Officials asked him to cover face, Sabeel said I have to face people

Clad in a white kurta pyjama, carrying a plastic cover and a single suitcase, Sabeel appeared nervous and relieved at the same time. Intelligence officials tried to ask him a few questions. The doctor, whose older brother Kafeel Ahmed, an engineer and Ph.D student in the UK, died following an attempted attack on the Glasgow airport in June last year, said he was tired and perturbed and keen to meet his mother.

Anticipating trouble outside the airport, some security officials asked him to cover his face while stepping out. “Your mother is anxious for your safety, she has suggested you disguise yourself,” said one official, pulling out a prayer cap from his pocket.

“I have nothing to hide. I don’t want to cover myself. It’s okay if people recognise me. I don’t have to hide. I have to face them anyway,” replied Sabeel, insisting that he wanted to step out of the airport exactly the way he had arrived.

Sabeel also refused to answer questions about whether he knew where Kafeel was laid to rest. “I heard some of you even went to graveyards here,” he said, in reference to reported visits by the media to a graveyard in Bangalore after hearing that Kafeel’s remains were brought home by family friends.

Once outside the airport, Sabeel was rushed into the family car and joined his visibly excited mother in the back seat. They exchanged a short traditional greeting thanking God before the car sped away.

Family members later declared Sabeel’s return home as an overwhelming experience. His father, Dr Maqbool Ahmed, who suffers from Alzheimers’ “was well enough to recognise and welcome his son,” they said.

Earlier, a London court sentenced Sabeel to 18 months in jail for withholding prior information about the UK Terror plot. However, he...