These days, are you really travelling by air if you haven’t checked in on Facebook or posted an in-flight picture on Snapchat or Instagram? But folks, you really gotta be careful of what you post. Because a little too dark humour or wit can land you in trouble with the authorities, as this passenger on a Jet Airways flight from Kolkata found out to his detriment.
A passenger named Yogvedanta Poddar was arrested from aboard a Jet Airways in Kolkata after a photo he was posting on social media alarmed a fellow passenger and flight crew.
The 21-year-old had boarded the Jet Airways 9W 472 flight from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport on Monday morning with a few friends. A resident of Salt Lake, Northeast Kolkata, he was headed to Mumbai for an interview.
According to TOI, once in the flight, Poddar was seen by a fellow passenger covering his face weirdly and then texting a suspicious image with the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘destroy’. The suspicious passenger alerted a cabin crew member, who informed the pilot.
Upon receiving the tip off from the pilot, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) alerted The Central Industrial Security Force, who then arrested Poddar and deplaned him.
The plane’s take off was aborted and it returned to Kolkata Airport. Poddar’s luggage was also checked but was found to be clean.
It turned out that Poddar was merely fooling around with his friends. The picture was Of his own face, covered with a kerchief, and captioned “Terrorist on flight. I destroy women’s hearts.”