LOS ANGELES, CA- KTLA in Los Angeles reports that a Russian man was able to fly from Europe to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) without a passport, visa, or even a plane ticket last month. Officials are still trying to understand how that could happen, and apparently, the man himself has no idea how he did it.
On November 4, a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen, Denmark, arrived at LAX with the passenger, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, onboard. When he showed up at a customs checkpoint, he had no passport or visa–nor was he listed as a passenger on the flight manifest, ABC-6 in Philadelphia reported.
Even more confusing is the fact that Ochigava cannot remember getting on the aircraft or how he made it past security and was able to board the plane without a proper boarding pass.
A federal complaint filed in LA charges Ochigava with being a stowaway on an aircraft.
However, a report by Jason Koebler published by 404 Media and CourtWatch said he “was not a stowaway in the traditional sense.”
“[Ochigava] seemingly interacted with [the] flight crew, ate two meals on the plane, spoke to other passengers on the flight, and, at one point, ‘attempted to eat the chocolate that belonged to members of the cabin crew,’ Koebler wrote. “The affidavit states that ‘most’ of the crew noticed him on the plane and said he was sitting in a few different seats, but that nothing else seemed amiss.”
How Ochigava evaded security at the Copenhagen airport is still being determined.
FBI agent Caroline Walling wrote in her arrest affidavit that Ochicava’s iPhone contained a picture of the flight board at the Copenhagen airport and “screen grabs from the ‘Maps’ app showing a hostel in Kiel, Germany, and street maps from an unknown foreign city.”
However, Ochigava did have identification on him, including “Russian identification cards and an Israeli identification card,” as well as “a partial photograph of a passport,” Koebler wrote.
For some reason, Ochigava didn’t know anything was odd until he arrived in the U.S. and tried to pass questioning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Initially, he told CBP officials he left his passport on the plane; however, no such document was found. Moreover, Ochigava wasn’t in the CBP database, which “the CBP officer had never encountered,” Walling wrote.
If the above sounds bizarre, it gets even more so. Ochigava had no idea how he got to Copenhagen in the first place or why he was there.
“Ochigava claimed he had not been sleeping for three days and did not understand what was going on. Ochigava stated he might have had a plane ticket to come to the United States, but he was not sure…When asked how he got through security in Copenhagen, Ochigava claimed he did not remember how he went through security without a ticket,” Agent Walling wrote.
ABC-6 said crew members aboard the aircraft conducted zone checks in their respective areas before takeoff to ensure the aircraft’s weight and balance was good. It wasn’t until the flight landed and the incident was investigated that it was discovered flight attendants had confirmed the count as being one passenger more than the manifest.
The fact that someone could enter the United States aboard a commercial airliner should concern everyone involved. But clearly, there was a significant failure among officials in Denmark and Scandinavian Airlines.
“Everyone involved is confused,” Koebler wrote.
Ochigava is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Downtown LA and is expected to be in court later this month.
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