Three men were removed from an Alaska Airlines plane after a flight attendant reported their Orthodox Jewish prayer ritual as a possible security threat.

Alaska Flight 241, bound from Mexico City to Los Angeles International Airport, was met by police, fire crews, foam trucks, and FBI and TSA agents after a flight attendant called ahead with a security alert after the passengers began praying.

The three men, identified as Mexican nationals, were praying in Hebrew and wearing tefillin, small boxe with leather straps that wrap around the arm and forehead.

The men were escorted off the plane and questioned by the FBI before they were released to make connecting flights to their destinations.

Earlier last year, a US Airways regional jet from LaGuardia to Louisville was diverted to Philadelphia when a teenager was spotted using tefillin while praying in flight.

By Sarika Chawla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related links: AOL Travel, NY Daily News, Jerusalem Post

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