The man who sung I’m Gonna Get Me a Gun may want to rethink:
A plane bound for Washington from London was diverted to Maine after passenger Yusuf Islam – formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens – showed up on a US watch list, federal officials said.United Airlines Flight 919 had already taken off from London en route to Dulles International Airport yesterday when the match was made between the passenger and the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.The plane was met by federal agents at Maine’s Bangor International Airport around 3pm, Melendez said.Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the individual as Islam. He was travelling with his daughter.Passengers, including British pop veterans Marillion, were at first told the diversion was due to refuelling and eventually arrived in Washington six hours late.Islam, who was denied access to Israel four years ago, was detained and questioned, the TSA said. His 21-year-old daughter was allowed into the US.A TSA spokeswoman said he was refused entry under the Immigration and Naturalisation Act “based on national security grounds”.
But the real story here, which seems to have been missed by all and sundry, is the involvement in this incident of another singer (if you could call him that):
The spokeswoman added: “ICE and the FBI were notified and they did interview the subject who was travelling with his 21-year-old daughter.”
This might explain why he has dropped out of view for the past 15 years.
