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Passenger ejected from Indian flight after Snapchat selfie sparks terror scare

  • The 21-year-old was removed from the Jet Airways flight after being spotted typing the word ‘terrorist’ into his phone
  • Police found no terror link, concluding he meant the message for his friends and posed no threat

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The passenger was removed from the Jet Airways flight after typing ‘terrorist’ into his phone. Photo: Reuters
Agence France-Presse

A passenger was taken off an Indian plane and detained for questioning after he posted a photo of himself on Snapchat alongside the word “terrorist”.

Yogvedant Poddar, 21, was removed from the Jet Airways flight after a passenger spotted him typing “Terrorist on flight, I destroy women’s hearts” into his phone.

The caption accompanied a photo he had taken of himself which showed half of his face covered with a handkerchief, said Kolkata deputy police commissioner Avvaru Ravindranath.

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Irish national Benjamin Plackett was sitting behind Poddar on the Kolkata to Mumbai flight on Monday and alerted the cabin crew as the plane was being prepared for take-off.

The suspect was using the Snapchat app at the time of the incident. Photo: EPA
The suspect was using the Snapchat app at the time of the incident. Photo: EPA
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Poddar was taken off the flight and detained for almost 10 hours before being let go without charge, Ravindranath said.

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