British-born Nigerian man removed from UK flight by armed police over 'prayer' message on his phone
Laolu Opebiyi was using WhatsApp to
arrange a
conference call prayer session with friends, as the Amsterdam-bound
flight was waiting to take off at Luton airport on Thursday February 25
when a passenger next to him questioned him about message that included
the word 'prayer' asking "What do you mean by prayer?"
The
40-year-old Nigerian-born business analyst from London explained
to the passenger that he was preparing to pray with friends. Few
minutes later, he was pulled off the flight by two firearms officers. It
is thought the man misread the name of Mr Opebiyi's prayer group
“ISI men” – which stands for "iron sharpens iron” from a Bible quote –
as Isis.
Mr Opebiyi told the Guardian: "That guy doesn’t know me and within two minutes
he’s judging me. Even if I was a Muslim, it was pretty unfair the way I
was treated. If we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and
irrational fear, I
dare say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim."
Mr Opebiyi was taken into questioning by police and quizzed about
his Christian faith and where he attends church. He was forced to hand
over his phone and password so officers could check his communication.
He was eventually freed and allowed to catch another flight about three hours later.
Seven other passengers reportedly got off the flight fearing a terror threat and also took the next plane, Guardian reports.
A spokeswoman for Bedfordshire Police said: "Officers attended and a
passenger was removed from the flight as part of the enquiries. Officers
notified easyJet that they were satisfied that there was no concern
around the passenger travelling."
A spokeswoman for easyJet who apologised over the
incident said: "Easyjet can confirm that following concerns raised by
passengers, the captain of flight EZY2151 from Luton to Amsterdam
requested the assistance of the authorities who took the decision to
disembark and question the passenger. The safety and security of its
passengers and crew is our highest priority which means that is a
security concern is raised we will always investigate it as a
precautionary measure. After questioning by the authorities, the
passenger was cleared to
complete his journey so easyJet arranged a later easyJet flight for
him. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the
passenger"
The officers
cleared Mr Opebiyi for flight but the pilot refused to let him on and he
was made to wait a further three hours to board the next flight to
Amsterdam. He told the Guardian that he is aftraind that he is on a
terrorist watchlist.
"I stand in uncertainty about my freedom of movement in the UK" he said.
