Raza Bhatti
LOOTER BUG: Raza Bhatti (left) admits that for years, he has stolen postal packages like these items found in his home, police say. (
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It’s in the mail. Wait! No, it’s not.
Port Authority detectives and postal inspectors have cracked a long-running operation that saw thousands of packages — from high-end perfumes to designer fashions to expensive electronics — stolen from the mail as it passed through Kennedy Airport, The Post has learned.
The culprit, according to PA records, was a 42-year-old United Airlines employee, who immediately confessed to the caper and pleaded for mercy.
“Don’t turn me in,” Raza Bhatti allegedly said as he was cuffed late on Feb. 27, police reports said.
“I’ll put the mail back. I have five kids at home,” he pleaded.
Postal inspectors got wise to the thefts at about 1 p.m. that day, after noticing six crates of mail had been hidden among luggage carts awaiting pickup from the airport’s massive postal-processing facility. Realizing something was up, the inspectors watched the packages through hidden cameras, figuring someone would pick them up.
Bingo! At 11 p.m., Bhatti showed up, police said, and loaded the boxes into a marked United Airlines SUV.
Bhatti allegedly told cops his system was simple: He hid the packages amid the typical afternoon commotion and then went about his business. Long after his shift was over and he had left the airport, Bhatti would return late at night to pick up the stashed booty and get it out of the airport.
Detectives raided Bhatti’s car and South Ozone Park home and found huge stashes of merchandise that never got to its destinations, police said.
It was all brand-new and still in the manufacturers’ packaging.
Among the loot: 32 watches, 48 designer handbags, 24 boxes of perfume, 10 pairs of shoes, eight laptops, two motorcycle helmets, four pairs of designer shades, a case of designer jeans, five desktop computers, five iPhones, two iPads, a box of computer flash drives, three flat-screen TVs, an Apple computer with 27-inch screen, a Yamaha keyboard, seven cameras and one professional-grade video camera.
Detectives said Bhatti admitted to having pilfered the mail “for years.” They told superiors they will never be able to inventory everything that he stole.
The suspect declined to comment when contacted by The Post.
Queens DA Richard Brown charged Bhatti with third-degree grand larceny, burglary and possession of stolen goods. He faces up to seven years in prison and was released on $5,000 bail.
United spokeswoman Jennifer Dohm said, “We have zero tolerance for this” — and added that Bhatti has been canned.