UK mulls profiling of Muslim air passengers

But the plan -- similar to a system operated by Israeli airline El Al -- was immediately condemned by one of Britain's most senior Muslim police officers, who said that it could lead to a new offence of "travelling whilst Asian".

The head of the main Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) umbrella group also said it could hamper the anti-terrorism effort, leading to a "backlash", especially from increasingly marginalised young British Muslims.

According to The Times, the Department for Transport (DfT) was considering a system to single out people behaving suspiciously, who have an unusual travel pattern, or a certain ethnic or religious background.