One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Tourist Not Terrorist: Man Flies from NY to L.A. On Stolen Boarding Pass
Photo by -Clearlight- via the LAist Featured Photos pool
Well done, JFK Airport and Virgin American: A Nigerian man was able to board their June 24 flight 415 from New York bound for Los Angeles using someone else's expired boarding pass. However, "investigators are suggesting that [Olajide Oluwaseun] Noibi is a tourist rather than a terrorist," reports L.A. Now.
Noibi landed in Los Angeles without incident, and spent the last four days here, until he tried to do the same thing from LAX with Delta Airlines. Noibi has been arrested, say the FBI, and is being detained at Los Angeles County Men's Detention Center, according to KTLA.
Curiously, on his flight to L.A., Noibi showed crew members a ticket from the day before issued in another name, but explained he'd missed his flight the day before. The person whose name the boarding pass was in told FBI agents it had been swiped from his back pocket on June 23 when he was at JFK airport. Prior to being scrutinized on board, Noibi managed to clear security, using only a University of Michigan ID card.
Authorities believe Noibi is merely a scam artist; reportedly his baggage contained "more than 10 boarding passes with various individuals' names, none of which were his own."
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
