{"id":2417,"date":"2012-05-16T20:39:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T20:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/16\/dollard-resident-gives-first-hand\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:42:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:42:05","slug":"dollard-resident-gives-first-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/16\/dollard-resident-gives-first-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Dollard resident gives first-hand account of underwear bomber"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nBy Robert Frank
\nwww.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\nWest Islander Shama Chopra wasn\u2019t surprised when U.S. drone aircraft killed alleged Al Qaeda militants in Yemen, last week, after a double agent tipped off American counterterrorist officials. The activists had reportedly designed a new type of underwear-bomb that would be fiendishly hard for airport security detectors to spot.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThey\u2019re looking for all these terrorists in Yemen, because most of them are masters at making bombs,\u201d said the only Canadian victim to testify at the recent trial of Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.<\/div>\n

\n

On Christmas Day, 2009, Chopra was flying back from India to her Dollard des Ormeaux home following a visit with relatives, when Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb concealed in his underwear.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Chopra and the other passengers survived because the device failed to detonate. Instead, it caught fire, filling the fuselage with thick smoke and burning Abdulmutallab badly. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe were in the process of landing at Detroit, and people were screaming, their children were crying and it was very chaotic on the plane,\u201d recalled Chopra, a well-known classical Indian singer and a founder of the Hindu temple in Dollard des Ormeaux.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\u201cPeople tried to crowd into the front of the plane,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey were quite panicked because one side of the plane was on fire.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nChopra added that after the attack, aircrew brought Abdulmutallab to the front of the aircraft where she was seated.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI could smell his charred flesh. He was completely burnt, except for his face. It was quite scary, but you have to be strong,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n

\n

Ms. Chopra remains undeterred by her experience, which she calls the worst moment in her life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI flew home to Montreal later that day,\u201d she told The Suburban<\/i> in an interview, \u201cand I boarded another commercial flight exactly one month later.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIf people stop taking flights because they scare us, they will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nFollowing her testimony at Abdulmutallab\u2019s sentencing hearing in Detroit in February, Chopra crossed the courtroom floor to give him some Muslim prayer beads.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI told him \u2018I have already forgiven you\u2019,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n

\nChopra again intervened after Abdulmutallab\u2019s trial was over. <\/div>\n

Last month, after she petitioned to have him transferred to a higher-security penitentiary, U.S. justice authorities moved the prisoner to the renowned Supermax facility in Colorado, known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHad he remained where he was, he would have influenced other people in the facility with the message that he wants to convey,\u201d Chopra said. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cI never thought that Al Qaeda would attack my home,\u201d she added, \u201cbut it did.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nChopra has since exchanged corespondence with Canadian authorities, asking Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Justice Minister Pete Nicholson to beef up Canada\u2019s antiterrorism laws as well as enforcement and prosecution procedures. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have to respond to terrorism,\u201d Chopra concluded. \u201cCanada is being too soft and I am very much worried about this because if they can hit us at home, we have to be able to detect and prevent such acts.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMy message is: keep flying.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com West Islander Shama Chopra wasn\u2019t surprised when U.S. drone aircraft killed alleged Al Qaeda militants in Yemen, last week, after a double agent tipped off American counterterrorist officials. The activists had reportedly designed a new type of underwear-bomb that would be fiendishly hard for airport security detectors to spot. \u201cThey\u2019re looking for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDollard resident gives first-hand account of underwear bomber - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/16\/dollard-resident-gives-first-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dollard resident gives first-hand account of underwear bomber - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com West Islander Shama Chopra wasn\u2019t surprised when U.S. drone aircraft killed alleged Al Qaeda militants in Yemen, last week, after a double agent tipped off American counterterrorist officials. 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