Janice R. Andrews
Surprisingly, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, a 46-year-old Russian man, was found guilty of stowing away aboard a Scandinavian Airlines trip from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Ochigava accomplished the cross-border voyage without a ticket, passport, or visa.
With the verdict, Ochigava now faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. The case, which started in November of last year, has brought up important issues regarding airport security and the susceptibility of foreign aircraft.
Authorities claim that Ochigava gave incorrect and misleading information to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents after arriving at LAX on a Scandinavian Airlines trip. Ochigava first claimed to have left his passport on the aircraft, but his name was missing from the flight manifest, and he did not have the required paperwork to enter the country.
Amidst the three-day jury trial, proof pertaining to Ochigava’s non-traditional voyage surfaced. According to reports, the Russian man used a security turnstile at Copenhagen Airport to tailgate an unwary traveller, giving him entry to the terminal without a boarding permit. He sneaked past security at the boarding gate the following day and boarded the flight to LAX.
Flight attendants remembered Ochigava’s peculiar behaviour during the flight, mentioning that he wandered the aircraft, switched seats a lot, asked for several meals, and even tried to eat cabin crew chocolate. He didn’t have a boarding card, but he was sitting in an allegedly unassigned seat, and the flight attendants didn’t notice him when they were doing head counts.
Ochigava, who claimed to hold a Ph.D. in economics and marketing, was questioned by the FBI through a CBP officer who spoke Russian. He exhibited perplexity about his situation. He talked of not sleeping for three days, not knowing if he had a ticket, and not knowing how he got on the plane or why he was in Copenhagen.
Ochigava, who is dual-passported Israeli and Russian, entered a not guilty plea when he was arraigned on December 5. Since his November 4 arrest at LAX, he has been detained by the federal government, and his sentencing is set for February 5. Concerns over airport security protocols and the necessity of increased watchfulness to avert such incidents in the future have been brought up by the incident.
