British-Indian student acquitted of joking about plane being blown up by ‘Taliban’

London (Uttam Hindu News): A British-Indian student has been acquitted of causing public disorder by sending a message claiming to be a member of the Taliban and blowing up a plane.

Aditya Verma, an economics student at the University of Bath, was visiting the island of Menorca with friends in July 2022, during which he commented on Snapchat claiming that he was a member of the Taliban.

The message sent by Verma before taking off from Gatwick Airport said that I was going to fly the plane and that I was a member of the Taliban.

In a trial held at Madrid’s National Court, a Madrid judge ruled on Friday that “no explosives were found in the case… that would lead one to believe it was a real threat,” the BBC reports.

A Madrid court hearing was told that the messages were intercepted by the British security service on Gatwick’s Wi-Fi network and Spanish authorities were alerted. After which two Spanish F-18 fighter planes were sent behind the plane on which Aditya Verma was travelling.

A Gatwick Airport spokesperson told BBC News that its Wi-Fi network does not have that capability, and even Snapchat, an encrypted app, declined to comment on the matter.

The judge’s motion states that the message, for unknown reasons, was intercepted by England’s security apparatus while the plane was flying in French airspace.”

Verma, who was 18 at the time of the incident, was arrested and kept in police custody for two days and later released on bail.

In the UK, he was interrogated by the British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6, before returning to his home in Orpington, Kent.

Appearing in the court on Monday, Aditya said the message was sent as a joke in a private group and was never intended to create public distress or cause harm.

The BBC report quoted Aditya as saying, “It was just sent to my friends with whom I was traveling that day… Since school, it has been a joke because of my features… It was just sent to people It was meant to make you laugh.”

If Aditya is found guilty, he could be fined up to 22,500 euros (19,300 pounds) and an additional 95,000 euros to cover the cost of the jets.