Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Detroit bomber, was involved in radical politics while a student in London and organised a conference under the banner ‘War On Terror’, according to a report.

The 23-year-old Nigerian, a former president of the University College London (UCL) Islamic Society, is said to have arranged the event, which included discussions about Guantanamo Bay, allegations of torture and the subject of “Jihad v Terrorism”.

It is claimed his involvement in such an event could have put him at risk of being recruited as an al-Qaeda jihadist.

UCL has confirmed that Abdulmutallab was a mechanical engineering student on its Central London campus between 2005 and 2008 and in the academic year 2006/07 was president of the student union’s Islamic Society.

That society last month attracted criticism after allowing Abu Usama, who previously preached that homosexuals and opponents of Islam should be killed, to speak on campus. The university called off the event after protests.

Abdulmutallab, 23, is at the centre of a major terror investigation on both sides of the Atlantic after allegedly attempting to detonate a powdery substance on a flight from Amsterdam as it prepared to land in Detroit with 278 people on board on Christmas Day.

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