Airport baggage thief admits to stealing over 600 bags

by Scott Carmichael on

Yikes. Turns out not all baggage thieves are sophisticated criminals.

Dallas police just arrested 39 year old Patrick Brown who was stealing up to 3 bags a day from Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Tulsa airports.

He’d wait at the carousel, then when bags circled once or twice, he’d snag them and leave the airport.

In total, he stole over 400 bags from DFW, 200 from Houston and an unknown number from Tulsa. Brown stored the bags in a storage unit, and sold them at a local Dallas flea market.

A buyer at the flea market discovered a name tag in the luggage, contacted the rightful owner, and the police got involved. So, if you passed through any of those airports, and you thought your bags never made it to the carousel, you may want to contact Dallas police.

TSA workers at Logan Airport treated for scabies

by Jamie Rhein on

I feel for those three TSA workers who were found to have scabies. I just read about them in this article at WBZ. Each of them worked during the same shift at the same check point at Logan Airport in Boston.

It is not clear how they got scabies. TSA officials have said that because the TSA workers wear gloves, the public has nothing to worry about. The workers are on medical leave until they have been told by a doctor that it’s okay for them to return to work.

To prevent the spread of scabies to the rest of the TSA workers at Logan, all of them were told to take all their clothes and uniforms home to wash them. The areas at the airport that could have been infected were also thoroughly cleaned.

Here’s a health refresher course. Scabies is caused by a microscopic scabies parasite that burrows under the skin, creating a blister that gets patchy, red and itches something fierce. It’s kind of gross really. I’ve had it. Like the TSA folks, I have no idea how I got it, but one day, there was a small patch of it above my upper lip when I was living in The Gambia. A friend of mine who was ONLY A FRIEND had a case much worse than I did under his beard. It must have been going around. In The Gambia, I seem to remember it being much more common during the dry season.

Scabies can be caught by: scratching, picking up mites under fingernails, touching another person’s skin, and touching anything that might be infected with mites because someone with scabies touched them. Think keyboards, toilets, clothes, towels, workout equipment etc. Luckily mites don’t live off of a body for longer than 72 hours. [Wikipedia]

Scabies is curable through the use of a prescription topical cream. It didn’t take me long to be as right as rain again.

The future of airport screening – 3D HD images?

by Scott Carmichael on


This is pretty damn impressive – GE is showing off a demo video of their newest luggage scanning equipment.

Unlike current systems that present the screener with a grainy 2D image, the GE “CTX 9800 DSi” is able to grab images from all angles, and present it in HD.

The device just gained TSA certification, which probably means some of our tax money will be going towards buying them to help protect our airports from terrorist passengers.

Then again, knowing how much theft occurs in the baggage area, it could also just be a fantastic new tool for thieves to find better valuables.

(Via: Engagdet)

Did a 23 year old flight attendant orchestrate Sunday’s bomb scare?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

So, we told you about the Gatwick Bomb Scare that shut down London Gatwick completely for fifteen minutes on Sunday.

We have more information. Firstly, the note was found by a passenger in the restroom, and it said “Explosive material can be found in the FWD [forward cargo department]. We have the Taliban to thank for this and it will activate.”

Secondly, they never found anything explosive on that plane except the word “explosive” on a note in a pair of a flight attendant’s shorts. In his suitcase. In the same handwriting as the note in the bathroom. That note said “Cargo Contains Explosive.”

Thirdly, 23 year old Australian born flight attendant Matthew Carney has been arrested for “involvement” in the hoax, a.k.a. “writing the note.” A flight attendant! On the flight! Not funny, Carney!

But apparently, it wasn’t a joke. According to the Herald Sun, Carney’s lawyer is claiming that he’s been having a mental breakdown and that he hadn’t slept for four days leading up to the incident. Are they going to plead insanity? This is turning into a TV movie. Fast.

He faces two years in prison, maybe more, and a lot of angry letters from the 164 passengers and 17 other crew members who were detained, fingerprinted, and questioned for ten hours following the incident.

He has not yet entered a plea, and has a hearing next month. He is being held without bail, and is reportedly on suicide watch.

Gatwick Bomb Scare

by Annie Scott on

If you happened to be at London Gatwick international airport at 6:45 AM on Sunday, you’re probably still mad.

United Arab Emirates flight EK 011 from Dubai was ten minutes from landing at London Gatwick when they found a note “implying there may be a suspicious device on board.”

Craptastic.

All 164 passengers and the crew were escorted from the plane (which is fine for them, they were probably about ready to get off anyway), but then the entire airport was shut down (!) while the aircraft and luggage were searched for a bomb!

Airport activity resumed about eight hours later and a man in his 20’s was arrested — no word yet on whether he was a passenger. Gatwick airport, as far as we know, is still there.