JFK traveler steals thousands at TSA checkpoint, officials say

A woman traveling from Kennedy Airport was arrested aboard a flight to Dubai on Sunday after she stole $5,600 in cash from a fellow traveler at a TSA screening checkpoint, Port Authority police said.

Nadira D. Mallik, 61, of Bangladesh, was tracked through surveillance video taken at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint in Terminal 4 and arrested in her seat in Row 47 aboard Emirates Flight E K 204 as it waited to make its scheduled departure, the Port Authority said Monday.

Police recovered $4,300 in U.S. currency from inside a Cheerios cereal box in her carry-on bag, the Port Authority said. Another $1,300 worth of Japanese yen was retrieved from a compartment inside the same carry-on bag, police said.

Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said the victim, identified as a 60-year-old man from China, had placed the cash in the security screening bin at the checkpoint, as directed by authorities.

Pentangelo said Mallik was behind the victim on line — and that a review of security footage showed her taking the cash from the bin, then leaving the area. The incident took place around 10:20 a.m.

Authorities were able to trace Mallik through surveillance footage and find her aboard the Emirates flight, which was scheduled to depart at about 11:30 a.m. She told arresting officers she “wanted to give the money back,” Pentangelo said.

Mallik, who is from Khilgaon, a suburb of the major city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, was charged with grand larceny.

Arraignment details were not immediately available.

Police said the money was returned to the victim.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”