A British former child chess prodigy has admitted in court he told his friends before jetting to Spain: ‘On my way to blow up the plane. I’m a member of the Taliban.’
But Aditya Verma insisted today as he went on trial that he was joking with his pals in a private Snapchat group before he was hauled off the flight.
The 20-year-old student said he had ‘no intention’ of mobilising the two Spanish fighter jets sent to escort the packed easyJet plane he and 140 other holidaymakers were on as it neared Menorca along with police and firefighters on the ground.
Indian-born Aditya was 18 when he was arrested after landing on the island on July 3 2022 for a post A-Level exam holiday after finishing at St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington, Kent.
He told the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid: ‘I was called a Taliban at school because of my features and I used to joke about it and I know the Taliban is considered to be a terrorist group.
Aditya Verma, a British former child chess prodigy, has admitted in court he told his friends before jetting to Spain: ‘On my way to blow up the plane. I’m a member of the Taliban’
Aditya Verma insisted today in court (pictured) as he went on trial that he was joking with his pals in a private Snapchat group
Verma appeared in court for the first time on July 5, 2022 in a behind-closed-doors hearing
Spanish F-18 jet fighter, seen through plane window, escorts an Easyjet flight heading from London to the Spanish holiday island of Menorca, after a hoax bomb threat by Verma on July 3, 2022
‘But I didn’t think it was going to cause people on the flight to be afraid because it was sent to a private friends’ group and wasn’t meant for them.’
Aditya, who has represented England at several international chess tournaments and once met legendary player Gary Kasparov, was summoned to stand trial today.
This was after being charged with a public order offence following a long-running behind-closed-doors investigation.
Armed cops hauled Aditya off the easyJet plane in handcuffs when it landed on the island in 2022 and he spent two nights in police custody before going in front of a judge in Mahon.
He was released on £8,600 bail and told he was free to leave Spain but would continue to be investigated by the Audiencia Nacional.
It emerged last week Spanish state prosecutors wanted him to pay €94,782,47 (£81,251) for the cost of scrambling a Eurofighter military jet and a fine of €22,500 (£19,288) if he was found guilty.
Aditya spoke from the dock through a translator and agreed to be questioned by state prosecutor Pedro Rubira as well as his defence lawyer.
He admitted to sending a picture with his ‘bomb joke’ and Taliban comment from a check-in desk at Gatwick Airport, which experts who analysed his phone told the court was shared in a Snapchat group with six other users at 9.47am the day of his arrest and showed him wearing a hat and sunglasses.
Aditya, currently studying economics at Bath University, confessed under cross-examination: ‘I said in the message I sent with the photo before we boarded: ‘On my way to blow up the plane. I’m a member of the Taliban.
‘It was a joke in a private group sent to friends I’d known for eight, nine, ten years mostly and I was messing around with on the day.’
Asked by his defence lawyer Margarita Quintana what he thought when he saw two military jets near his Easyjet aircraft, even though the pre-trial prosecution indictment only mentioned one plane, Aditya replied: ‘Just before that time the Ukraine-Russia war was happening and I thought it was a military exercise related to that conflict.
‘The pilot said the jets had been sent because he had accidentally sent a distress signal in a communication error and it was being fixed.
It emerged last week Spanish state prosecutors wanted Aditya to pay €94,782,47 (£81,251) for the cost of scrambling a Eurofighter military jet and a fine of €22,500 (£19,288) if found guilty
Aditya, who has represented England at several international chess tournaments and once met legendary player Gary Kasparov, was summoned to stand trial today
The chess prodigy (pictured) has won national championships and even came fourth at the world youth championships
‘Me and my friends were held when we landed and put in a room for a couple of hours and after that I was told I was being arrested and taken to a police station.’
The court heard the alert that led to the Spanish fighter jets being mobilised came from the UK’s secret services.
It was not made clear how they obtained the information, although a friend of Aditya’s said the information – including the photo – could have been picked up from Gatwick Airport WiFi servers that one of the friends in the Snapchat group was using.
One of the three analysts who gave evidence, who was not named and referred to only by a reference number, said they did not detect any links to terrorist groups on Aditya’s phone.
He suggested one of the seven Snapchat group members could have made the ‘bomb joke’ and picture public by sharing it with others.
But Aditya’s friend, who was on the same flight to Menorca and gave his name in court as Akash Raf, insisted: ‘If anyone had taken a screenshot or shared the photo with anyone outside of the group we would all have received a message on our phones and we didn’t get anything.’
He added: ‘I’ve known Aditya for years. It was just a light-hearted joke in a friends’ group. I know he’s not a Taliban.’
The state prosecutor revealed in his closing speech at the end of the 90-minute trial that the investigation prompted by the defendant’s ‘hoax’ concluded he was not a ‘dangerous terrorist activist.’
But he claimed Aditya, whose parents Anand and Dipti Prasad accompanied him to court, was guilty of an act of ‘simulation’ which had become public and created danger and would have led to people panicking if he had voiced the words he used on a public street.
He said it was up to the court to decide whether the defendant’s ‘bad joke’ had become public legally or illegally.
The Brit’s defence lawyer said in her emotionally-charged closing speech Aditya’s comments in a ‘private group’ had become public without any judicial authorisation and if anyone should be held responsible for the cost of the Spanish response it should be the British authorities for ‘breaching his right to privacy.’
She added: ‘Aditya didn’t put his message on Facebook or advertise it. What he did was the equivalent of making a joke inside a car with friends.
The eastJet aircraft is seen o the tarmac in 2022
‘Who has the authority to intervene in a joke. If we’re prevented as individuals from enjoying freedom of expression and right to privacy what have we got left.
‘This is not a punishable act. There was no ill-intention. This boy was 18 years old and was beginning a holiday which was a reward for his school excellence and when he and his friends landed in Menorca they realised they were in a nightmare.’
Offered the opportunity of a last address to the court before judge Jose Manuel Fernandez-Prieto retired to consider his verdict which he will release in writing at an unspecified future date, Aditya said: ‘The intention was never to cause harm or distress or mobilise public services.
‘It was not a pre-planned message. I just wanted to go to Spain with my friends to enjoy the nice weather and experience Spanish football and nightlife.’
Verma exclusively told Mail Online when he was back home in Orpington with his parents Anand and Dipti Prasad: ‘It was a moment of madness which I regret and I’m so sorry for the trouble I caused. It was a joke and I didn’t mean anything by it.
‘I’m sorry for ruining my friends’ holiday but it was all just a joke and I didn’t mean to scare anyone on the plane if they were frightened by what happened.
‘I sent the Snapchat message to my friends as we were boarding. It was a joke as we had been saying who was going to be stopped and searched by the security.
‘The message said: ‘I’m going to blow this plane up. I’m a Taliban,’ and now I just wish I hadn’t sent it.
‘It was a stupid thing to do but I thought as it was a private Snapchat just my friends would see it.’