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An airline passenger whose deportation was dramatically halted by a fellow travellers’ mutiny has been revealed as a gang rapist.

Somalian Yaqub Ahmed, 29, now in a refugee detention centre, was being kicked out of Britain due to his past.

He was being escorted on a Heathrow to Turkey flight but the angry passengers’ intervention forced officials to abandon his transfer.

One was heard to remark on mobile phone footage: “They’re separating him from his family.”

Another could be heard shouting: "You're free, man!"

(Image: MET POLICE)

The officials gave in and escorted him off the Turkish Airlines jet, as he thanked passengers who felt they were doing a good thing.

Now it has been discovered that Ahmed was sentenced to nine years’ jail for his part in the gang rape of a teenage girl – along with three other youths – in North London.

Neighbours heard her cries and alerted police.

All four men denied rape, despite the existence of DNA evidence.

But they were found guilty at Wood Green crown court and each jailed for nine years.

The Victims’ Rights Campaign said: “Sitting deportees in jet passenger areas is wrong and leads to such ill-informed protests.”