Thaindian News

Detroit, Oct 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has changed his plea to guilty. The Nigerian, popularly called the “underwear bomber”, is standing trial for trying to blow up a passenger plane over the Atlantic on the Christmas day of 2009.

Though Abdulmutallab failed in his mission, analysts believe his action radically changed the way that passengers are checked at the various airports in the United States.

When Abdulmutallab appeared before a court in Detroit on Tuesday, he told the court that he decided to bomb the plane in retaliation for the “U.S. wreckage of Muslim lands and property.”

He was charged with eight counts of terrorism activities and the courtroom was stunned when he pleaded guilty to all of them. Passengers on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 took the stand and testified against the defendant. The flight had 290 people onboard and they came from at least 26 countries.

Prosecutors say they have received confession from the 25-year-old.

Legal analyst Andrew Cohen told CBS News that, “This isn’t a terrible surprise because he had no legitimate legal defense. All those witnesses on the plane saw what he did, and there was a confession as well. And the judge clearly wasn’t going to let him put on a political defense.”