A nine-year-old boy who recently hopped a flight to Las Vegas from Minnesota had carefully planned the jaunt and practised sneaking through security at the Minneapolis International Airport, according to new details about his trip.

The boy also has a history of daring infractions, having been stopped for stealing a car and repeatedly slipping into a water park, according to a leaked health department memo.

The kid first did a “reconnaissance trip” at the airport by taking a piece of luggage from the bag claim area, eating at an airport restaurant, and then leaving the bag at the restaurant without paying, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The following day, the boy returned to the airport, where his mother is an employee, and waited until a large family was going through a TSA security checkpoint. He then pretended to be part of the family as they went through security, according to the report.

The boy was then seen on surveillance video talking to a gate agent, waiting until the agent was distracted, and then walking down the ramp to the plane by himself. He boarded the Vegas-bound flight without anyone knowing, officials said.

Once the plane took off, airline staff realised that the boy’s name was not on a list of unaccompanied minors for the flight. Police met the plane in Las Vegas and took the boy into custody, at which point he became “violent” and was hospitalised.