Chinese national held in Delhi for in-flight theft on Air India Flight
NEW DELHI: A 30-year-old Chinese national has been arrested in Delhi for his alleged role in a string of in-flight thefts, as police probe a suspected international syndicate targeting long-haul transit flights.
Three other Chinese nationals have been detained for questioning.
The accused, identified as Benlai
Pan
, a resident of Hong Kong, was taken into custody on 14 May after Air India staff flagged suspicious behaviour on Flight AI-315 from Hong Kong to New Delhi.
Several passengers reported missing valuables, prompting airline security to alert Delhi Police.
Senior officers from the Indira Gandhi International Airport police station arrived at Terminal 3 and met with passengers and airline staff.
One passenger, Prabhat Verma, reported that a cabin crew member had warned him of unusual movement near his overhead baggage.
He later found his credit card missing and spotted a man — later identified as Pan — seated in an unassigned seat nearby. The card was later recovered.
Another passenger,
Prashi
, reported her mother's debit card had vanished from her bag during the flight. A third passenger provided video footage of Pan allegedly opening cabin baggage and inspecting fellow passengers' belongings.
Pan was travelling with three others —
Meng Guangyang
(51), Chang Mang (42), and
Liu Jie
(45). Their backgrounds are now under verification in coordination with respective embassies, and authorities are probing whether they have been involved in similar crimes elsewhere.
During interrogation, Pan reportedly confessed that he and his associates were part of a well-organised international gang that targeted passengers on long-duration international flights.
The group's modus operandi included booking seats on high-traffic transit flights, distributing themselves across the cabin to avoid detection, and stealing valuables from sleeping passengers. Stolen credit cards were used briefly and discarded to prevent tracing.
Police recovered a credit card, wallets, electronics, and bags believed to have been stolen. Authorities are now reviewing travel records over the past year to link the group to other unsolved in-flight thefts.
'Pan has been arrested and the other three are under detailed inquiry. Alerts have been issued to immigration and airport authorities nationwide, and global enforcement agencies are being contacted to determine the full scope of the syndicate,' said
Usha Rangnani
, Additional Commissioner of Police at IGI Airport.
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