Dad told he was dying stole £25,000 of duty free goods after exploiting in-flight loophole HUNDREDS of times

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

An airline passenger was arrested at Manchester Airport after exploiting a loophole in the way card payments are processed mid-flight to steal £25,000 of duty-free goods.

Dubbed the 'Fraud of the Skies', Keith James, 63, stole the items, including perfume, alcohol and cigarettes, in hundreds of transactions over three years by taking advantage of gap in banking security on flights between Manchester and his second home in Spain.

James, who believed he was terminally ill with bladder cancer, used bank cards with no credit facilities after realising online transactions could only be processed after planes landed, a court heard.

Between May 2016 and April 2019 the married father-of-six would fill his bags with items from the duty-free trolley onboard then, after touching down at the airport, would make a quick getaway before cabin crew downloaded passenger purchases.