A
Nigerian-British man has been left ashamed and frustrated after police
embarrassed him at the airport by removing him from a plane he boarded
because he belonged to a Whatsapp group.
Police repeatedly questioned Mr Opebiyi in the Luton terminal (pictured) about his faith
Armed police removed a Nigerian-British man from an easyJet plane
after a passenger saw a WhatsApp message on his phone about 'prayer' and
feared he was a terrorist, Dailymail reports.
According to the story, a devout christian, Laolu Opebiyi, 40, from
London, was ordered off the flight at Luton Airport and asked if he was
converting to Islam as the 6.45am flight to Amsterdam took off without
him.
It was later discovered that a fellow passenger had been spying on
his phone from over his shoulder and had misread the title of the
Whatsapp group 'Isi men' as 'Isis men', he says.
His accuser then asked him: 'What do you mean by "prayer?"'
before walking towards the cockpit and asking to get off. In the
minutes that followed another six passengers also left the plane in
fear.
As things were unfolding, two armed police officers then arrived
and told Mr Opebiyi to pick up his belongings and get off the plane
too. They then repeatedly questioned him about his faith, which church
he attended in London and whether he was considering converting to
Islam.
He told the Guardian: 'Even if I was a Muslim, it was pretty
unfair the way I was treated. I don't think anyone, irrespective of
their religion should be treated in such a way.
'If we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and irrational
fear, I dare say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim.'
Opebiyi explained to police the WhatsApp group was called 'ISI' because it is short for 'iron sharpens iron' - a Bible passage about prayer which says: 'As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another'.
He was later released. However, he felt shamed as he returned to
the easyJet desk to get to Holland the seven passengers refused to
travel with him.
One said: 'If he is on the next flight, I am not getting on the flight.'
He eventually travelled to Amsterdam on the 10.25am flight - four hours after he was originally due to fly.
Mr Opebiyi now fears he is on a terror watchlist because he was
stopped by officials as he travelled back from Amsterdam the following
day. His passport also failed to work at the electronic departure
gates.
He said: 'Someone felt I was a terrorist because they saw the
word "prayer" on my phone and now I stand in uncertainty about my
freedom of movement in and out of the UK'.
Bedforshire Police, who man the airport, have defended the handling of the case.
A spokesman said they spoke to him and 'were satisfied that there was no concern around the passenger travelling'.
EasyJet apologised today but said they had to investigate.
A spokesman said: 'The safety and security of its passengers
and crew is our highest priority which means that if a security concern
is raised we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure. We
would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passenger'.
0 comments:
Post a Comment