He said he would “fly the plane”, but the prank went very wrong

It was a “joke” between seven British friends who were traveling to Spain in the summer of 2022. With this topic, Aditya Vermaa twenty-year-old accused of public disorder assured that he never intended to create social alarm when he sent the message “on the way to fly the plane (I am a member of the Taliban)”, which turned out to be a false bomb threat.

The young Briton sat on the bench of the national court in Spain on Monday, accused of a crime of public disorder for which the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a fine of 22,500 euros and compensation of 94,782 euros from the Ministry of Defence. for the costs of a Spanish Air Force Eurofighter fighter that was to be deployed to escort the plane, which held 142 passengers.

This happened on July 3, 2022, when the defendant sent through a Snapchat group that message together with a photograph, which was captured by the United Kingdom security services while the plane was flying over French airspace and which, after informed the Spanish authorities, caused a Eurofighter to end up escorting the plane due to a bomb threat.

The defendant acknowledged sending the message, but said he sent it to a private group of seven friends he had known for years.

Sorry

It was, he explained, a “joke” that had been played on him since his school days due to his “physical characteristics”, due to the fact that he had darker skin, and he assured that he knew that the Taliban group has the terrorist status, but what It was never intended to cause social alarm or fear among passengers because it was sent to a private group.

“It was just a bad joke. At school, many times, because of our features and the color of our skin, we were used to facing this type of prank”, later said one of the friends who was traveling with him and who said that the message it was not shared by any member of the group because otherwise they would have received a notification.

According to this witness’s theory, perhaps One of the friends was connected to the London airport Wi-Fi network and that is why it was possible to locate that image.. The defendant denied using that network.

Both friends also added that when they saw the fighter escorting the plane they thought it was military maneuvers due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The “joke” argument did not convince either the Public Prosecutor or the Public Prosecutor’s Office, who maintained their accusations.

The Prosecutor’s Office believes that the fact that it was stated that it was a “practical joke” implies that the accused “knew what he was doing” and that the reference to the Taliban in his message “creates fear” and social alarm which punishes the crime for the one who accuses him.

His lawyer, however, argued that this crime does not exist when there is “imprudence” and that jurisprudence requires that the threat be “credible”. which didn’t happen because his five friends got on the plane with him.

He denied that his client had intended to mobilize the emergency services and highlighted “the context” in which they found themselves: a group of friends who had just finished high school, “just turned 18” and after two years of restrictions due to the COVID Pandemic, who were going on holiday to Spain, but ended up in detention.

“It was a joke in a purely private context”, reiterated the lawyer.

The trial remained in the final sentencing phase.