The man was initially detained on Christmas Day.

A man who flew from London to New York without any passport or boarding pass was arrested for failing to appear in court, The New York Times reported. British Broadcasting Corporation. Craig Stelter was arrested at 8am on Monday in Richmond, southwest London, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The 46-year-old, from Slough, Berkshire, is accused of passing security at Heathrow Airport on December 23 last year without showing his documents and then boarding British Airways without a passport or boarding pass. Company flights to John F. Kennedy Airport.

He was intercepted on arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport and returned to the UK, where he was charged with fraud and breaches of the Aviation Security Act. He was initially taken into custody around 8:00 p.m. on Christmas Day. After taking the flight back to London.

British Airways said he was assisting authorities with their investigations.

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said: “Everyone arriving airside will undergo security checks, including those involved. We support the authorities’ ongoing investigations.”

At the same time, on January 22, a British Airways flight from London to Prague was forced to return and make an emergency landing due to smoke in the cockpit. According to Metro, the plane took off from Heathrow Airport at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday and was expected to arrive in Prague just after 10 a.m.

However, according to flight path data from FlightRadar24, half an hour into the flight, the plane turned around and returned to the UK over the Strait of Dover. The flight flew back to Heathrow and landed at 8.41am.

As soon as the plane landed, multiple fire trucks rushed over.

A British Airways spokesman blamed the quick turnaround on “technical issues”, but they did not specify what caused the pilots to choose to return to Heathrow.

British Airways said in a statement: “As a precautionary measure, we apologize to our customers for the delay in their journey after the flight returned to Heathrow. Our teams looked after them while they waited to board a replacement aircraft to continue their journey. .”