British mum held for nine hours on holiday after being mistaken for terrorist

Updated
British mum held for nine hours on holiday after being mistaken for terrorist
British mum held for nine hours on holiday after being mistaken for terrorist



A British mum was held under armed guard for nine hours on the first day of her holiday in Tunisia after border guards mistook her for an 'IS terrorist' of the same name.

Sally Jones was not allowed to enter Tunisia after guards believed her to be a woman of the same name who is thought to have moved to Syria to join Islamic State fighters.

Sally, 43, a credit controller, was kept under armed guard without food or water after travelling from Manchester to Tunisia for a family holiday.

According to the Manchester Evening News, she said: "The whole experience was extremely traumatic for all of us. It was nearly nine hours they held us for. They told us nothing, gave us no food or drink and were really threatening.

"They just kept telling me Sally Jones had a passport with the same date of birth as me, and that we looked similar. That was the only thing we were told."

Mrs Jones had to explain to her children, Lucy, 13, and Ben, 11, why they had been held up en route to their hotel in Port El Kantaoui.

Her namesake, a former rock singer from Chathan in Kent, is believed to have abandoned her two young children and fled to the IS stronghold of Raqqa after reportedly developing extreme views.

Border guards eventually let the family go after Sally gave them her maiden name, which, she said, "was all information they would have had from the beginning of the day".

According to the Mirror, she added: "We ended up getting on a German coach to the hotel, having missed a whole day of our holiday, not to mention the trauma.

"We were in tears, and so were the kids – who were wondering what the hell was going on and we had to explain it to them."



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