Posted on 12/28/2006 6:34:19 AM PST by WestTexasWend
HOUSTON (AP) - Airline workers are trying to match 68 pieces of stolen luggage with lost claims while police search for clues into the theft of the bags that were found in a trash container outside a pet store near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The bags found Tuesday were from passengers of as many as nine airlines and all appeared to have been rummaged through, said Sgt. Nate McDuell, a Houston police spokesman. Authorities have not identified any suspects or a motive. They are interviewing employees of Pet City, who reported the luggage Tuesday, and people who may have handled the luggage at the airport.
McDuell said he was not aware of a theft like this involving so many pieces of luggage.
"This is certainly out of the ordinary," said Continental Airlines spokeswoman Mary Clark. She said she had never seen anything like this happen before.
Houston-based Continental is sorting through the baggage, Clark said, matching pieces with lost claims people filed. The bags were from international and domestic flights that were scheduled within the last week or so, she said.
The vast majority of lost luggage is simply delayed and is ultimately returned to owners within 24 hours, she said. "It's very unusual that theft is involved in misdirected luggage."
Linda Killion, the office manager at Pet City, said two employees checking in at work Tuesday morning saw suitcases peering from the top of an industrial trash bin. "That's how full it was," she said. The store had been closed since Saturday.
The bin, at the front of the store, had been brought in after a fire earlier this month.
A few of the suitcases were empty, Killion said, but the majority still contained clothes, books and other personal items.
The employees called 911. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security came to the scene, as well as local police. Houston police are now handling the case.
"It was quite an adventure for us, to say the least," Killion said.
I used to work for a bank. Part of the logistics of the project I worked on involved the re-issuance of millions of credit cards. Of the several airports we could use to initially distribute the high volumes of cards, one was Dallas.
We decided to not use that airport literally because the security risk was so high. I know it's not Houston but...
One of my wifes friends manages the people at the last checkout booth before you board planes here in Seattle. One day she was walking through the area below where the passengers wait for planes. She rounded a "dark corner" in an area where you rarely see any employees around and there, right in front of her, were three TSA agents rumaging through a large suitcase with clothing strewn everywhere. At first they were stunned when they saw her. Then one of them acknowledged her presence with a "Move along citizen. Nothing to see here." warning.
My wife and I NEVER check baggage with anything of value. Heck, we rarely check baggage at all. And we fly a LOT.
That makes even worse as this group of luggage had never been through customs.
Right. The comments of lost luggage are missing the point. This was a materials exchange from Dubai to sleeper cells in the US. Someone needs to take this seriously, and put some heavy investigation into this... NOW.
Brilliant move! I lost a carton of smokes bought duty-free so it wasn't a big deal....other than having to wait 6 hours (for the next flight in) for the stray luggage to come in, during which time I knew knew knew those smokes would be gone as sure as the sun rises.
--yet ANOTHER reason why I refuse to fly..I live in georgia and work in baton rouge..if I have another location I have to go to, I have a really big pop-up camper I take with me, use it on the road, get into a hotel when I get where I'm going, and use the pop-up on the way back..not to mention I get to see a lot of the country I'd otherwise not see..sure, it takes me a lot longer to get where I'm going, but it's worth it to me..
There is probably more danger from theft in the motel parking lot than from the airline luggage losses.
"I need to swab down his heads."
first reason is TSA screening procedures..and their refusal to profile..
nope, I'm in a camper in a safe campground and have been for the past 5 months...nothin to worry about here..
No one puts anything of major value in their luggage. Bet they were looking for I.D.....maybe passports..
Good enough. . .
For myself; I profile everyone I see in line and particularly those boarding the plane I will board as well. Hope everyone is doing the same. . .(if TSA won't. . .then surely, we should. . .)
Of course, better to have authority behind this. . .but we all need to be - and stay - aware; best we can.)
If a reasonavbe option; prefer driving. . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761589/posts
Update at above thread.
It won't be long till luggage is equipped with GPS transmitters enabling the owner to track it's whereabouts precisely at anytime. Would have been a great tool in this "case."
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