Luggage theft Indonesia

Travelling with valuables is never a good idea, especially if you fly through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. Police have just busted a ring of baggage handlers who were expert at stealing from people’s baggage in their care. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.

Arrests made in theft of plane passenger bags

TANGERANG, Banten (JP): Security officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have busted a ring of thieves responsible for stealing valuables from passenger luggage.

“So far, we have arrested a total of 25 suspects comprising 21 baggage handlers who work for Garuda Indonesia, Air Asia and Batavia Air. We also arrested four people suspected to be buyers of the stolen goods,” airport police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Setyanto said Thursday.

Guntur said police were looking for seven more suspects.

Police also seized 160 stolen items, including cellular phones, multimedia players, watches, cameras, video cameras, sunglasses, perfume and jewelry.

Guntur said the suspects opened passengers’ bags in the belly of the planes. For international flights, the thieves riffled through bags as they were being transported from the plane to the carousel.

The airport executive manager Edi Haryanto explained that on Oct. 25 security officers caught three airport workers stealing a necklace and a bracelet from passenger bags on an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur.

They were transferred to police for further investigation, which led to the arrests of the 25 others suspects.

“The perpetrators will be charged with violating Article 363 of the Criminal Code and if proven guilty they face a maximum punishment of five years,” Guntur said. (Multa Fidrus/**)

Some of the good rules I try to follow are:
1) Take are of your ‘Crown Jewels’ (money, passport, ticket) and don’t worry about the rest. If these 3 are safe in your money belt, your trip can continue without the rest.
2) When in doubt, simplify – if you can’t decide what gear to bring, leave it at home.
3) Don’t bring anything you can’t afford to loose. (I don’t want to hear sob stories about how a taxi driver stole your $5,000 camera).
4) If you are not going to use a piece of gear at least every other day, don’t bring it.
5) Whatever gear you do bring has to do its job – Shoes, boots have to be comfortable, rain-gear has to be waterproof, sleeping gear has to be warm enough.

Back to the Jakarta airport crew. This kind of stuff goes on all over the world and is a reminder to travelers that flashy gear attracts thieves.