On one of our summer international trips with friends, the unthinkable happened. My husband and I were walking through an airport in a country that shall remain nameless, when he dropped his passport. As he picked it up, I said, “Give it to me. I will hold it for you. “He said, “That’s okay.” That turned out to be one of the best decisions that he could have ever made.
A few minutes later, we saw a man being dragged by airport personnel. It was evident that he had done something wrong, judging by their facial expressions and their movements. The passenger was strongly resisting them, so they had to be aggressive in taking him in to be questioned.
As we were riding on the airport shuttle to the aircraft a short time later, we observed the men with that same passenger through a glass tunnel. No one said a word but the passengers on the bus could not help but see them. Very shortly after that, the police approached our bus and spoke to the driver through his side window. He opened the side rear door and three police officers entered the bus. One of the men said in a loud voice, “Who just took a picture?” No one answered. He repeated the question loudly. Imagine my horror and dismay when I heard my husband’s voice say “I did.” He was
behind me so I had not seen him taking a picture. They told him, “Come with us.” As he left with them, I began screaming, “My husband! My husband! My husband!” Our friends tried unsuccessfully to comfort me as the bus driver drove away. I then yelled, “STOP! STOP!” He turned around to return but by then the group was out of sight. As we exited the bus at the next terminal to find our gate, I was beyond inconsolable and reason. I was also glad that he had kept his own passport as without it, he would have been in worse trouble. Some other Americans who had been on our shuttle also tried to comfort me, and they actually stayed with my friends and me for about an hour until they had to go to their gate for their flight home. This is how Americans act when they see their fellow countrymen in a difficult situation abroad. Although I failed to get their names and where they lived, I will always remember their kindness and empathy for my situation.
Only one of my friends and I could speak the language of that country and we tried to speak to airline representatives about my husband’s situation. They made some calls and then told us after an agonizing period of time, that he was alright and was being questioned. Finally, they said that he would be released in a matter of minutes. At this point, naturally, my stomach was in knots. I was not only worried, but upset and praying as hard as I could. On top of that, I was also angry with him! When we were given the okay to head to our gate for the flight home, they told me that he would be escorted to the gate to speed up the process. However, by the time he finally arrived, our friends had boarded the aircraft reluctantly as they did not want to leave me possibly stranded in a foreign country in the event something else went wrong. The airline gate person allowed us to board as they had been apprised of the situation.
When we finally got on the aircraft, I tried to be civil to him so as not to further upset him, but believe me, I was seething inside. He told me how he had explained that he was only taking a picture of a plane that happened to be in proximity to the tunnel. He told them that he had not taken anything but the airplane because apparently they thought he was capturing the passenger being taken in for questioning.
This has taught him not to take pictures inside of an airport or of planes on the field. His innocent action could have resulted in him being arrested and kept indefinitely in a country far from home.