Almost mistaken for a Terrorist!

I remember narrowly missing the chaos at Heathrow and other UK airports as a result of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot to blow up planes flying from Heathrow; the incident actually led to the arrest of 25 people from their homes in Britain. Two days after I arrived in London through Heathrow security measures got beefed up and several high level pronouncements by US and UK government officials only increased travellers’ frustration.

Two weeks into my vacation I was in Chorlton, Manchester, when four men were arrested in that city in connection with the Cheetham Hill terrorism and charged with financing terrorism. Unknown to me two months before my visit this year the threat level in the UK had been raised to ‘critical,’ the highest of five possible levels, connoting an imminent terrorist attack, though by July 4 the threat threshold dropped to ‘severe.’ But that still meant that an attack was not fictional.

You get more worried when an Al-Qaeda leader boasts that his group will not only attack British targets, but that “those who cure you will kill you.” About 90,000 of doctors in the UK trained overseas, 2,000 of them from Iraq. While it is generally believed that networks linked to AQ (Al-Qaeda) Core pose the greatest threat to the UK, recent findings, however, posit that the potential threat from other areas, particularly AQI (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) is equally high.

My decision not to travel by air to Glasgow in September 2007 was actually informed by the June 30 incident during which a dark green Cherokee SUV was driven into the glass doors of the main terminal of Glasgow International Airport, and burst into flames. It was then discovered that a suspected car bomb failed to detonate. By July 3 eight people aged between 25 and 27 had been arrested. One of the arrests was actually made in Australia, while the rest happened in the UK.

Six of those arrested are believed to be medical doctors or medical students and the wife of one those arrested used to work as a laboratory technician. It is not surprising therefore that medical staff in the UK have now come under intense scrutiny as a result of this incident and other similar ones. I was quick to notice the obviously increased policing in the UK this time, e.g. patrols became regular at Canary Wharf, reputed for hosting some of the World’s largest banks, police were ordered to take their ‘stop and searches’ to the next level and there were armed police at airports and railway stations. Also cars no longer approached airport terminals but were directed to outlying car parks.

I needed to spend the night of Saturday, September 22 in the home of a friend whose wife was still recuperating from a successful Caesarean operation in some hospital situated in Brentford. But it was crucial that I visited Bermondsey, Thamesmead and Catford same day and by bus! A traffic chaos at the Greenwich City Centre spoilt my timing as our bus route was literally cordoned off by the police; I suspected terrorism threat but too upset to inquire from anyone.

When I returned to my Bromley base at 10.00 p.m. my host and wife worried about my resolve to still spend the night in West London. As I approached the train station at Bromley South I noticed a heavy police presence there. I was not surprised therefore when two female officers approached me under the guise of ‘terrorist search.’ In my mind I exclaimed “terrorist ke!”

Perhaps disappointed that my luggage contained no bomb, one of them produced a notepad in which she chose to record my answers to her queries. I was amused at her colleague’s relay of their findings in a coded language probably to their headquarters; but I had to wait for about five minutes for them to receive instructions to return my Nigeria work ID card to me and ‘clear’ me. I had handed it to them so as to enable them spell my names correctly.

Despite the tendered apologies for wasting my time and expression of gladness that I was not missing my Victoria-bound train after all, I did not deceive myself that they did not already have information such as when I arrived, when I was billed to leave, who my host was, etc. So I prayed to God that nothing should prevent my flight from leaving on the day I intended. Of course I knew better than to argue with the police- I quickly remembered the July 2005 case when the Metropolitan Police tracked Jean Charles Menezes onto a train and shot him seven times in the head at close range because they thought he was a suicide bomber.

I felt great at the thought of reuniting with my family on departure day after 30 days! I could not be bothered by what looked like a ‘virtual tripwire’ as we checked in at Gatwick. It is a technology known as ‘Video Analytics,’ whereby computers are used to monitor CCTV images and if predetermined situations are detected, the computers automatically alert the security personnel. I am not a terrorist and will never be!

Considering that between 2003 and February this year alone there were 14 cases in the UK where the Terrorism Acts were invoked (or which the authorities alleged were terrorist in nature at the time), my ‘tour’ of Aldermaston, where the country’s nuclear plant is situated, in company of my wife’s cousin on our way to Reading, only elicited my empathy.

I cannot but pray for the UK in its fight against terrorism.