NEW DELHI: A 30-year-old Chinese national has been arrested for allegedly stealing credit and debit cards from fellow passengers during a flight from Hong Kong to New Delhi, police said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Benlai Pan, is suspected to be a member of an international gang involved in organized in-flight thefts targeting sleeping passengers on long-haul international flights.
Three of Pan’s associates—Meng Guangyang (51), Chang Mang (42), and Liu Jie (45)—have also been detained. On May 14, the Air India security and vigilance team at Terminal-3 informed the police about the detention of four Chinese nationals after passengers reported thefts during the flight from Hong Kong.
Upon arriving at the airport’s arrival hall, police spoke to the staff and several affected passengers, including Prabhat Verma, who was seated in 12C.
Verma had been warned by the cabin crew about suspicious movements around his overhead baggage. Upon checking, he discovered his credit card was missing. He noticed a person seated in 14C, later identified as Pan, who was not assigned that seat.
Pan’s ticket was for seat 23C, and the missing card was found under his seat, police said. Another passenger, Prashi, who was seated in 14A, also reported that her mother’s debit card had been stolen from her bag.
Nafeez Fatima, another passenger, provided a video recording showing Pan allegedly opening cabin baggage and inspecting the personal belongings of fellow passengers, said Additional Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani. “During interrogation, Pan admitted that he and his accomplices were part of a coordinated syndicate operating on international transit flights. They
targeted long-duration flights to maximize their access to unsupervised luggage. The gang members strategically spread out across different seats to avoid detection while carefully opening bags and stealing high-value items, including credit cards, which were later discarded after being misused,” Rangnani said. Both brothers have been arrested, and the investigation is ongoing, DCP said.