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The FBI is investigating the theft of $1.2 million from Swiss International Airlines Flight 17, which arrived at New York's JFK International Airport from Zurich, Switzerland, on Saturday afternoon, a spokesman said Tuesday. The money was in $100 bills, J. Peter Donald said, adding it's still unclear when it was stolen, CNN reported. 

Flight 17 was a passenger flight with air cargo, including a shipment of currency, according to another FBI spokesman, Jim Margolin. After the plane landed, the shipment of cash was discovered to be $1.2 million short. Margolin said investigators have not determined whether the money was taken before the flight left Zurich.

He said the cash was missing from a container that the bank uses to transfer currency, which is loaded into a larger cargo container. He said it would take a forklift to lower the currrency container into the larger container, or to remove it.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said the money was headed to the Federal Reserve. Andrea Priest, a spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, had no comment.

Another law enforcement source told CNN the money belonged to a U.S. bank that was transferring currency from offices in Switzerland to the U.S. It was a transaction within the bank, but the money was passing through a Federal Reserve facility in New Jersey, according to the source, who said it's fairly common, when large sums are transferred, even internally, for them to go through a federal facility, where old bills are exchanged for new ones.