Miami Airport Staff Caught Stealing from Passengers, CCTV Footage Reveals

① Airport Staff Loses Passenger’s Trust

One of the mandatory steps to go through when flying is the luggage inspection. This procedure is performed to check for the possession of items prohibited from being carried on the aircraft.

Items such as portable chargers and lighters are prohibited on the aircraft as they may cause explosions or fires. Therefore, airport staff go through various procedures to filter them.

Airport staff detects problematic items through luggage X-rays and luggage opening inspections. The luggage gets moved to the inspection room if anything suspicious is seen in the X-ray monitors.

Containers that contain liquids over 3.4 ounces cannot be carried onboard. These items are detected during the security inspection through the X-ray, and if any substance is detected, the staff opens the bag for verification.

Because this is a mandatory step while boarding, passengers must trust the airport staff and hand over their luggage.

Recently, Miami International Airport in the U.S. lost the trust of its passengers. One of the airport staff here was caught opening bags unnecessarily out of passengers’ sight to steal their money intentionally.

② Theft Caught on CCTV

In September, CCTV footage of a staff at Miami’s International Airport stealing passengers’ belongings during security checks was released.

The footage showed Gonzalez and William, the culprits of the incident, stealing passengers’ belongings. They were keeping their eye on the plastic bin placed at the security checkpoint to see if there were any valuables to collect.

One of the staff reached into the bag and took out a passenger’s belongings, then put it in his pocket. They also attempted to distract the passengers to hide their theft.

③ Claiming Innocence Despite CCTV Evidence

According to U.S. CBS and NBC News, the two employees at Miami Airport were arrested on theft charges in July and were recently released.

During their investigation, they were found to have stolen valuable items and taken cash from passengers’ wallets.

The exact amount of damage is unknown. Even more shocking is that despite their actions being caught on CCTV as evidence, the two continued to claim innocence.

In response, the former Miami-Dade Police Chief advised, “It’s better to take out your wallet and valuables and put them in your bag before going through the security checkpoint,” and “After passing through the checkpoint, you should open your bag to check if your wallet, watch, cellphone, cash, etc. are still in place.”

By. Mia Han