Super bright Aditya Verma, 18, was held after he sent friends he was going on holiday with to the Spanish island of Menorca, a Snapchat saying: ‘I’m going to blow this plane up. I’m a Taliban.’

A chess-playing economics prodigy who was detained following a bomb hoax on a crowded EasyJet flight that required fighter jets to be dispatched to intercept it has returned home and exclusively discussed his “moment of madness” with the MailOnline.

really bright Aditya Verma, 18, was detained after sending a Snapchat message to pals he was traveling with to the Spanish island of Menorca, threatening to blow up the plane. The Taliban, I am.

Their mobile devices picked up the message on the Wi-Fi servers at Gatwick Airport, and the message’s usage of sensitive phrases immediately raised security concerns.

After the plane landed, Spanish police detained Aditya and interrogated him before he could appear in court.

He was held in a police cell for two days before being released late last Friday.

Following his release on an £8,600 bond, the Spanish government informed him that he might leave the country at any time.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, he said: “It was a moment of madness that I regret and I’m so sorry for the trouble I caused.”

He is now back at home in Orpington, Kent, with his relieved parents Anand and Dipti Prasad. I said it as a joke and with no real intent.

It was all a joke, and I didn’t mean to scare anyone on the plane if they were alarmed by what happened, but I’m sorry for ruining my friends’ vacation.

I made a joke in the Snapchat message I sent to my friends as we were boarding about who would be stopped and searched by security.

‘The note read: “This plane is going up in flames. I am an Afghan “I now regret sending it, though.

It was a stupid thing to do, but I justified it by saying that only my friends would have access to the private Snapchat.

But because I was using my phone’s data and they were using Gatwick’s Wi-Fi, the security personnel were alerted to the message.

After the jet touched down in Menorca, he and his fellow classmates from the elite grammar school St. Olave’s were led to a separate area and asked to identify their bags before being led to a nearby police station.

The easyJet flight had already taken off when security personnel at Gatwick, who were cross-referencing passenger lists, discovered Aditya’s name on the route to Menorca on July 3. They immediately notified French and Spanish authorities to the potential threat.

At a cost of £86,000, two Spanish air force F18s were dispatched from a military base in Zaragoza to intercept the plane mid-flight. Dramatic video footage captured on board shows the fighter ‘wiggling’ its wings to the easyJet pilot in accordance with aviation protocol to indicate “follow me.”

The aircraft eventually landed safely in Menorca and taxied to a remote area of the airstrip where sniffer dogs thoroughly searched the aircraft and the luggage of the passengers.

Aditya remarked, “I just knew right away that it was something to do with the message I had given, I could tell I had made a terrible mistake.” There was a fighter plane accompanying us, Aditya recalled.

Everyone was staring out the window when the captain announced over the loudspeaker that there was nothing to worry about and that he was attempting to figure out why the fighter was there.

“When we landed and were let to disembark, the police immediately went after me and my friends; they definitely knew who to search for. I just had this overpowering sensation of dread.”

“I said it was all in jest and that I hadn’t meant anything by it, and they let my companions go, but I was taken to the police station, where after a few hours I was permitted to call mom and explain I had been kept at the police station.”

Ms. Prasad, an NHS employee, recalled: “I was on a WhatsApp group with the other parents of the boys on vacation and they had sent a message stating they had landed and then one of them posted a picture of the fighter jet near to them in the air.”

“I responded I hoped everything was okay and that they should let us know when they were at the hotel.

But after a few hours when we hadn’t heard anything, I started to get a bit concerned, and it wasn’t until 8 o’clock that night that he called and informed me of what had occurred.

I advised him to be calm and assured him that everything would be taken care of.

Then, as any other mother would have done, I boarded the next flight to Menorca at six the next morning.

By ten, I had arrived at the police station, but they had refused to let me see my son.

“I begged and pleaded, and in the end they let me to see him on a video screen, and I said I was there and I would try and sort out everything for him.”

Last Monday, Dipti, who had left her husband Anand at home with their other son, 13, had been informed that her son would appear in court.

However, when the hearing didn’t start until the following day, Dipti hurriedly looked for an attorney.

She said: “I asked if she could speak English and if she would help me.

There was a woman who was also at the court and she was representing a French guy who was in the same cell as Aditya. She appeared really kind.”

She consented to represent us in court the following day, and she did an excellent job of explaining how everything had been exaggerated and was just a joke and misunderstanding.

We stayed at the hotel where he was initially scheduled to spend the weekend with his pals since “they set bail for 10,000 Euro and stated he could go free but he must not leave the island.”

Anand, an IT bank employee, stated: “When my wife told me they were originally looking for €100,000 bail, I almost had a heart attack.

I thought I would have to mortgage the house to get the money.

However, she called and said it was only €10,000, and I was about to get a loan.

However, friends have helped us out with the money.

Everyone was very helpful and kind. The neighbors offered to cook me dinner because they knew Dipti was in Spain with Aditya.

They also knew that Aditya wasn’t a bad boy; he works really hard and is very conscientious.

This was just one of those silly, stupid things kids do, but he has since learned his lesson.

Aditya was able to go home with his mother on Friday thanks to the efforts of lawyer Marga Quintana Subirats, strangely on the same aircraft that he was supposed to take after his vacation with his friends.

When he landed, police and representatives from MI6 and MI5 took him away and questioned him for two hours before letting him return to his Kent home early on Saturday morning.

Aditya, who has competed for England in numerous international chess competitions and has had the opportunity to play against legendary player Gary Kasparov, said: “I understand why they stopped me, they have to check and they were asking me questions about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, what I thought about Boris Johnson resigning, and the situation in the Ukraine.”

When I left, my brother was outside, and one of the officers joked with him and said, “I hope you don’t use Snapchat.”

They claimed they had to make sure I wasn’t a security threat and that I wasn’t a danger to anyone, but I just said the whole thing was a joke, which I regretted and wouldn’t be doing again.

Aditya intends to study economics at a university, but he wouldn’t disclose which one other than to state it wasn’t “Oxford or Cambridge.”

Aditya is expected to receive a double A star and an A in his economics, history, and math A levels.

My previous school says they will support me and reassure both places that I am not a terrorist and that I am a sensible person.

I have offers from two good institutions, and I really want to go. I’ve learned my lesson, and I won’t make the same foolish mistakes again.

If the Spanish authorities decide to keep the kit, I will likely try to find a job to help pay back the €10,000 bond, but we are hoping our lawyer can persuade them to release it.

Given that the offense officially occurred at Gatwick, authorities in Spain are anticipated to decide in the coming weeks whether to pursue the case, dismiss it, or send it back to the UK.

He was detained on the charge of falsely raising an alert, which carries a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, according to Ms. Subirats, who told MailOnline that the investigation is still underway in Spain.

Although it is doubtful given his age and status as a student, the Spanish authorities may theoretically ask for the £86,000 reimbursement for the expense of dispatching the fighter jets to intercept.

It was simply a joke and one of those things kids do, but I’m confident he won’t do anything similar again.

I just hope that it doesn’t impact his future opportunities at university or for employment because he is a very nice and well-educated boy.

It also demonstrates how effective the security operation is and how, despite what we may believe, everyone is being observed and heard.