A 57-year-old Russian national, Svetlana Dali, has been charged with being a stowaway on a flight from New York to Paris last week. Dali allegedly bypassed security checks at JFK Airport and boarded the plane without a ticket, before hiding in a lavatory to avoid detection by crew members.
According to authorities, Dali was turned away at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint due to not having a boarding pass, but she managed to get past another employee and onto the plane. She remained undiscovered until the flight landed in Paris, where French police were called to deal with “a serious security issue”.
Dali’s offense is comparable to “turnstile hopping”, a term used to describe similar stowaway incidents. Her attorney noted that she complained about the conditions at her detention center in Brooklyn, likening it to torture.
The incident has raised concerns about airport security and has led investigators to review surveillance footage. French authorities identified Dali as an ineligible traveler who had been ordered sent back to the US after being detained upon arrival.
Dali’s past is marked by allegations of military-grade chemical weapons and a kidnapping plot, although these claims are yet to be proven. She had also applied for asylum in France before being removed from a Delta flight on Saturday. The airline has acknowledged that its security procedures were breached but insists its infrastructure remains sound.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/05/us/stowaway-new-york-paris-delta-intl-hnk/index.html