A passenger onboard American Airlines flight from Buenos Aires to Miami was arrested for allegedly stealing $10,000 and two credit cards from two women travelers seated nearby. According to the Daily Beast, Diego Sebastian Radio was arrested on Tuesday when the flight landed at Miami International Airport.
According to federal court documents, flight crew members told investigators that they had observed “suspicious behaviour” by Radio. The man was seen walking up and down the aisles and sitting in a seat that was not assigned to him, near one of the victims, the crew members said.
One of the flight crew members also said that she saw Radio holding “what appeared to be a woman’s wallet”.
The investigators who arrested Radio said in the court documents that during a pat-down search of his belongings, loose currency that “approximately matched” the amounts claimed to be missing by the two women.
Two credit cards were also found in his jacket, the agents said.
Several insurance companies have issued releases detailing how theft takes place inside the plane. One such piece by Australia’s Southern Cross Insurance says that toilet breaks are the perfect opportunities to strike.
Apart from cash, electronic device such as laptops, cameras or phones are also targeted by thieves.
The insurance companies have also warned against scams while booking the tickets online. Some of these scams are: Phony airline deals, sham visa applications and even Covid-19 travel scams.
Several such instances have been reported from across the world. In 2019, a pickpocket was escorted off the Malaysia Airlines flight.
