Laptop stealing baggage handler gang caught at Bush Intercontinental


A particularly nasty gang of laptop thieves has been arrested at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental airport. The gang consisted of five baggage handlers working for a third party firm hired by Continental Airlines to re-screen transiting passengers.

“Normal” laptop thieves usually get their loot by stealing from bags in the underground sorting area, but these guys once again prove that most criminals are just plain dumb.

They were caught when they asked a passenger to remove his two laptop computers and place them on a conveyor belt to be screened. They then told him he had to go to a different terminal to pick them up. Of course, the machines were not there, as the criminals kept them inside the screening equipment. Once the passenger made his way to pick up his property from the other terminal, the gang climbed inside the screening equipment, removed the computers, and hid them in an airport bathroom.

It never ceases to amaze me how low some people will sink, or how they thought they could possibly get away with this crime. All five crooks have been fired by their employer, and bond has been set at $50,000. They face up to ten years in prison if convicted. Houston police do not know how long the gang had been operating.