A woman charged as a stowaway after being accused of boarding a flight from New York to Paris without a ticket last month has been arrested in New York near the Canadian border after cutting off her ankle monitor, authorities said Monday .
Svetlana Dali was arrested near Buffalo, a senior official briefed on the case told NBC News. The official said the woman, who allegedly cut off her ankle monitor while with her boyfriend near Philadelphia, took a Greyhound bus to Buffalo.
Accused of being a stowaway, Dali was charged in federal court this month after she was accused of sneaking onto a Delta flight from New York City to Paris last month.
The federal court had ordered her to have her whereabouts tracked using a GPS ankle bracelet.
A second official said Dali was stopped by Canadian authorities as he tried to cross the border and was in FBI custody. She cut off her ankle monitor on Sunday, the second official said.
A court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday before she is expected to be turned over to federal officials in the Eastern District of New York, a spokesperson for the Western District Court said.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment Monday.
Dali’s attorney in the stowaway case did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Officials say Dali boarded Delta Flight 264 from John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Charles de Gaulle Airport on Nov. 26, during the Thanksgiving rush, according to the FBI and a federal complaint.
She bypassed two security and ticket checkpoints before boarding the plane, a Transportation Security Administration spokesperson said. She underwent a full security check before boarding, the spokesperson said, meaning she was not carrying any prohibited items and did not pose a safety risk..
Dali tried to get into the security line, but a TSA agent refused to let her pass when she couldn’t show her boarding pass, the complaint said. Five minutes later, she successfully entered the security line by entering through a special lane for airline personnel, the complaint said.
“Delta agents, who were assisting ticketed passengers on board, did not stop her or ask her to show a boarding pass,” the complaint said.
Delta employees found out that Dali was not allowed to be on the flight. They asked her for her boarding pass, which she could not show, and then informed the French police.
French authorities detained her when the flight landed, the FBI complaint said. She was denied entry to the country because she did not have a valid travel document or visa, a spokesperson for the French border police said.
When the FBI interviewed her, Dali admitted to taking the flight without a boarding pass and acknowledged her actions were illegal, the complaint said.
If found guilty, Dali could face up to five years in prison, a fine or both.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
