Jet Airways passenger’s tweet to PM triggers hijack scare

Jaipur, April 28

Giving vent to your anger on Twitter is nothing new, but tagging the prime minister may not be such a good idea. A Jet Airways passenger learnt it the hard way after his tweet triggered a hijack scare here.

“@narendramodi sir we have been in jet airways flight for past 3 hrs, looks like hijacked, pl help 9W355,” tweeted an annoyed Nitin Verma to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his Delhi-bound plane from Mumbai was diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather on Thursday morning.

Security agencies swung into action after they were promptly alerted about the tweet and Verma was offloaded here from the plane carrying 176 people on board, including eight crew members.

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Soon after the aircraft landed, security agencies carried out a thorough check of the aircraft. The aircraft took off for Delhi without the passenger who had sent the officials and the security agencies into a tizzy with his tweet.

Verma was arrested after questioning on Thursday night. “He has been booked under under IPC Section 505 (statements conducing public mischief),” said SHO Sanganer Shivratan Godara.

In a statement, a Jet Airways spokesperson said a passenger tweeted a message involving a security threat necessitating activation of the security protocol.

“The information was promptly shared with the authorities concerned, including the CISF, and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and local law enforcement agencies in line with standard operating procedures,” he said.

According to the spokesperson, the passenger was subsequently offloaded for questioning by security agencies at Jaipur, owing to diversion of the flight.

Acting director of Jaipur airport MP Bansal told PTI that five Jet Airways flights and one of Oman Air which were to land in Delhi were diverted to Jaipur airport due to inclement weather. PTI