February 6, 2025

Banos Online

Traveling Around the World

Guy billed just after flying from Denmark to LA with no passport or ticket | US news

Guy billed just after flying from Denmark to LA with no passport or ticket | US news

A Russian man who flew on a aircraft from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without the need of a passport or ticket told US authorities he didn’t bear in mind how he got through stability in Europe, according to a federal complaint submitted by the FBI. He has been charged with a federal crime.

Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, arrived at Los Angeles global airport on 4 November through Scandinavian Airways flight 931 from Copenhagen. He to begin with instructed authorities he experienced still left his passport on the airplane which he flew on. A US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officer could not come across Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other incoming global flights, according to the criticism filed on 6 November in Los Angeles federal courtroom.

He was billed with becoming a stowaway on an aircraft and pleaded not guilty in a 5 December arraignment. A trial was scheduled for 26 December. A federal community defender symbolizing Ochigava, who remained in custody Tuesday, did not right away return a cell phone message from the Involved Press in search of comment.

Ochigava did not have a passport or visa to enter the US but customs officers located Russian and Israeli identification in his possessions. But the criticism charging him did not point out what his nationality was or if he was a dual citizen. Officers also located in his mobile phone a photograph that partially confirmed a passport containing his name, date of beginning and a passport amount but not his photograph, they mentioned.

The flight crew told investigators that for the duration of the flight’s departure, Ochigava was in a seat that was meant to be unoccupied. Soon after departure, he saved wandering around the aircraft, switching seats and attempting to talk to other travellers, who dismissed him, in accordance to the criticism.

He also questioned for two foods though the flight attendants served travellers foodstuff, and he allegedly attempted to eat chocolate that belonged to the cabin crew.

Customs officers could not identify Ochigava’s records whilst detaining him at the airport and understood he was a stowaway following all recorded travellers had been processed by way of customs. Ochigava “gave bogus and misleading information and facts about his journey to the United States, including originally telling CBP that he remaining his US passport on the airplane”, the grievance stated.

In an job interview with the FBI, Ochigava claimed he had a doctorate of philosophy in economics as well as marketing and advertising and had last labored in Russia. “Ochigava claimed he experienced not been sleeping for three times and did not recognize what was heading on,” the grievance claimed.

Ochigava allegedly claimed he did not know how he acquired on the aircraft from Copenhagen, was not absolutely sure if he experienced a ticket, and did not bear in mind how he received as a result of airport stability in Denmark without having a boarding move.

The Russian investigative site iStories discovered a guy with the same identify as Ochigava who accomplished a postgraduate diploma in economics at the Plekhanov College in Moscow. The very same person was registered as the owner of a recently shut gallery in the Russian funds.

Ochigava remained in federal custody on Tuesday.

He could deal with up to five a long time in prison if convicted of getting a stowaway on an aircraft, which the US’s federal code defines as a felony.

Pjotr Sauer and the Affiliated Press contributed to this report