A Delta Air Lines pilot was taken into custody by federal agents shortly after landing at the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, reportedly leaving both passengers and the plane’s lead pilot stunned.
The pilot was arrested on charges of child sexual abuse material by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a Homeland Security spokesperson told HuffPost on Monday, without offering further comment.
A Delta spokesperson did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Flight 2809 from Minneapolis had just landed at the airport, around 9:35 p.m., when agents entered the plane, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“A group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit,” a passenger, who had been seated in first class, told the outlet in an email.
Another passenger, only identified as Sarah, said she counted at least 10 agents.
“They barged through and stormed the cockpit,” she told ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO. “They removed the co-pilot, cuffed him, presumably arrested him, and brought him back down the aisle to deplane.”
Passengers reportedly weren’t told what had just happened, and the remaining pilot also told passengers that he had “no idea what just happened,” according to the Chronicle.
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Video shared by the aviation blog, View From The Wing, appears to show federal agents leaving the plane’s cockpit moments after the pilot’s arrest.
It’s a federal crime to produce, advertise, transport, distribute, receive, sell, possess, or access with the intent to view child sexual abuse material. One of the HSI’s priorities is combating the sexual exploitation of children.
