Fourteen airport workers arrested for stealing from suitcases

The Guardia Civil, within the framework of the so-called Oretel operation, arrested 14 people and investigated another 20, all of them workers at the Sur-Reina Sofía airport in Tenerife, as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of belonging to a criminal group, robbery with force, damages and money laundering.

The operation began after detecting an increase in the number of reports and complaints filed by travellers due to robberies and thefts inside their checked suitcases, with those directly affected being passengers of different nationalities.

The detainees took advantage of their status as airport workers. When the suitcases were transferred to the plane’s holds, they were loaded and unloaded at a slower pace and with greater distance between them. They also opened the luggage inside the hold, out of sight of the rest of the users, and punctured the zipper of the suitcases to open them completely.

Once they had removed the objects they were interested in from inside, including jewellery, mobile phones, watches, and electronic devices, they closed the zipper again to leave the suitcase without any signs of tampering.

Likewise, so that no one could notice these crimes, the detainees placed the suitcases as a parapet between the access door to the warehouse and its interior, they even placed security curtains, specifically rigid tarpaulins, which are actually intended to secure that the luggage does not move freely inside.

The members of this criminal group were perfectly structured, with functions defined in a hierarchical manner, where each one was in charge of one of the parts of the commission of the crime: choosing the flight, hiding the stolen effects, removing them from the airport facilities, selling them in jewellery stores or through the internet, distribution of profits, etc.

To hide the objects stolen from the airport, they used clothing with interior seams made manually or their own personal lockers.

The Guardia Civil carried out several searches, both at the lockers of these airport workers and in their private vehicles and homes. In total, 29 high-end watches, 120 pieces of jewellery (gold and precious stones), 22 high-end mobile phones, electronic devices, 13,000 euro in cash and a high-end vehicle were seized.

The value of all the stolen objects recovered amounts to 1,953,571 euro. The detainees also managed to sell many objects in physical and virtual second-hand stores, which is why 27 jewellery stores in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife are also being investigated.

The investigation has been carried out by the Fiscal Investigation and Border Analysis Unit (UDAIFF) of the Tenerife South Airport with the support of the Citizen Security Unit (USECIC).

The Guardia Civil has had the support of the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA), Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA), as well as the different airlines that operate at Reina Sofía Airport.

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