Spanish border officer attacked us at airport, say grandparents
A BRITISH couple claim they were assaulted by a passport control officer as they passed through a Spanish airport after a family holiday.
Sarah Mensah, 55, said she was pushed up against a wall by the officer and her husband Frankie, 43, claims he was attacked while trying to defend her.
The couple were with their son and his fiancée, and the younger couple’s three-year-old twins, at Alicante airport, where they were catching a Ryanair flight to Stansted, last Tuesday.
Mrs Mensah, a physical therapist, and her husband, a senior TV producer, from Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, say they have no idea why the officer attacked Sarah and are angry at Ryanair staff, who they say did nothing to help them. Mrs Mensah was the last of the family to pass through and the officer started shouting “Open, open, open” at her.
“I had my passport open on the page with the picture, as I always do, so I didn’t know why he was shouting that,” she said. The officer stamped the passport but Mrs Mensah said he then “flew out of the cabin, got hold of me and started shouting in Spanish”.
When Mr Mensah tried to intervene, he said, he was shoved and the officer moved to draw his baton. The officer then demanded he hand over their passports, which he had already stamped.
In his complaint to Ryanair, Mr Mensah wrote: “He kept pointing to his police badge and saying he is the law.” He also asked the airline to check if there was any footage of the incident.
But the airline only replied to refer the couple back to the airport, saying it was not responsible for the officer.
Mr Mensah said: “I would like an apology from Ryanair and from the airport. A passport control officer should not be behaving like that.”
The family are mystified as to what provoked the attack. “There is no logical explanation,” Mr Mensah wrote in his complaint.
Ryanair and Alicante airport were approached for comment.