|
|
Muslims have called on airport police to calm down and to be rational. |
MUMBAI - Relatives of 12 Muslim men arrested from a US Northwest Airlines flight after a midair security alert reacted angrily Friday, August 25, saying the incident happened only because they were Muslims.
"This is happening to us only because we are Muslims," the sister-in-law of Ayub Koslawala, one of the 12 men told CNN-IBN private television network.
The Indian nationals were suspected of attempting an act of violence during the flight, but were due to be released Thursday, a day after their detention, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Kolsawala's father said his son traveled often for his business.
"My son is in the cloth business. He has been to Amsterdam several times because of his business. This is the first time he has been caught. He has nothing to do with terrorists," said Abdul Quadir Suleiman.
The 12 men were arrested by airport police at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, August 23, after the plane, which was bound for Mumbai, turned back because of what the pilot called "behavior of concern" by some of the passengers.
In the western Indian city of Mumbai, where all the men were born, there was anxiety and anger among their families.
"I have been trying his phone, but I can't get through. I have not spoken to him. We have no news about our son," a woman, identified only as the mother of one of the 12 men,.
She said she had been praying ever since she first heard about the detention of her 32-year-old son.
Earlier this month, some of the 150 passengers on board the Monarch Airlines flight demanded that air staff remove two Muslim men after they expressed alarm about their behavior.
The pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers, speaking what was believed to be Arabic and repeatedly checking their watches.
Cabin crew informed Spanish authorities of the passengers' fears and the men were taken off the flight and questioned by police.
The two flew back to Manchester later in the week and were not arrested by British police.
Exchanging Numbers
One Indian passenger who reached Mumbai early Friday, told NDTV news network that the men were exchanging phone numbers, which aroused the pilot's suspicions.
Haarlem prosecution spokesman Ed Hartjes, who said the men were to be released, said the probe focused on the passengers' cellphone conversations and fears that their baggage contained explosives.
The investigation could not conclude that the men intended to commit an act of violence, he said.
The flight phobia aroused after police arrested earlier this month 24 British-born Muslims, mainly of Pakistani origin, under suspicion of planning to blow up airliners bound for the United States with liquid explosives disguised as drinks.
Eleven have since been charged.
British Muslims have reacted angrily at government plans to single out passengers at airports for security checks based on ethnicity and religion, saying that such a "terror profile" mounted to racism.
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Ali Desai, one of Britain's top Muslim police officers, has said that he feared the xenophobia could lead to a new offence in Britain called "traveling whilst Asian."
|
