Someone thought this situation was about to get hairy.
A group of beard aficionados were caught in the crosshairs of the law when people mistook the hirsute group for ISIS members, and called the cops.
But when the terror police arrived, they found the Swedish chapter of the “Bearded Villains” congregated at a remote castle for a photo shoot, excitedly posing with the organization’s black and white flag.
“Yesterday, we had our Bearded Villains photo shoot,” member Andreas Fransson and founder of ratemybeard.se wrote on Facebook.
“In the middle of the shoot, two cops showed up, telling us they got a call from someone saying they drove past and saw about 30 terrorists waving an ISIS flag.”
Fransson said the police “quickly saw that we weren’t terrorists, out in the middle of nowhere, dressed in formal wear, hugging and laughing.”
He admitted that the flag, which depicts white swords crossed on a black background, does resemble the violent cell’s emblem.
“We had a good laugh with the cops, who had to respond to the call,” Fransson wrote.
According to other group members, it is not the first time they have been mistaken for militants.
“Each and every day you hear someone say you are a terrorist,” co-leader and fellow beard enthusiast John Ekeblad told Sweden’s Metro newspaper.
The Bearded Villains was founded in 2014, and its website describes the group as “a brotherhood of elite bearded men from all over the world.”