A British man accused of public disorder after joking about blowing up a flight has gone on trial in Spain.
Aditya Verma made the comment on Snapchat on his way to the island of Menorca with friends in July 2022.
The message, sent before Mr Verma departed Gatwick airport, read: “On my way to blow up the plane (I’m a member of the Taliban).” Mr Verma told a Madrid court on Monday: “The intention was never to cause public distress or cause public harm.”
If found guilty, the university student faces a hefty bill for expenses after two Spanish Air Force jets were scrambled.
Mr Verma’s message was picked up by the UK security services who flagged it to Spanish authorities while the easyJet plane was still in the air.
A court in Madrid heard it was assumed the message triggered alarm bells after being picked up via Gatwick’s Wi-Fi network.
Appearing in court on Monday, Mr Verma - who is now studying economics at Bath University - said the message was “a joke in a private group setting”.
“It was just sent to my friends I was travelling with on the day,” he said. Pressed about the purpose of the message, Mr Verma said: “Since school, it’s been a joke because of my features… It was just to make people laugh.”
So no one involved in the private Snapchat message reported this to Spanish authorities, the UK government intercepted private communications, read it, and misinterpreted a private joke as real threat.
Just imagine how western media reporting on this if it happened in China.
Love the idea that MI5 or whatever, thinks the first thing a terrorist would so before an attack would be post about it to their friends.
Got this image in my head of some grindbro terrorist posting a selfie in front of a huge pile of people he killed, and being roasted in the comments by his mates 'cos they counted the fingers and clocked it as an AI deepfake.
Kind of reminds me of how some ppl say they got accounts blocked by banks because they put stuff like “isis funding” in the concept when making transactions to friends.
I am sure that plenty of ordinary British citizens are grateful that their tax dollars are going to efforts like this.
After all, the United Kingdom is a democracy. That must mean that one day everybody voted on being monitored.
LMFAO