Hmmm… a prominent Nigerian banker thinks that it might be his son who was captured on that NW airlines plane attempting to blow himself and the plane up on approach to Detroit.

Multiple law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday’s attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. He was described as Nigerian.

In Nigeria, a prominent banker said Saturday that he was meeting with security officials there because he feared his son was the suspect. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab told The Associated Press said his son was a one-time university student in London who had left Britain to travel abroad. He said his son hadn’t lived in London “for some time” but he wasn’t sure exactly where he went to.

“I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that,” the elder Mutallab said. He said he would provide more details later Saturday as he learned more from authorities.

One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, but other law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently — inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.