Italian Police Arrest Man Posing as Airline Pilot Inspired By 'Catch Me If You Can' Movie

Описание

<p>A man who posed as an airline pilot and travelled in the cockpit of at least one plane was arrested in Turin Airport using forged identity cards and wearing a pilot's uniform.</p> <p>The 32-year-old, whose real name wasn’t released, allegedly created a fake identity as a Lufthansa pilot named Andrea Sirlo, complete with a Facebook page that included fake flight attendant friends.</p> <p>Police said they were alerted several months ago after Sirlo introduced himself as a captain to a Civil Aviation lieutenant, who became suspicious because he seemed too young for the job.</p> <p>The national military police tracked down the suspect from photos on his Facebook profile, where he’s shown posing in uniform and sunglasses in front of airplanes.</p> <p>He was arrested in the check-in area of Turin Airport on Friday.</p> <p>Police said Sirlo had travelled for free on at least one flight as a third pilot sitting in the cockpit and they were investigating whether he had flown as an impostor at other times.</p> <p>At a news conference, police displayed a fake uniform and said they also seized fake resumes, airline badges and an airport staff parking permit.</p> <p> The reason he did it was to create another existence for himself, a new, clean life in which he would be able to gain friends and access a different social setting, Turin police spokesman Filippo Vanni said.</p> <p>The case recalls the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, in which Leonardo DiCaprio played Frank Abagnale, a real-life con man who is said to have flown more than 1 million miles as a fake Pan American pilot in the 1960s. 'Sirlo' is the name of a flight corridor over Turin.</p>