Prank Gone Wrong! 21-Year-Old Man Held For Joking About Terrorist Being On Jet Flight
The latest case of a sick terror joke on a flight ¡ª always a bad idea, especially post 9/11 ¡ª played out when about 21-year-old Poddar had boarded Jet Airways¡¯ 9W 472 with four to five friends to fly to Mumbai.
A young resident of Kolkata was deplaned from a Mumbai-bound aircraft at the city¡¯s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport on Monday morning after he ¡®joked¡¯ with friends about terrorists being on the plane.
The latest case of a sick terror joke on a flight ¡ª always a bad idea, especially post 9/11 ¡ª played out when about 21-year-old Poddar had boarded Jet Airways¡¯ 9W 472 with four to five friends to fly to Mumbai.
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¡°After taking his seat, he covered his face with a handkerchief and started sending WhatsApp messages from his phone. A co-passenger sitting next to Poddar got suspicious given his behaviour of covering the face and read the message Poddar was keying in on his phone. One of them read ¡®Terrorist on flight. I destroy women¡¯s hearts¡¯,¡± said a senior security official.
The co-passenger, who was not part of Poddar¡¯s group, informed the cabin crew who in turn informed the pilot. ¡°The pilot told the airline security and the Central Industrial Security Force was informed about Poddar. A CISF team immediately took custody of Poddar and made him get off the aircraft,¡± said the official.
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Poddar¡¯s baggage was also offloaded and re-examined. ¡°The baggage did not have anything suspicious. Poddar said he was joking with his friends. He was handed over to the Kolkata police,¡± said the official.
The Jet flight, which had a scheduled departure time of 9.15 am and had 160 passengers on board, finally took off after a delay of 1 hour and 10 minutes.