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Spanish airport staff arrested for stealing passengers' belongings
Baggage handlers at Spain’s Tenerife airport are investigation for stealing workers’ cabin baggage
Several members of staff at Spain’s Tenerife Airport have been taken into police custody after an investigation into thievery of travellers’ belongings from their suit cases at the popular air hub in Spain’s Canary Islands.
In total, Spanish police arrested 14 workers at the main airport on the holiday island of Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands on Friday December on suspicion of stealing watches, laptops and other valuables from checked-in luggage from passengers.
Overall, the officers seized items worth nearly 2 million euros (£1.72 million) which they suspected were stolen by employees of Tenerife South airport, including 29 luxury watches, 22 high-end smartphones and 120 pieces of jewellery.
According to police reports, the suspects may have sold many other stolen items to local stores or online, and now as a result of the investigations another 20 airport employees are under investigation, along with 27 jewellery shops on the Spanish island of Tenerife.
Spanish police first began investigating after several complaints from passengers about thefts from their checked bags at Tenerife Airporh.
Initial investigations suggest the thefts may have occurred while baggage was placed in the hold of the airplanes, with the suspects having forced the suitcases open and removing any valuable items when passengers and other airline employees were unawares.
According to police, “They hid the stolen items in pockets they sewed on their clothes or their own personal lockers.”
Those suspects who have been indicted face criminal charges of membership of a criminal group, robbery by force and money laundering.
Image: Guardia Civil
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