London: Sohail Ashraf and Khurram Zeb, the two 22-year-old Britons of Asian origin who were off boarded a flight to England for looking like terrorists, said they found the experience so unnerving that their first reaction was to laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.
The pair, who according to their co-passengers, were wearing “heavy” leather jackets, and jumpers despite the hot weather, were marched off a Monarch flight from Malaga to Manchester at gunpoint.
“My first reaction was to laugh when I was told I was being taken off the plane. Then I realised they were deadly serious. I can understand why people are so panicked — but just because we are Muslims does not mean we are terrorists,” the Sun quoted Sohail as saying.
The two, both students at Manchester University said they had been on a day trip to the resort, where they spent the day boozing as they checked out Malaga ahead of a proper holiday this year.
Khurram said suspicions grew after an elderly woman heard them speaking in Urdu.
“We were chatting away and she kept looking at us. I tried my best to ignore her but she started asking me questions like where we lived and how long we’d been in Malaga. When I said we’d only gone for the day she got still more suspicious. Then she got up and walked towards the cockpit,” Khurram said.
“After the woman spoke to cabin crew, other passengers began a mutiny and refused to fly unless the students were taken off the plane in the early hours of last Wednesday,” he added.
After their questioning both were put up in a hotel and taken home on a later flight.
However, both couldn’t help bursting into peels of laughter after the drama ended.
“We sat on our beds and Khurram said, ‘You don’t look like a terrorist’. I said, ‘Neither do you’. Then we both collapsed with laughter. I suppose we were a bit hysterical. It all felt very odd. We’d never experienced racism before so it was very unnerving,” said Sohail.
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