Investigators, FBI probe theft after $US1.2 million in cash missing from flight at New York's JFK airport Investigators are searching for $US1.2 million in cash that vanished on the way to New York's JFK airport. Investigators are working to determine if mechanics or ground crew were involved in the theft, which was discovered after the jet landed at JFK airport, above. DETECTIVES and FBI agents are investigating after $US1.2 million ($1.3 million) in cash was stolen from a Swissair jet that had landed at New York's JFK airport. The theft was discovered after the plane arrived yesterday, the New York Post reports. It was not disclosed who the money was meant for or why it was being sent. But when representatives for the recipient opened the exterior of a cargo container, they found that a smaller receptacle had been emptied, a source familiar with the probe said. It was not immediately clear if the cash vanished before the jet left its point of departure, which was not disclosed, or if it was stolen after the airplane landed in New York City. The exterior cargo container - the receptacle holding the smaller container that should have been holding the $1.2 million - showed no signs of being compromised, which suggests the theft might have occurred at the original departure point, a source said. But investigators were also probing whether local mechanics, flight-crew members or other airport personnel had somehow gotten inside the inner container to swipe the dough and then placed the smaller and now-empty cargo container back inside the larger one. Whoever took the money probably didn't have too much trouble making off with it. The weight of $US1 million in $100 bills, for example, is estimated at 22 pounds (10 kilograms), according to the US Treasury. The largest cash heist in JFK Airport history occurred on December 11, 1978, when an estimated $US5 million was swiped at the Lufthansa Airlines terminal. It was, at the time, also the largest cash theft on US soil and was later portrayed in the movie Goodfellas. Read more about the theft and investigation in The New York Post.