Daughter of Korean Air chairman arrested over ‘nut rage’, amid accusations of airline cover up

South Korean prosecutors have arrested the former Korean Air Lines executive who delayed a plane because her macadamia nuts were not served the way she wanted, officials said, as they accused her of endangering flight safety.

Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of the airline’s chairman, has faced mounting public anger because she forced the December 5 flight to return to its gate in New York to remove a senior flight attendant. She was angry that the nuts were served in a bag, not on a plate, in an incident that has been dubbed “nut rage.”

Prosecutors have yet to press criminal charges against Cho, but South Korean law allows authorities to arrest a suspect for up to six months over worries the person could flee or destroy evidence. Seoul Western District Court said such concerns were warranted.

Cho was arrested and put to a Seoul detention facility shortly after the court approved her arrest warrant on Tuesday night, according to officials at the Seoul Western Prosecutors’ Office. A current Korean Air executive, surnamed Yeo, was also arrested Tuesday for allegedly pressuring Korean Air employees to conceal the incident, the officials said.

The court said there were “systematic attempts to cover up” Cho’s actions “since the beginning of the incident.”

The prosecutors’ office has said Cho would face several charges, including inflight violence and changing a flight route, which is prohibited under aviation law.