Luggage handlers bust.

[Dave A]

A while ago Carte Blanche did an expose' on the pilfering at Johannesburg International Airport. It seems the police took it seriously.

Police have bust nine airport luggage handlers for stealing out of travellers' suitcases.

The men, who allegedly ransacked bags at Johannesburg International Airport, have been charged with theft and were refused bail at the Kempton Park magistrate's court.

Police are hunting at least three more suspected thieves, and hope to make arrests this week.

The workers, accused of stealing electronic equipment and expensive clothes, are contracted to the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) to handle luggage between the time it is checked in to the time it is dispatched to aircraft.

Members of the police's crime intelligence and prevention units monitored their suspects for a month before executing four arrests last week Thursday. The remaining five were bust on Tuesday.
Full story on IOL here

[Dave A]

I just had to hunt up this old thread when I saw this story.

A total of 7 868 items of luggage belonging to South African Airways (SAA) passengers were reported missing from airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London in the three-month period between December 1 and February 29 this year.

This was in stark contrast to figures supplied to Independent Newspapers by SAA last week, the Star reported on Tuesday.

The airline said that according to its figures, about 6 600 of its passengers would have their luggage stolen each year.

According to Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, most of the luggage -- 7 617 items -- disappeared from OR Tambo International Airport, while 178 SAA passengers at Cape Town International Airport lost their luggage.

Erwin's department supplied the figures in response to a parliamentary question put to Erwin by the Democratic Alliance spokesperson on public enterprises, Manie van Dyk.
full story from M&G here