A stowaway who allegedly flew from New York to Paris without a ticket last month has been arrested again while trying to enter Canada from the U.S. by bus.
Svetlana Dali made the attempt after cutting off an ankle monitor that she had been ordered to wear while she awaits trial for the earlier offence.
The 57-year-old Dali is a Russian national and U.S. permanent resident. She boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Canada Monday, but was apprehended.
A New York court imposed the monitor after Dali’s sojourn on a Delta Airlines flight from New York’s JFK International Airport to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport without a boarding pass in November.
Dali’s ability to get on the New York to Paris flight surprised the airline and airport officials. She managed to use a special lane dedicated to airline employees for getting through security without a boarding pass.
Allegedly, she blended in with a large Air Europa flight crew and was screened through by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents. She then slipped past Delta Airline agents on to a flight while they were helping other passengers at the gate.
She was arrested in Paris after the Delta crew realized she did not have a ticket. While on board, she reportedly moved from one toilet to another, never taking a seat. until flight attendants noticed her. The TSA said later that Dali’s stowaway stunt was the only reported case of unauthorized access when over 18 million passengers, screened during the busy American Thanksgiving weekend.
When Dali arrived at Paris’ Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, French authorities refused her entry due to her lack of valid travel documents and she was placed in a waiting area. Since she held a valid U.S. residence, French officials decided to send her back on a return flight to JFK days later, however Dali was intent on remaining outside the U.S.
Dali claimed she needed “asylum” as she protested her deportation but French officials did not take her request seriously. Instead, she was flown back to New York, where she was taken into custody and charged with obtaining transportation on an aircraft without consent or permission.
She appeared in court earlier this month. Her court-appointed attorney, Michael Schneider likened the charge against her to jumping the turnstile in New York City’s subway system, while speaking of allegedly harsh conditions Dali was facing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
He alleged that she has been poisoned and felt if she were to stay in the facility that her life would be endangered.
Schneider claimed Dali would not make things worse for herself by committing another offence and noted that she was forced to give up her passport. He further argued that Dali’s actions on November 26 could have been the result of a mental health episode.
The former real estate attorney was released last week without bail.
Dali failed to show her passport when asked at the U.S.-Canada border, prompting officials to search her name. They discovered an active warrant was out for Dali’s arrest for leaving the travel perimeter outlined in her release conditions. She was in FBI custody, and expected to be turned over to U.S. Marshals in Buffalo on Tuesday.
Dali will appear in court on Tuesday.
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