British Airways crew ‘lied about robbery to cover up drug and alcohol binge in Rio De Janeiro’

Rio De Janeiro police have accused BA crew of ‘inventing’ the armed robbery to avoid being punished by bosses

A British Airways crew has been accused of lying to police about being the victims of an armed robbery to cover up a drugs and alcohol-fuelled night of mayhem in Rio De Janeiro.

Passengers were left stranded in the Brazilian city for 24 hours after three workers reported being “too traumatised to work” after becoming victims of a robbery on 5 September.

British Airways, who say the staff weren’t due to work the next day, were reportedly forced to postpone flight BA248 back to Heathrow Airport for 24 hours.

Police on a raid in favelas of Rio (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Now the unnamed Britons have been accused by police of “inventing” the armed robbery to avoid being punished by bosses after allegedly finding inconsistencies in their stories.

The authorities in Brazil say only one of a number of crimes the trio reported actually happened, and said the group went to an abandoned petrol station, close to a community in Rio, to take drugs.

The Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro told The Independent: “After field investigation and intelligence work, data crossing and image analysis, the Special Tourism Support Delegation (Deat) found that three flight attendants from an English company, who reported having been robbed in September this year lied in their testimony when recording the incident.

“According to Deat, of the various crimes reported by the trio, only one occurred, after a late night in which they consumed drugs and alcohol and went to an abandoned gas station, close to a community in Rio, where they continued their drug use.

“The trio are being investigated for falsely reporting a crime.”

British Airways said that this “is a matter for the police” and that the flight attendants involved “were not scheduled” for the 6 September flight. The airline did not explain why BA-248 was postponed until the following day.