Man nabbed for posing as Singapore Airlines pilot in India

POLICE in India arrested a man at the New Delhi international airport for impersonating a Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot, after he was found walking around the airport dressed in full pilot gear.

In a fashion not dissimilar to the semi-fictional Hollywood film Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo Dicaprio, in which the main character goes on the run in multiple guises including that of a doctor and a commercial pilot, Sangeet Singh, 24, was spotted by security officials on Thursday, Indian media reported.

He was wearing a navy pilot’s uniform and had a fake SIA ID card around his neck that gave him access to in-flight operations.

Upon questioning and inspection by officials from the Central Industrial Security Force, a federal agency, Singh’s ID was found to be bogus.

He had made the fake ID with an online app, Business Card Maker, and bought the uniform from Pilot 18, an aviation accessories store in Delhi, Press Trust India reported, citing a police official.

He also lied to his family that he was employed by SIA as a pilot.

Initial investigations revealed that Singh had completed a oneyear aviation hospitality course in 2020 at an institution in Mumbai.

The native of northern state Uttar Pradesh has been charged with cheating and forgery under India’s penal code. Investigations are ongoing, local police said.

“So glad he got caught,” Singapore’s High Commissioner to India Simon Wong posted on X along with a photo of Singh.

Singapore Airlines said on April 26 it was aware of the incident regarding an individual impersonating an SIA pilot at Indira Gandhi International Airport but cannot comment further due to ongoing investigations.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, handling around 72 million passengers in 2023, according to airport authority Airports Council International.

In contrast, Singapore’s Changi Airport handled around 58.9 million passengers in 2023. — The Straits Times/ann