This article was originally published in English
The young man, accused of public disorder, defended himself before the Spanish justice system by stating that it was “a joke”.
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In the summer of 2022, Aditya V. was about to board a flight to the Spanish island of Menorca at London’s Gatwick Airport. Shortly before boarding, the young Briton decided to send photos of the check-in area to seven friends via the social network Snapchat. The images included a phrase he wrote himself: “I’m going 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 supposed to land on the Spanish island. The Ministry of Defense sent a Eurofighter to escort the plane, believing the passenger was a terrorist.
On Monday the young man defended himself before the Spanish National Court, accused of public disorder and facing a lawsuit from the Spanish Ministry of Defense which asks him to pay the bill of 94.782,47 euro corresponding to the dispatch of the Eurofighter**.**
“It was a joke”, he defended himself before the judge, explaining that he had done it because his friends “always made fun of him for his Pakistani features”.
According to El Español, the young man explained that he had seen the Eurofighter from the window of the plane, but that he never thought it was because of the message he had sent, thinking it was an exercise for the war in Ukraine.
With the help of an interpreter, the young man was able to tell his side of the story. He insisted that he would never have thought that scherzo would have such serious consequences and that he had only shared the photo with his group of friends.
The problem was that one of his friends was connected to the airport’s public Wi-Fi, and the photo ended up in the hands of the British secret services.
2024-01-24 10:55:44
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