A Russian man found guilty of sneaking onto a Danish flight to Los Angeles in November without a ticket or passport is not the first and will not be the last to attempt such a scheme, a former director of federal security at LAX told The Post.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, was convicted last week of following another flyer through security at Copenhagen Airport, spending the night in the terminal and sneaking onto the plane.
The suspect, who told authorities he worked as an economist, was immediately arrested when the plane landed in LA after officials discovered he had no passport and was not listed on the passenger manifest.
He told the feds he did not remember how he had violated various levels of security and checks and balances before flying 9,000 miles across an international border.
Keith Jeffries, who served as director of the US Department of Homeland Security from 2016 to 2022 and now serves as Vice President of the K2 Security Screening Group, speculated Ochigawa was taking his time and waiting for the right moment before making his brazen move.
“What happens is, a lot of people will just watch and watch and see what’s going on, mingle with the crowd, depending on how busy it is, the security checkpoint, they can navigate their way past the ticket document checkers,” Jeffries said.
“The good news is that they are screened. The flight process is layered and if one layer fails, like they navigate past the ticket document checker, they will be screened at the checkpoint to make sure they don’t have any contraband.”
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, was found guilty after sneaking onto a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen to LAX. @ostorozhno_novosti / Telegram
Once through security, Ochigawa clearly bided her time before sneaking onto Scandinavian Airlines Flight 931 undetected, prompting the former TSA honcho to compare her to a famous American woman who has boarded planes dozens of times over the past few decades.
“The next step is, if they don’t have a boarding pass, like Mr. Ochigava, and Marilyn Hartman at that time, they will go to a certain gate and watch and observe, and based on the boarding process, if they can get past the ticket agent who is checking pass when they get on the plane, they can get on the plane.”
Once on the flight, which was not completely full, Ochigawa switched between empty seats several times and chatted with passengers and crew, who he was good at giving him double meals, prosecutors said.
He also tried to grab a cabin crew chocolate bar, according to court documents.
His charismatic nervousness may have been a further tactic to attract the flight attendants’ attention and avoid exposure with their headcount before takeoff, Jeffries said.
“Suppose that layer fails, which it appears to have done in this case, while the plane is in the air, Customs and Border Protection, they have the flight manifest. They know who is in the air coming into the United States and they have to come through customs.
He told the feds he did not remember how he had violated various levels of security and checks and balances before flying 9,000 miles across an international border. Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
“And at that point, it’s clear the layer is catching this guy.”
Ochigava, who faces five years in federal prison, was found to be carrying what “appeared to be a Russian ID card and an Israeli ID card,” although officials said he was not an Israeli citizen.
The man falsely claimed to have left his US passport on the plane and showed the agent a photo of a portion of the passport showing his name, date of birth and identification number, but did not include a photograph.
Ochigawa was immediately arrested after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on November 4. AP
He “doesn’t remember how he got on the plane in Copenhagen. Ochigava will also not explain how or when he got to Copenhagen or what he did there,” the affidavit said.
However, the traveler appears to have been struggling around Europe without qualifications for some time before heading to the US. He showed officers recent photos on his phone, including a screenshot of a map showing the location of a hostel in Kiel, Germany, and a map of an unknown city, prosecutors said.
Ochigawa’s motives weren’t immediately clear, but his apparent methods had been seen “times and times” by Jeffries, who said many of the people in hiding were smart and determined.
“I vividly remember a homeless man getting a pass and trying to get through the checkpoint,” the security expert said of his time at LAX.
Ochigawa’s motives are unclear. Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
“They’ll take a boarding pass from the kiosk, if someone prints an extra boarding pass, they don’t have ID, but they’ll try to use that boarding pass to try to get into the checkpoint, and sometimes they’ll navigate their way,” added Jefferies.
“There are, from time to time, not very often, but we will ask people who will pass through the checkpoint to be checked and then try to board the plane,” he said, adding that as far as he knows, no one. sneaking onto a plane at LAX under his watch.
Officials are now launching a “very detailed” investigation to find out exactly how Ochigava did it, and who should be held responsible, Jeffries said, adding that the investigation’s findings will not be made public.
Copenhagen Airport confirmed as much after the Nov. 3 breach, saying in a statement it had “provided photo and video material to the authorities investigating the case.”
Jeffries warned that passengers will continue to try to breach security and fly for free, and sometimes succeed, but said that there will be “less opportunities” for them as biometrics become more prevalent in airport security.
“He’s not the first and he won’t be the last.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
