she saw the suspect, “young-looking” Abdul Mudallad, being wheeled away handcuffed to a stretcher.
(More Detroit stories.)