England cricketer Moeen Ali stopped at Birmingham airport

LONDON: England cricketer Moeen Ali was stopped at the Birmingham airport on Saturday for almost an hour while he was on his way to join his Worcestershire side for a County game.

In messages posted on Twitter, the 28-year-old bearded Muslim sportsman said he had never been stopped at the airport while travelling with the England squad.

In Twitter messages exchanged with is British actor Adil Ray, Ali said he was apparently stopped due to airport rules and regulations for buying more than £390 worth of presents for his family.

"Apparently can't buy gifts for the family that's more then £390," he said in a reply to Ray.

Twitter exploded after Ali's reported mistreatment at the airport, with several friends and fans sympathizing with the Muslim cricketer, but some responding with rather insensitive replies to the tweets.

Former England batsman Owais Shah said the sad reality of the situation was that Moeen's beard probably prompted airport officials to stop him.

Some even went to the extent to suggest that airport authorities shouldn’t be blamed because the Muslim cricketer's beard makes him look like an 'ISIS terrorist'.

In response, another follower tweeted a photo of Moeen alongside pictures of the beardless perpetrators of the Brussels bombings.

There was no official comment from airport authorities on the incident at the time of publishing of this article.

It is worth noting that Moeen was born in Birmingham, the same city where he was detained. Over the years, he has been a stalwart of domestic cricket in the country, representing the England side in all three formats in international cricket.