Last year, the Russian settlement, which crept into a Paris-bound flight at JFK airport, blended with a group of passengers and sneaked past two distracted gate agents to access the plane.
Svetlana Dali, 57, was spotted in surveillance footage as she passed several security checkpoints before boarding a delta jet at Queens Airport on November 26, 2024.
According to a video from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Dali was dumped through a security screening checkpoint before a female TSA agent did a quick body put down before passing the woman through the terminal. Obtained by Associated Press.
She was allegedly kicked out at one security checkpoint for not having a boarding pass, but travelled through the chaos of Thanksgiving holiday and sneaked into the screening area for airport employees.
“The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status and boarded the aircraft,” a TSA spokesperson posted in November.
Russian citizens carrying the US green card were carrying their bags to Delta Gate, where they were waiting to board Flight 264, heading to Paris’ Charles Degaard airport.
Dressed in a coat and grey hood, Dali merged with a group of five travelers who had been checked in by two gate agents, walking unnoticed to the Jetway.
After boarding the plane, Storeway hid in one of the bathrooms during takeoff.
A flight attendant spotted her in one of the bathrooms towards the end of the seven-hour flight.
She was detained in her seat and was taken into custody by French police when she landed at the airport.
Dali launched two return flights after she caused a devastating explosion on her first attempt and was banned by the airline for her second trip.
She was eventually handed over to New York, where law enforcement officers were waiting for her.
The Federal Jury indicted her for one count of shipping on an aircraft in January.
She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Dali was first released from prison under conditions of wearing an ankle monitor, but she dumped it when she tried to cross the border into Canada on a greyhound bus from Buffalo.
Just ten days after she was released by a judge and ordered to wear a GPS tracker, a brave attempt came to escape the country.
She was staying at a friend’s house in Philadelphia at the time.
After she was unable to provide her passport, border authorities arrested her and she found an aggressive warrant for her as she violated her release agreement.
After her latest arrest, she was ordered to be held in Brooklyn Federal Lockup.
The trial is set for May, but the lawyers reportedly are working on a plea deal before the court date.
With post wire
