A series of thefts at a large Spanish airport. 14 employees were arrested

On Friday, December 15, the Civil Guard announced the arrest of 14 employees of the Sur-Reina Sofia airport in Tenerife suspected of belonging to a criminal group. The detainees were allegedly stealing passengers’ luggage while carrying them to the hold.

Tenerife. Airport employees arrested

The Spanish paramilitary formation carried out Operation Ortel, as part of which it searched the official lockers of airport staff as well as their private vehicles and homes. The investigation was the result of numerous reports from passengers who were victims of theft. The services recovered items worth a total of EUR 1,953,571.

The employees acted in an organized way – some of them were responsible for removing valuable items from suitcases, others hid them at the airport, and subsequent groups were responsible for taking them out of the port, selling them and dividing the profits. The theft occurred both during loading and unloading, and the suspects separated themselves from possible witnesses with a “barrier” of luggage.

Items worth almost EUR 2 million were stolen

The services found 29 luxury watches, 120 pieces of jewelry, 22 mobile phones, electronic devices and PLN 13,000 in their hiding places. euros in cash. A stolen vehicle was also discovered on the property of one of the suspects. The Civil Guard informed that they had managed to sell many items earlier, and therefore the offers of local jewelry stores are being analyzed.

During the investigation, it was found that another 20 employees of Sur-Reina Sofia airport may belong to the criminal group responsible not only for thefts, but also for money laundering and armed robberies. “The investigation was carried out by the Tenerife South Airport Fiscal Investigations and Border Analysis Unit (UDAIFF) with the support of the Citizen Security Unit,” an official statement said.