This is the shocking moment a Russian stowaway slipped past airport security before boarding a flight bound for Paris.
Svetlana Dali, 57, was seen on surveillance cameras as she weaved past numerous security checkpoints before managing to board a Delta jet.
In spectacular scenes, Dali was spotted being waved through a security screening checkpoint before a female security agent carried out a quick pat-down and allowing her through the terminal. Dali had allegedly been turned away at one checkpoint for not having a boarding pass. But video obtained by the Associated Press revealed she used the Thanksgiving holiday chaos at the airport to sneak through a screening area for airport employees.
A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson previously told the New York Post in November: “The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and boarded the aircraft.” Dali, a Russian citizen, held a US green card which granted her the right to live and work in the country permanently while also providing a pathway to citizenship.
Footage showed Dali was able to carry her bags to the Delta gate where she then boarded Flight 264 that was set to jet off to Charles de Gaulle Airport from JFK Airport in Queens, New York, on November 26, 2024. She managed to blend in with holiday goers who were being checked in by two gate agents before walking onto the jet bridge unnoticed.
When Dali boarded the plane, she hid inside one of the toilets during take-off. A flight attendant didn’t spot her until the end of the seven-hour flight and she was restrained in a seat before being detained by French police when the plane landed.
.Dali was then removed from two return flights to the US after she had a disruptive outburst on the first attempt and was barred by the airline on the planned second trip. She was later extradited back to New York where police waited for her.
A federal grand jury in January indicted her for one count of stowaway on an aircraft. Dali went on to plead not guilty to the charge.
She was released from jail under the condition that she wear an ankle monitor which she then removed during an attempt to cross the border into neighbouring Canada by taking a bus from Buffalo, New York, just across the Niagara River from Canada.
The attempt came just 10 days after she was released by a judge and told to wear the GPS tracker. Border agents apprehended her after she failed to provide a passport and found there was an active warrant for her.
She has since been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn, New York. Her trial is set for May, although lawyers are working on a plea deal ahead of the court date.
The Mirror has contacted the TSA for comment via email.
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