By NAOMI R. PATTON
freep.com STAFF WRITER

A Taylor lawyer says he thinks authorities are seeking to discredit his account that an older, well-dressed Indian man helped terror defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab board Flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit without a passport.

Kurt Haskell said Thursday that two FBI investigators who questioned him Tuesday morning asked the same basic questions they asked passengers just after the flight ended. He said he suspects sloppy security has led to a cover-up.


Sandra Berchtold, an FBI spokeswoman in Detroit, and a Department of Justice representative in Washington, D.C., both declined to comment.


Haskell is the only known passenger to provide an account of Abdulmutallab being helped by a second man. Haskell's wife, Lori Haskell, said she was distracted by the couple's card game.