Worrying reports in September claimed that British Airways had canceled a flight after the airline’s employees were targeted by a traumatizing armed robbery in Brazil. Now local authorities say the alleged victims simply invented the story as a way of covering up a wild night of drink and drugs in Rio de Janeiro.
Police in Brazil plan to summon BA’s representatives to establish whether the three crew members cooked up the lie themselves or if they were instructed to create their fabrication by airline management, according to Brazil’s G1. The company told the outlet in a statement that the bizarre case “is a matter for the police.”
BA also claimed the three flight attendants in question—which G1 reported as being aged 40, 39, and 31—were “not scheduled” to fly on the canceled Sept. 6 flight to London Heathrow, BA 248. The airline did not explain why the flight was postponed until the following day, however.
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“The investigation shows that they did not tell the truth,” said Danielle Bullus, an assistant police chief. “They didn’t say what actually happened that morning. They created these stories to try to justify probably inappropriate behavior outside of company rules.”
According to the three crew members, they were out at the historic Pedra do Sal site in Rio on the night of Sept. 5. As the evening drew to a close, two of them got in a taxi without the third to return to their hotel, but they were instead taken to a disused gas station in the northern Vaz Lobo neighborhood.
There, they claimed they were robbed by armed men who had followed them from where they’d been earlier in the evening, with the thieves swiping two cell phones and other items.
The crew members said one of them was able to use a phone which hadn’t been taken to hail a taxi after the robbery—but en route to the hotel, they were robbed a second time, this time allegedly by a man on a motorcycle, who stole the remaining cell phone. Afterward, they spotted a military police vehicle and sought help.
Meanwhile, the third crew member says he met a woman at Pedra do Sal. After chatting for a few minutes, he claims to have blacked out, remembering nothing before waking up lying in the street.
According to The Sun newspaper, police initially suspected that two of the BA crew had been targeted by a gang, with a source telling the tabloid: “It was scary and they were grateful to escape with their lives.” The pair were “understandably too upset to work,” the source added.
Police in Rio say the crews’ version of events don’t match what investigators ultimately found.
According to G1, video footage showed two of the group drinking with an unknown, third individual at a plastic table for around 40 minutes. He then invites them to go to the gas station where, according to witnesses, the trio continued drinking for “several hours.” The report did acknowledge that one of the crew’s cell phones was actually stolen, however.
As for the third BA staffer who did not go with his colleagues, he allegedly went off on his own to consume “drugs and more drinks to the point of becoming unconscious,” according to G1.
After passing out, the airline employee was revived by construction workers who called for help. The BA crew member also allegedly showed them a white powder—suspected by police to be cocaine—as they waited for an ambulance to show up. He was taken to an emergency care unit where he allegedly said he’d spent the night taking drugs with a pair of women in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
“What is surprising is how a crew that has such an important role spends the whole night drinking and using drugs, knowing that the next day they would have the responsibility of taking care of dozens of people who would travel for hours,” said Patrícia Alemany, the head of Rio police’s tourism support office.
