STANSTED - 2

[burn the mullal]

I did think 52 seemed a hell of a lot, still as you say j.o a significant number of folks. 22 must be around 2 shifts worth that are now enjoying the fun of custody food or getting a handsome £80 slap in the wallet and dismissal.!!
I suppose the full background checks were carried out to see if the persons involved had Pre-convictions for similar offences prior to being allowed access to 1000s of un guarded passenger items a day.????? I think probarbly not.!

[slip and turn]

22 is indeed a large number to be arrested. Although perhaps so many in one swoop is primarily tactical - UK society seems to tolerate arrests on the basis that they know more important suspects, and it is for the common good that they should not be allowed to tip off their colleagues or otherwise taint a police operation. Gone seem to be the days when "helping the police with their enquiries" could be achieved without being arrested, and when "false arrest" might have been a problem to the authorities.

It's quite conceivable that there are always one or two bad eggs in an airport this size ... and even 22 is surely a small proportion of the total doing this kind of job?

Still a big number though. And it would no doubt include some team leaders?

Personally I've long since ceased to check-in valuables, or lock bags. I've also seen them opened too easily (by customs inspectors). Instead I wonder what other perhaps more important duties of trust/care placed with the same teams/team leaders might be in danger of being abused daily...

Let's not fool ourselves ... lower cost operations can so easily translate directly to higher risk of employing dross ...

[niknak]

22 arrested doesnt mean 22 guilty.

What ever the background checks made, the employers can only go on the checkable evidence provided to them, they pass that on to the BAA who would have made their own checks and then decided who passed the required standards to be eligible for the appropriate security clearance.

I know pilots/atcos and other "professionals" who have convictions for a wide range offences, but although declared vis security protocols, it hasn't precluded them from gaining airside access.

Just because someone is arrested it doesnt mean that they should be hung drawn and quartered by Burn and his his friends in their balck & white world, before the facts are proven.

[Tjosan]

IMHO, if they can steal things from the luggage, what things can they add to the luggage?

[Skipness One Echo]

If theses guys are searched going into a sterile area why the Hell aren't they searched on the way back out again? Beats resourcing security to taking toothpaste off flightcrew.........

[potkettleblack]

Wonder if there will be strikes now in support of the handlers.

[eidah]

Let's not fool ourselves ... lower cost operations can so easily translate directly to higher risk of employing dross

I think that this is a bit presumptious lower cost operations are no different from any other company they all use outside companies i.e in STN there is servisair and swissport as there handling agents and I think you will find that also in Heathrow both servisair and swissport are both working there and the airlines operating out of Heathrow are not exactly "lower cost operations" is it just the fact that STN police were merely working on an operation and got lucky.

[burn the mullal]

Black and white world eh NikNak, I am guessing that you may work on the ramp and never been a victim of the nature of crime that these were arrested for.???
You are right to say that even if somebody is arrested it does not make them guilty of the offence they were arrested for, however I feel that the arrests made would have been inteligence lead and not just a lucky shot in the dark.

[matt_hooks]

Burn, I wouldn't pout it past being exactly that, a shot in the dark, at least to a certain extent.

If the police can isolate on shift and/or area where these thefts are occuring then pulling in 22 people is not beyond the realms of possibility in order to catch one. Think about it this way. We (the coppers) have deduced that AT LEAST ONE of these 22 people has been stealing from luggage. Now the chances are they will have some of the loot still hanging around somewhere. If we arrest one or two, and don't get everyone or get the wrong people, then the actual perpetrators will have ample time to get rid of any incriminating evidence. It ain't pleasant for the innocent arrestees, but after the real criminals have been caught the rest will be free to go with no charges brought.
I'm not saying this is the scenario, but just one possible reason for the seemingly large number of arrests.

[ped90]

Old news

The articles today are a bit of a rehash of old news. The 22 were actually arrested last December, one of them is finally going to appear in court. This is why the story has been re-gurgitated. The others have either been cleared or are on bail.

http://www.teletext.co.uk/news/regio...n+charged.aspx

I believe the majority of the people arrested are no longer employed by the handler concerned. Also most of them were on the same shift

[virgincrew99]

is the virgin atlantic all-business class airline coming to stansted?

[Fragman88]

Not Quite on thread, but before joining the ranks of the exalted, did my time on the ground side of things.
This has always happened, and probably always will, possibly of more concern now than ever before, but obviously being addressed.
The point of this post is that in my very early days, I flew with a skipper who had been a baggage handler at a major airport, and his advice was:
'Don't bother with locks or anything, the guys go straight through them. They know how to drop the strongest cases so the locks will spring'
'The only way to dissuade them is a long canvas strap, crisscrossed as if you're wrapping a present, then tied with a couple of knots, free end taped down' 'These guys only have moments to open a bag, check for goodies, reclose it and send it on it's way, so yours should go into the too hard file'
Of course the strap can be cut, but upon arrival at the carousel this will be obvious, localising the incident far more than the thieves would want.
Has worked for me for many years.
Happy Travelling
F88

[Dani]

It always happend, and it might be discovered nowadays because of more stringent security measures everywhere but especially in the bags handling zones.

[sat1]

ssshhhhhh......alledgedly Servisair are talking 'bowt it right now

[slip and turn]

Originally Posted by eidah

Originally Posted by slip and turn

Let's not fool ourselves ... lower cost operations can so easily translatedirectly to higher risk of employing dross

I think that this is a bit presumptious lower cost operations are no different from any other company they all use outside companies i.e in STN there is servisair and swissport as there handling agents and I think you will find that also in Heathrow both servisair and swissport are both working there ...

The latter angle is exactly what I meant. Servisair and Swissport are lower cost operations, are they not? They were formed or reformed as lower cost outfits in response to pressures exerted by lower cost aircraft operators (which surely is more or less all aircraft operators thesedays?).

Interesting they seem only to have pinned something on one individual. I doubt there was sufficient record-keeping to pin bags or flights to individual handlers ...

Is it still true that they are more or less directed casually to where bags happen to need moving from one moment to the next? Who supervises who in the hold? Are there places airside but off-camera where stolen items could be stored until heat is off?

I heard have heard of habitually displaced toilet ceiling tiles in the past ... even heard a 'joking' story of a baggage handler seen returning airside with a bag across his shoulders: "Where do you think you are going with that?" "Dunno, I was sitting on the toilet and it fell on me!"

[Flintstone]

As others say, it's being going on for years. It wasn't known as 'Thiefrow' for nothing.

Weren't baggage handlers banned from wearing Leatherman type tools for this very reason?

[HotDog]

We had this problem with my company in the East as well, especially in the bulk hold 5 until we fitted some cam corders and caught them red handed. It was amazing to watch how deftly they could open a suitcase and frisk it.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

JNB and NBO are rife with this kind of thing. Even been filmed in the act. Usual defence is denial followed by threats of industrial action.

[EZYramper]

Before I started on the ramp I heard from a lot of people that baggage handlers were out and out thieves. Granted I haven't been doing it long, but I have never seen or heard anything which would lead me to believe that anyone was stealing from peoples luggage.

I hope this person is punished to the full extent of the law.

[GEAR_DOWN]

What I'd like to know is, why aren't these people ground baggage handlers or even cleaners searched before leaving airside too??? This way they cannot leave with anything more than they came in with. Security can be tightened much more at airports. It would be easy to figure if someone was stealing form bags or the airvraft or not. Why would a cleaner have a laptop or 3 mobile phones on their duty? same for baggage staff???

Maybe this should be introduced accross the board at airports.