An Indian pilot has been arrested and deported from the US over charges of downloading and watching child pornography, reported The Times of India. The Mumbai based pilot was reportedly handcuffed in front of passengers and deplaned by US law enforcement authorities.
The pilot, who is in his fifties, was working as a first officer with an Indian carrier, operating regularly to the US. He was arrested soon after his flight from New Delhi to San Francisco on Monday, 4 March.
The pilot is alleged to have been under FBI’s an investigation for the past two months for downloading child pornography. Quoting sources, TOI report said his internet usage in hotels during layovers in the US was monitored by the FBI to gather evidence, which has been shared with Indian authorities.
However, a spokesperson for the airline was quoted saying that the pilot was deported over visa issues.
The pilot is said to be arrested by a team of FBI, who were waiting for him to land in US, after crew details were transmitted to the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection the passenger manifest. He was the arrested, his passport was seized, and his US was visa cancelled before he was deported to India.
According to the US federal law, child pornography is any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor and it prohibits “any persons outside of the United States to knowingly produce, receive, transport, ship or distribute child pornography with the intent to import or transmit the visual depiction in the United States.”
(With inputs from The Times of India)
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