"But they didn't wear burqas in Europe..!"

Kolkata: This was Russian citizen Albi Evoasle Onara's maiden visit to the country. Seems it will be her last. "This is really too much," her husband Asal Becov Artur repeatedly muttered in disgust after the couple was grilled for four hours on their arrival at the airport on Wednesday afternoon.
For Onara, it was sheer humiliation as she was first suspected of being a man disguised as a woman and then interrogated on why she wore a burqa when she was fair!
Onara and Artur boarded a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Kolkata, from where they would fly to Dhaka in the evening. Artur, a 58-year-old carpet trader, had already been to India and Bangladesh seven times. This was the first time he had managed to coax his 51-year-old wife to accompany him for a taste of the Orient. Flight SG 208 took off at 9.55 pm with 123 passengers. Some passengers bought snacks that were on sale but Onara and Artur dug into their own stock of dry fruits. It was this that alarmed a hyper-alert steward. Onara, who was shrouded in a burqa, did not remove the veil while eating or even drinking water. The steward alerted the pilot, giving him a description of a "suspicious person in burqa" with skin "too fair".
The names appeared European, but they didn't wear burqas in Europe, the steward said. The captain agreed.
The plane was over Jam-shedpur when the pilot radioed Kolkata ATC to report "two possible terrorists", and sought clearance for priority security landing.
06/05/10 Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2010, Foreign May 2010, Safety May 2010, spicejet May 2010