Woman who escaped from NY to Paris flight arrested, will face judge – National
Aviation experts are trying to figure out how the stowaway arrived in Paris on a flight from New York last week.
Svetlana Dali, a 57-year-old Russian national, boarded a Delta Air Lines flight at New York’s JFK International Airport without boarding permission on Nov. 26. spending long periods of time in many of the plane’s toilets.
Police officers were boarding the plane at Paris airport when they were hit, according to a passenger video shared on social media. “This is the captain. We are waiting for the police to come in,” said the pilot.
Dali was arrested when authorities discovered he did not have a valid visa to enter the country, French police said in a statement last week.
On Wednesday, December 4, he was deported from the US and arrested by the FBI. The charges against them have not been made public and they are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon.
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Two previous attempts to oust Dali have failed. ABC7 News in New York reports that she “started screaming” after boarding a flight on November 30. Fox News reports a similar incident occurred on December 3, and she was removed from that flight, after she started screaming, “Please help me.” I don’t want to go to the United States.”
How did you get on the plane?
Last week, it emerged that Dali was able to get an advanced body scanner at JFK Airport, and evade an ID check during the security process.
A TSA spokesperson told CBS News in a statement that “the person without a boarding pass was physically screened without prohibited items. The person bypassed two identity verification stations and boarding conditions and boarded the flight.”
Delta has remained tight-lipped, however, telling USA Today in a statement that the breach occurred during a “deviation from normal procedures,” but not providing further details. They also insisted that their infrastructure is “healthy” after a security review.
“There is nothing more important than issues of safety and security,” continued Delta. “That’s why Delta is conducting a thorough investigation into what may have happened and will work with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to make that happen.”
A senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN that, at the gate, Dali positioned himself in the middle of what appeared to be a family walking together.
How did you hide?
One passenger said Dali was walking between the plane’s toilets during the long flight, trying to avoid the flight attendants.
“I heard the flight attendants talk about it with the pilots,” New York City real estate agent Rob Jackson told CNN. “They said this person was in one toilet and then he left and went to another toilet and went in there for a long time.”
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