On 5th August, British-Pakistani entrepreneur Salman Iftikhar, with known links to the Pakistani government, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for a drunken, racist, and violent outburst aboard a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Lahore in February 2023.
Iftikhar, the founder of Staffing Match Group UK, had met Pakistani Senator Rubina Khalid, Chairperson of BISP, to discuss training and empowerment initiatives. Just a year earlier, he was threatening to blow up a hotel and have a flight attendant gang-raped.
The incident occurred on 7th February 2023 when he was travelling first class with his wife and children. Prosecutors told Isleworth Crown Court that he had consumed champagne before launching into a tirade of over 100 threats, including racial abuse and death threats against Virgin Atlantic staff. One stewardess, a veteran of 37 years, was so traumatised that she took 14 months off work.
Despite the severity of his actions, when the flight landed in Pakistan, he was not arrested. Eventually, in March 2024, he was arrested from his mansion. He pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and racially harassing the female attendant but denied assault. His defence bizarrely cited “amnesia blood loss” for his behaviour.
