The young man accused of disturbing public order defended himself before the Spanish National Court by claiming that it was a simple joke.
In the summer of 2022, Aditya V. is preparing to take a flight to the Spanish island of Menorca at London’s Gatwick Airport.
Just before boarding, the young Briton decided to send photos of the check-in area to seven of his friends via the social network Snapchat. On the images is a sentence that he himself wrote: “On my way to blow up the plane, I’m a member of the Taliban“.
British intelligence discovered the message when the plane was already flying over France and decided to alert Spain, as the flight was due to land on the Spanish island.
The defense ministry sent two Eurofighter jets to escort the plane, believing the passenger was a terrorist.
On Monday, the young man defended himself before the Spanish National Court. He is accused of disturbing public orderand sued by the Spanish Ministry of Defense, which is demanding payment of the €94,782.47 it cost to send the Eurofighters.
“It was a joke“, he defended himself before the judge, explaining that he had done it because his friends”always made fun of him because of his Pakistani features“.
According to El Español, the young man explained that he could see a jet from the plane window, but thathe never thought he was there because of the message he sent, but that it was simply a training exercise for the war in Ukraine.
With the help of an interpreter, the young man was able to give his version of the facts. He insisted he never thought the prank would go this far and had only shared the photo with his group of friends.
The problem is that one of his friends was connected to the airport’s public Wi-Fi, so the photo ended up in the hands of the British secret service.
The prosecutor asked the young man: “Have you ever thought that your message could be scary?“.
The Spanish penal code states that any person who “falsely simulates a situation of danger to the community“requiring the intervention of the police or emergency services” will be punished.
Following Monday’s testimony, the verdict should be delivered in the coming days.
