Convicted stowaway caught for second time
NEW YORK—A woman on probation for stowing away on an international flight was arrested again after sneaking onto a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Milan, Italy, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter.
Svetlana Dali, convicted in 2024 for flying to Paris without a passport or ticket, was taken into custody on Thursday at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, said the official, who was not authorized to disclose information about the case and spoke to the Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity.
FBI spokesperson Emily Molinari said the agency’s Newark office was “aware of the immediately disclose additional information. The FBI is working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark Liberty International Airport, and the Transportation Security Administration “on this open investigation,” Molinari said.
United Airlines, which operated the flight, said it is “investigating this incident and working with the appropriate authorities.”
Hiding in comfort room
Dali was convicted in 2025 on a stowaway charge for sneaking onto a flight to Paris after slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
Surveillance video showed Dali, a Russian citizen with US residency, slip in with a group of ticketed passengers to walk by Delta Air Lines staff unnoticed.
She testified that she walked onto the plane without being asked for a boarding pass. Prosecutors said she hid in the comfort room for several hours and wasn’t discovered until the plane was nearing Paris.
Under probation
After being flown back to New York, she told an FBI agent she had to the leave the United States because she believed people were poisoning her, according to court documents.
Before the latest incident, Dali was still on one year supervised release after being sentenced to time served last July.
Among the standard conditions of probation listed is that she can’t knowingly leave the federal judicial district where she was authorized to reside without first getting permission from the court or the probation officer.
She was also ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and participate in treatment if deemed necessary.
Prosecutors said Dali evaded security measures at two other airports before the JFK incident, and they believe she may have stowed away on another flight.
Previous record
Two days before she sneaked on the Paris flight, she was able to get through TSA checkpoints at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut, by hiding among other passengers.
In February 2024, US Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Dali hiding in a bathroom at Miami International Airport, prosecutors said.
She was escorted out of the airport after the agents couldn’t confirm her story that she had just arrived on an Air France flight.
Prosecutors said federal agents did not make any findings that Dali had illegally traveled as a stowaway to Miami, but her statements to law enforcement after her arrest in Paris appeared to indicate that she had flown into that city illegally.
