A woman on probation for stowing away on an international flight has reportedly been arrested again. Svetlana Dali, convicted in 2025 for flying to Paris without a passport or ticket, was taken into custody on Thursday at Milan's Malpensa Airport, an official told The Associated Press.
She allegedly snuck onto a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Milan, Italy. FBI spokesperson Emily Molinari said the agency's Newark office was “aware of the alleged stowaway,” but did not immediately disclose additional information. The FBI is working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Transportation Security Administration “on this open investigation,” Molinari added.
United Airlines, which operated the flight, said it is “investigating this incident and working with the appropriate authorities.” Michael K. Schneider, Dali's federal defender who was also handling her appeal of the prior charges, declined to comment on Thursday. He also declined to comment on whether Dali had undergone a mental health evaluation as required by her supervised release.
Dali had been convicted in May 2025 on a stowaway charge for slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, sneaking onto a flight to Paris. Surveillance video showed Dali, a Russian citizen with US residency, slip in with a group of ticketed passengers to walk by Delta Air Lines staff unnoticed. In court, Dali said she walked onto the plane without being asked for a boarding pass. On the plane, prosecutors said she hid in a bathroom for several hours and was not discovered until the plane neared Paris.
After being flown back to New York, she told an FBI agent she had to leave the US because she believed people who were poisoning her, according to court documents. Before this latest incident, Dali was still on one year supervised release after being sentenced to time served last July. Among the standard conditions of probation is that she cannot knowingly leave the federal judicial district where she was authorised to reside without first getting permission. She was also ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and participate in treatment if deemed necessary.
Prosecutors have said Dali evaded security at two other airports before the JFK incident. Two days before the Paris flight, she got through TSA checkpoints at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut, by hiding among passengers. She unsuccessfully tried to board a plane and then left the airport. In February 2024, US Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Dali hiding in a bathroom at Miami International Airport. Prosecutors said federal agents did not find that Dali had illegally travelled as a stowaway to Miami, but her statements after her Paris arrest appeared to indicate that she had flown into Miami illegally.
