A Richmond Hill man is one of seven arrested for stealing thousands of dollars worth of cash and valuables from passengers traveling to and from JFK Airport.
Udhoo Doodnauth, 27, was working as a contract baggage handler along with six other defendants, for El Al Airlines when authorities say they were caught on video surveillance systems rifling through the luggage of customers and removing items.
The cameras were installed by the airline when suspicions arose after complaints from customers missing jewelry, cash, i-Pads, phones and other items of value. The investigation was ongoing for instances that occurred between April 1 and August 28.
In some cases items were actually removed during the loading and unloading of baggage.
DA Brown commended El Al Airlines on seeing that the suspects were punished by the law. “When air travelers check their luggage with an airline, there is an implicit trust that their bags and their contents will meet them at their destination. It is always disheartening as a traveler to find that trust to be broken,” said Brown. “I applaud El Al Airlines for taking its customer complaints seriously and helping to bring the defendants to justice.”
It was on a regular flight, aboard one of the airlines 747s, which flies regularly to Israel from JFK, that the baggage handlers were observed opening passenger luggage—often while wearing gloves—and going through the bags. The handlers were taped placing cash, jewelry, watches, computers and other items in their pockets and down their pants.
The seven defendants were arraigned last week in Queens Criminal Court on separate complaints and were variously charged with third- and fourth degree grand larceny, third-, fourth- and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, fourth-degree criminal mischief, petit larceny and attempted petit larceny.
Port Authority detectives conducted interviews with the defendants in which they admitted stealing from the passenger’s luggage. Thousands of dollars in goods were retrieved from their homes and cars after search warrants were executed.
The recovered cache included a $5,000 Seiko watch, a Cartier watch, bottles of cologne, Valentino sunglasses, 13 additional watches, 2 Sony Playstations, an iPad mini, three iPhones, an iPad, three gold rings, a gold chain with a pendant, a pair of silver earrings, 2 Canon Powershot cameras, a Sony Cybershot, a Nikon Cool Pix along with cash.
Five of the defendants including Doodnath, were held on $1,000 bail while two were released without bail. They have been ordered to return to court on separate dates between September 18 and 24th.
By Samantha Geary
