THE spy agency ASIO is investigating whether a man accused of trying to blow up a US passenger plane has connections with Australia after it was revealed he studied at an affiliate of an Australian university in Dubai.
ASIO's involvement is part of a global investigation by Western intelligence agencies to piece together the recent past of 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab amid fears that he may have had accomplices in the Detroit airliner plot.
Abdulmutallab has reportedly told US authorities that more attacks were being planned after he was arrested for allegedly trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight near Detroit on Christmas Day.
ASIO became involved after it was revealed that the Nigerian studied a master's degree in international business at the University of Wollongong campus in Dubai between January and August this year.
But he abruptly abandoned his $16,000 course and moved to Yemen.
University of Wollongong vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton said yesterday colleagues in Dubai had told him the Nigerian was a normal student who was passing his subjects.
"He lived in one of the residences, but he disappeared from those residences and from contact with the university in August and so, as a result of non-payment of fees, he was disenrolled in October," Professor Sutton told The Australian.
Although the university's website says it "is a relatively simple process" for students to transfer from Dubai to the University of Wollongong in Australia, Professor Sutton said Abdulmutallab had not requested to study in Australia.
"Even if he had applied, he would have had to go through the strict visa and immigration process like any other overseas student."
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration said the department had no record of anyone by that name visiting Australia. About 3500 students from 108 nationalities attend the University of Wollongong in Dubai. The university is responsible for its own governance and management but has links to the University of Wollongong in NSW.
The Australian understands that ASIO has contacted the University of Wollongong in NSW asking for information on Abdulmutallab, but Professor Sutton yesterday declined to confirm this or comment on any dealings between his university and government agencies.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland said: "Consistent with the longstanding practice of Australian governments, it would be inappropriate to comment on the specific operations of security and intelligence agencies."
Professor Sutton said the fact that Abdulmutallab had previously studied engineering at the University College in London before enrolling in a masters degree in Dubai indicated he was "a highly intelligent student".
A spokeswoman for the University of Wollongong in Dubai confirmed that Abdulmutallab had attended the university but declined to comment further, citing confidentiality provisions.
A terror cell known as al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed that the failed airline attack was a response to American-backed airstrikes on the group in Yemen this month.
However, Abdulmutallab bought his one-way ticket from Accra in Ghana to Detroit on December 16, before the Yemen airstrikes.
US authorities have launched urgent investigations into how the Nigerian radical managed to board the aircraft despite being on terror watch lists and how he managed to smuggle explosives on board.
The student tried to set off a bomb containing the explosive PETN, but it malfunctioned, sparing the lives of the 289 people on board. The dangerous explosive reportedly could have blown a hole in the side of the aircraft had it been detonated.
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