Confessions of a thief: how the robbery networks operate in airports
(CNN) - Everything starts, she says, at the moment the passengers get out of the plane.The cleaning equipment, mechanics of the airline and any employee with access to a commercial plane that has just arrived compete through the seats of seats in search of objects that could have left forgotten.
If you ever saw it in an airport, you most likely identify it as one of the thousands of passengers passing through the airport in a given day.Actually, the thief who spoke with CNN clean planes to make a living and collects everything as part of a robbery network that operates at a United States airport.
The name of the employee is not used because she is part of an ongoing police investigation that the detectives say is a generalized robbery network that involves numerous employees and supervisors that have as white the articles that passengers leave forgotten.Although police investigations in airports usually include stolen luggage items, it is likely that this is the first time they focus on value objects left in the bags of the higher seats and compartments of the plane.
"I think about me, it's fine, everyone takes them, why not me? I see expensive objects," the worker told CNN in an exclusive interview."When I find something, they tell me, if you want to take it, take it. Do not report it. If you want to report it, that is your decision."
That was not an option she chose.She admitted to having stolen "only one tablet", although the police say that she suspects that she took much more.
And it was easy.Anything that mechanics did not find, she and other maintenance workers found it under or among the cushions of the seats.No one was seeing them, she says, so it was practically an invitation to steal.
"I take it because it seemed easy," he said.The thief who became an informant chose to cooperate instead of being arrested.
"Every day, customers, passengers leave ... articles, different things. Sometimes identifications, money, electronic, toys ... mainly iPads, Kindles; leave electronic every day."
Incidents throughout the country
This supposed robbery network is only the last example of what the police call an internal threat in the country's airports.
This month, a ramp agent from Delta Airlines at Palm Beach International Airport was stopped after being trapped with $ 282,400 in a backpack, who told the researchers to pay to deliver the backpack to someone in a airport bathroom.
In another case, a Jetblue flight assistant was recently accused of leaving a little more than 30 kilos of cocaine in a security control at Los Angeles International Airport.
In 2014, a ring smuggling at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta who involved a Delta luggage manager and his accomplice, highlighted the security risk of the security that internal threats represent and led to a review of a reviewmore energetic of employees at the airport.
Last year, CNN revealed how the police at Miami International Airport placed hidden cameras inside the belly of a plane to surprise luggage managers opening bags and stealing valuables.
Although taking iPads and forgotten phones may not seem so serious, airport police officers throughout the country say that any crime committed by airport employees could be considered a threat because they have access to safe areas, as well asplanes.In addition, they warn, criminals or terrorists could point to a vulnerable employee.
Lost objects
Police told CNN that sometimes passengers forget that they left something on the plane, so they could not file a police complaint.Other times, when a report is presented, the police have tracked the iPhone and the iPad to the households of employees through the Apple's Find My iPhone option.
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of opportunities for unscrupulous individuals when working here at the airport," said the police detective in charge of the robbery investigation."It literally includes everything ... jewelry, cash, anything a passenger has left forgotten."
The detective said that plane and maintenance cleaning workers steal value objects, because in many cases, they cannot afford to buy the items.In some cases, the police say they find items for sale in the pawns.
"They start with small things. They go up aboard a plane and then start growing," said the detective."We have obtained information from a large number of people who identify possible organized robberies. We are trying to send a message in relation to employees who are honest and decent deserve to be respected, and those who are not must be removed from that environment,since they lead to other risks at the airport. "
The best advice for passengers is the most obvious.When flight attendees tell you to check your seat and collect all your items before leaving the plane, do it ... because in a matter of seconds, that iPad that you forgot could have disappeared.
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