At the first stage of check-in, I showed my ticket. Then there was a check point as you were going in. Your bags had to be x-rayed, then you would go into a small room where you would be searched and declare everything.

When I got to that point, I kept thinking what I would say or do. Should I put some money, maybe a thousand dollars, in my pocket and tell the person to please help me and take the money? But suppose it doesn’t work? I kept thinking to myself. I was in the queue and as I got to the front I stepped out and went to the back again, to give myself more time to think. I did that twice, and then I decided to go to the washroom.

I took a thousand or two thousand dollars out and put it in my shirt pocket. The rest I left in the envelope inside my briefcase. I went back in line. People were moving in. Something happened, and just like that, in a split second, I decided to take a chance with very high risk. As a person in front of me entered, someone came running up to the man checking people in.

The man stepped out. The two of them talked. They kept talking, so what I did, with my briefcase in my hands, I walked past this space of about two meters between the x-ray machines. I decided to walk between the machines and the room where people were being searched.

I was expecting someone to call me and say, ‘Where are you going? Come back!’ If someone followed me I was going to use the money and say, ‘How about making a deal?’ But the two of them were in a very intense discussion. I made it through, and got to the place where passengers were waiting for my flight.

While I was there, I saw a pastor putting on his collar. He was talking to the lady next to him in the Ugandan language. He said they had been sitting there too long, and then he said, ‘Haven’t they found that person they were looking for?’ So I was curious.

I asked the pastor why we were waiting so long, what was happening. He told me that fellows from Ethiopian Airlines were running around and that the flight was being delayed. When he asked why, one of those fellows said they were looking for somebody dangerous.