A man who managed to live inside an airport for three months without detection has been charged with trespassing, reports the Metro.
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Aditya Singh, 36, arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on October 19 2020 and had been living inside the airport’s security zone ever since.
Singh had a flight booked back to his hometown in Los Angeles, California, but decided not to board the plane out of fear of COVID (1 in 3 people in LA have COVID, according to scientists). Instead, he just hunkered down in the airport and stayed there for 3 months.
Now call me crazy, but I don’t think Aditya Singh is making a lot of sense here. He says he was too afraid to fly back to Los Angeles because of the high COVID rates, but surely it can’t be much safer hiding inside an airport for 3 months? Especially one of the busiest airports in America. That’s probably the last place you want to be if you’re worried about catching coronavirus.
The other question is – how did Singh managed to hide away inside such a major airport for so long without being detected? I mean I get that it’s a massive airport with tons of hiding places, but you’d think security would be tight enough to realise something like that was happening, right?
Well apparently, Singh had “found” an airport ID badge and wore it around his neck 24/7. The badge he was wearing belonged to an operations manager who reported it missing October 26.
Speaking at Singh’s initial court appearance yesterday, Cook County Judge, Susana Ortiz, said:
You’re telling me that an unauthorized, nonemployee individual was allegedly living within a secure part of the O’Hare airport terminal from October 19 2020, to January 16 2021, and was not detected? I want to understand you correctly.
Singh was eventually busted when two United Airlines employees approached him, asked to see his badge, and realised something was amiss. Singh then admitted he was ‘scared to go home due to COVID’.
Judge Ortiz added:
The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred.
Being in a secured part of the airport under a fake ID badge allegedly, based upon the need for airports to be absolutely secure so that people feel safe to travel, I do find those alleged actions do make him a danger to the community.
Yeah, pretty wild that someone could go undetected in a major airport for 3 months given the enhanced security checks since 9/11, not to mention all the additional stuff for COVID. A review of O’Hare International’s security protocols just might be in order.
As a condition of bail, Ortiz barred Singh from stepping foot in the airport again if he is able to post the $1,000 he needs for his release. Isn’t it a bit weird that nobody reporting him missing? Oh well. Let’s hope wherever he ends up now is as COVID-free as can be.
For the man who was stopped at Kannur Airport in India with a kilogram of gold up his butt, click HERE. That can’t have been comfortable.
