if you can get away with it,
to gain easy and fast entrance to aircraft he was traveling on Rajan
Mahbubani, a 48-year-old consultancy agency owner from New Delhi, dressed as a Lufthansa pilot, all went well for several months, but he was
recently arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, He was about to board an Air Asia flight to
Kolkata, when the airline called Lufthansa offices to confirm the trip of a
pilot wearing the German carrier’s uniform, a team of Lufthansa officials was
sent to confirm the pilot’s identity, but after they confronted the suspicious
pilot he admitted to impersonation,
“AirAsia India from Delhi Airport called up Lufthansa office to confirm the travel of this person who was wearing the German carrier’s uniform and had an identity card. Lufthansa immediately sent its team to contact this person at boarding gate 52 inside the security hold area of T3, Delhi Airport. When confronted by Lufthansa officials, this person admitted to impersonation,” Air Asia sources said, apparently, Mahbubani was a frequent flier and had been using the pilot disguise to bypass the usual airport security checks for several months before he was apprehended. The uniform granted him other perks as well, such as preferential treatment on board the airplane, the possibility to upgrade his seating for free, and even photos in the plane’s cockpit,
“Mahbubani said that he is a frequent traveller and used to
dress up as a pilot to gain easy access during security clearance and get
preferential treatment from security agencies and airlines,” Deputy
Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia said, the fake pilot told police that he had acquired his Lufthansa
pilot uniform and identity card in Bangkok, and that he was fond of shooting
YouTube and TikTok videos of himself wearing various uniforms. During the
investigation, officers found several photos of Mahbubani dressed as an army
colonel, as well as wearing other uniforms, now here is the thing, I know it is an offence to impersonate a police officer, but is it an offence to impersonate, say a fireman? or indeed a pilot? as it happens the Indian businessman is currently being interrogated by
police and intelligence agencies, the charges brought against him are unclear.
You would think that after the movie "Catch Me If You Can", the ability to run a scam like this would no longer exist. (If you haven't seen that movie... it is great. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, and was directed by Steven Spielberg.)
ReplyDeleteDear Jil, yes we have seen the film, and thoroughly enjoyed it, it is amazing that this sort of thing can still take place, but there it is, it can and it does, the frightening thing is this the one they caught, how many are out there still not caught? all potential terrorists, not a very a comforting thought for air travellers, best regards, Stan and Diana.
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