New Delhi: The Spanish government is suing a British man of Indian origin for sending a message to his friends on Snapchat that he would blow up an aircraft because he “was a member of the Taliban”.
The student, Aditya Verma, who sent the message in July 2022 before boarding a flight to Spain, is facing trial in Spain.
The country took Verma to court based on an alert by UK authorities, following which its air force had scrambled two F-18 fighter jets.
According to a BBC report, Verma is not facing terrorism charges or a possible jail term, but could be fined up to €22,500 (£19,300) if found guilty and the Spanish defence ministry was demanding €95,000 in expenses.
The verdict is likely to come in the next few days.
In July 2022, Verma made the comment on social media platform Snapchat while on his way to the Spanish island of Menorca with his friends.
The message Verma sent before departing Gatwick read, “On my way to blow up the plane (I’m a member of the Taliban).”
The message was picked up by UK security services who flagged it to its Spanish counterparts while the EasyJet flight was still airborne.
Spain immediately deployed two fighter jets, which escorted the plane until it landed in Menorca, the BBC said.
At the time the jets were rushed off, the EasyJet pilot made an announcement about it to his passengers, saying a distress signal had been sent “by mistake”.
Verma was 18 years old in 2022, when he was arrested and kept in police custody for two days. He was later released on bail. After returning to the UK, he was questioned by the British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6.
While appearing before a Madrid court Monday, Verma said his “intention was never to cause public distress or cause public harm”.
He further said the message was “a joke in a private group setting”, according to the BBC, which quoted the student as telling the court that it was sent to his friends who were travelling with him on that day.
Asked about the “purpose of the message”, Verma said it had been a joke since school “because of his features”.
Asked by the court what he thought about the fighter jets taking off, Verma said he believed it was a “military exercise” related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
According to a BBC report, police experts told the court they had combed Verma’s phone and did not find anything that linked Verma to jihadist radicalism.
They, however, said he had researched clashes between Pakistan and India and the possibilities of an Islamic State attack in the region.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Russia says 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed in plane crash, lawmaker claims Kyiv ‘shot it down’