Man Nabbed For Preying On Co-Passengers' Jewellery, Valuables; Took 200 Flights In A Year

A man was arrested from Delhi for making air travel a hunting ground for theft, he boarded over 200 flights and travelled for at least 110 days in the past year to steal inflight.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police arrested a 40-year-old man for allegedly stealing valuables from co-passengers on flights. According to the police, the accused, named Rajesh Kapoor, boarded over 200 flights and travelled for at least 110 days in the past year to steal inflight. 

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI), Usha Rangnani, informed a press conference at the IGI airport that he was arrested in Paharganj, where he kept the stolen jewellery. She added that police had arrested another ally of Kapoor, Sharad Jain (46), to whom he was planning to sell the stolen items. 

After two separate cases were reported from two separate flights in the last three months, the authorities formed a probe team to investigate the matter, DCP told the press conference. 

Targeted Elders, Vulnerable Passengers 

Of all 11 cases he was involved in five were at the airport. As per a report by PTI, the thief used to target elderly passengers based on their tendency to keep their valuables in their handbags. He would target vulnerable passengers on domestic flights, particularly Air India and Vistara. 

He used the chaos amid boarding a flight to his advantage and would secretly snoop through the overhead cabin on the flights.

After setting the target on an individual he used to exchange the seat from the airline, to seat close to his prey. Sometimes, he carefully timed his operation with the distractions, thus making him successful in robbery. 

As per the report by PTI, the police officer said that Kapoor is named in 11 theft cases including gambling and criminal breach of trust. 

To avoid being detected further, he employed a strategy, he used to buy tickets in the name of his late brother, aiming to conceal his identity from both airlines and law enforcement authorities.