An Indian man was kicked from a Mumbai-bound plane after he joked about being a "terrorist" while on-board.
Yogvedant Poddar reportedly covered half of his face with a garment that he had to hand and photographed himself wearing it, writing in the photo's caption: "terrorist on flight, I destroy woman's hearts."
The rather distasteful gag was noticed by a fellow passenger, who saw the photo and alerted the cabin crew about a possible impending terrorism attack on the Jet Airways flight.
#Kolkata: #JetAirways passenger, who was speaking on phone and threatening to blow up the plane; arrested at Kolkata airport https://t.co/SbVSlABYCx
— Catch News (@CatchNews) 26 November 2018
A senior Indian security official is quoted by the Times of India as saying that, "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 on his phone."
India's Central Industrial Security Force was subsequently informed and the 21-year-old Mr Poddar was immediately removed from the flight to face interrogation.
In a statement, airport officials said they detained Mr Poddar, who is in his 20s, for "mischievous activity on board" as he was found using language "which was inferred as a security threat".
#JetAirways passenger deplaned, arrested over terror threat https://t.co/gI0Qsaj6Im
— The English Post (@thenglishpost) 26 November 2018
While this latest incident turned out to be a false alarm, it joins a string of others recently that have frustrated India's airline industry.
READ MORE: OMG: Jet Airways Forgets to Maintain Cabin Pressure, Travelers Bleed
According to Fox News, a man was charged in March 2018 with making a bomb threat to airport authorities. Vinod Moorjani, the CEO of a US-based computing company, says that he was enquiring via telephone about his flight from Bombay to Delhi, asking specifically about the "Bom-Del flight status." The authorities however accused him of saying "bomb hai" meaning "there is a bomb." Officials said that Mr Moorjani made the call after becoming frustrated with his flight delay, and decided to threaten them out of anger. Moorjani allegedly denies the allegations.
Some in India, including influential television presenters, have reportedly complained that airport security in the country, and paranoia about terrorism, have led to the authorities cracking down too hard, often on innocent travellers.
READ MORE: Indian Airliner Has Passenger Removed for Trying to Charge Phone Inside Cockpit
