20091227

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner with high explosives had lived outside Nigeria for some time and returned only on the eve of the attempted attack, the Nigerian government said on Sunday.

"The man in question has been living outside the country for a while. He sneaked into Nigeria on the 24th of December and left the same day," Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters in the commercial capital, Lagos.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was charged on Saturday in the United States with trying to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253, a Delta-owned Airbus 330, as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on December 25 with almost 300 people on board.

Abdulmutallab, son of a well-respected former Nigerian banker, started his journey in Lagos, where he boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam before transferring to the Detroit flight at Schiphol airport.

"The father, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, who is a responsible and respected Nigerian with a true Nigerian spirit, had earlier reported his concern about his son's activities to relevant American authorities," Akunyili said.

"The father has already expressed deep shock and regret over the son's action."

Akunyili said Nigeria had strengthened security at all its airports and its security agencies were working "hand-in-hand" with their international counterparts.

"We want to assure everybody that our airports are very safe," she said.