An Indian pilot was arrested and deported to India after US law enforcement authorities charged him for downloading child pornography. The pilot is a first officer of an Indian flight carrier and makes frequent trips to the United States.
The incident occurred on March 4, Monday, after the pilot flew the plane from New Delhi to San Francisco. The authorities had entered the plane and handcuffed him in front of the passengers, reports Times of India. The authorities came to know of the pilot's arrival to the United States since flights travelling to the United States are required to give the passenger manifest and all details regarding the crew to the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
While the spokespersons for the airline said that the pilot, who is well into his 50s, was arrested due to visa issues, many sources said that he was arrested due to the downloading of child pornography.
"FBI agents must have waited for him to re-enter the US. He was arrested, his passport seized, his US visa cancelled. He was then put back on a flight to Delhi and deported from the US," a source said was quoted as saying by TOI.
Another source said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had its eye on the pilot for over two months after many records emerged of him accessing and downloading child pornography using the internet in the hotels he was staying in. "The FBI has apparently sent a sealed dossier with the evidence to Indian authorities," the source said.
It is a well-known fact that the United States authorities do not take child pornography lightly. The law has banned "any persons outside of the United States to knowingly produce, receive, transport, ship, or distribute child pornography with intent to import or transmit the visual depiction into the United States".
According to the report, the source said that the pilot will never be able to enter the United States again.
