Man removed from UK flight over 'prayer' message on phone

A British man was removed from a
plane by armed police at Luton airport
after a fellow passenger read a message
on his mobile phone about “prayer” and
reported him as a security threat.
Laolu Opebiyi, 40, from London, said he
was forced to hand over his phone and
supply his password in order to
establish his innocence after he tried to
arrange a conference call prayer with
friends using WhatsApp.
A detective subsequently questioned and
cleared Opebiyi but the pilot refused to
allow him back on to the easyJet flight
to Amsterdam last Thursday and he was
forced to wait more than three hours for
the next scheduled departure.
The Nigerian-born Christian believes
the passenger next to him assumed he
was a Muslim and jumped to the
conclusion that he may be a terrorist.
“That guy doesn’t know me and within
two minutes he’s judging me,” 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, a business analyst, said that as
they awaited the plane’s 6.45am
departure, his fellow passenger asked
him: “What do you mean by ‘prayer’?”
Taken aback that he had been reading
over his shoulder, Opebiyi explained
that he was arranging to pray with
friends.
About two minutes later, the male
passenger went to the front of the plane
and began a conversation with the
cabin crew, Opebiyi said. The man was
taken to the door of the cockpit and
returned 15 minutes later, telling
Opebiyi that he was getting off the
plane because he felt unwell. A few
minutes later, two armed officers
entered the plane. They asked Opebiyi
for his phone and told him to remove
his belongings and accompany them off
the plane and into the terminal
building.
After an officer confirmed that he was
being questioned because of what
happened with the other passenger,
Opebiyi explained that he was a
Christian, showing them a copy of the
Bible in his bag. “They asked me which
church I attend and how long I have
been going there,” he said. “They also
ask if I have ever thought about
changing my religion to which I replied
‘no’.”
They also asked him about the name of
the conference call prayer group, which
was “ISI men” – an acronym for “iron
sharpens iron”, from the Bible quote
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person
sharpens another”. The Guardian
understands that the passenger who
reported Opebiyi may have misread this
as “ Isis ”.
An officer eventually told Opebiyi that
he was in the clear but that the pilot
had said he should take another flight.
He suffered further humiliation when
an officer accompanied him to the
easyJet desk to help him get on the next
flight and seven other passengers from
the 6.45am flight, who had left the
plane because of security fears, also
joined the queue.
Opebiyi said one of them spotted him
and said: “If he is on the next flight, I
am not getting on the flight.” He said
the officer took the female passenger
aside and explained the situation.
Before Opebiyi boarded the 10.25am
flight, the officer shook his hand and
expressed sympathy for his ordeal, he
said.
But he now fears he is on a terrorist
watchlist because when he returned the
next day from his business trip, the
electronic passport gate did not let him
through and he had to speak to an
immigration officer before proceeding.
“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 United Kingdom,” he said.
A Bedfordshire police spokeswoman
confirmed that its officers removed an
individual from the flight but “were
satisfied that there was no concern
around the passenger travelling”.
An easyJet 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.”