Federal agents reportedly stormed the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines plane and dragged the pilot off the commercial airliner in a dramatic arrest over the weekend.
Delta Air Lines Flight 2809 flew out of Minneapolis and landed at San Francisco International Airport at 9:35 p.m. Saturday, according to FlightAware.
‘Everyone was confused and in disbelief at what was happening.’
Passengers on the Boeing 757-300 said at least 10 federal agents marched aboard the plane, and the incident was described as “shocking and unnerving.”
“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 told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The passenger in first class said the agents were from Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco.
The passenger claimed officers “stormed the cockpit, cuffed the copilot, arrested him, walked him down the aisle, and ushered him off the plane through the cabin doors located between first and coach.”
Another passenger told KQED-TV, “Everyone was confused and in disbelief at what was happening.”
A second group of officers reportedly returned a short time later to retrieve the copilot’s personal belongings.
Video uploaded to social media shows several agents with badges leaving the cockpit.
The copilot later was identified as 34-year-old Rustom Bhagwagar of Florida.
The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “Detectives from the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff Investigation Division have been conducting an investigation since April 2025 after receiving a report of sex crimes against a child.”
The sheriff’s office noted that its investigation revealed that Bhagwagar allegedly sexually assaulted a child under 10 years of age.
An arrest warrant was secured for the suspect.
Sheriff’s office detectives and agents with Homeland Security Investigations boarded the plane to arrest Bhagwagar, who was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on five counts of oral copulation with a child under 10 years of age.
Bhagwagar is being detained on $5 million bail.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing.
Police urged anyone with any information regarding the case to contact the Investigation Division of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office at 925-313-2600, email tips@so.cccounty.us, or leave an anonymous tip at 866-846-3592.
A spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco told the Chronicle that the agency supported local authorities in carrying out the arrest warrant.
Once the shocking accusations surfaced, Delta Air Lines immediately suspended Bhagwagar pending the investigation.
A Delta spokesperson told KTVU-TV, “Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful conduct and will fully cooperate with law enforcement. We are appalled by reports of the charges related to the arrest.”
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