[Article] Luggage thief hid in suitcase on bus

Victor

http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=63124-qqqx=1.asp

Luggage thief hid in suitcase on bus

By Noel Baker
A BENCH warrant has been issued for a man suspected of involvement in the “man in a suitcase” scam in which baggage was raided on buses.

A juvenile and a young man were arrested by gardaí in Mitchelstown on Saturday afternoon after a 17-year-old youth was found in a suitcase on board an Air Coach bus travelling from Dublin to Cork.

The bag also contained a laptop and a camera, taken from the bag of another passenger. Gardaí believe that the route had been targeted in recent weeks, while a follow-up search of a house in Cashel revealed a haul of suspected stolen goods, comprising two laptops, eight cameras and more than a dozen handbags, all with a total estimated worth of €10,000.
An 18-year-old man was due before Cashel District Court yesterday in connection with the incident. However, the man failed to turn up at court and a bench warrant has now been issued for his arrest.

It was first thought that passengers on board the Air Coach had heard rumblings coming from the baggage hold and that the driver informed gardaí.

Yesterday, it emerged that a passenger on board the bus had spotted some people acting suspiciously when the bus stopped to pick up passengers in Cashel and informed the driver that a stowaway might be on board.

The Gardaí were then notified and, when the bus stopped in Mitchelstown, they began their search of the vehicle.

When they did not find anyone upstairs, they then checked the baggage hold and started sorting through the bags.

It was at that point that they found a 17-year-old juvenile in a suitcase which was fully zipped up.

It is understood he had two torches in his possession, while a laptop and camera — stolen from the luggage of another passenger, believed to be a Polish man — was also in the bag, which could be unzipped from inside.

Both the youth and an 18-year-old man who had been seated on the coach were then arrested.

The future of Ryanair economy class!

He must have been small, I wonder how long they have been up to it!

serfboard

I often wonder how baggage on buses doesn't get stolen more often. I remember years ago in Spain, when you put your bag on the bus you were given a tag, and in order to retrieve the bag you had to give the tag to the driver first. I wondered why that wasn't done here - was there more of a necessity in Spain?

TirEoghain

serfboard wrote: »

I often wonder how baggage on buses doesn't get stolen more often. I remember years ago in Spain, when you put your bag on the bus you were given a tag, and in order to retrieve the bag you had to give the tag to the driver first. I wondered why that wasn't done here - was there more of a necessity in Spain?

It's not a necessity here, because if you had that system then you couldn't steal the bag containing the thief and throw it into the liffey.

markpb

serfboard wrote: »

I often wonder how baggage on buses doesn't get stolen more often.

When I was in my last year in college, my Bus Eireann bus wouldn't let passengers with luggage disembark on O'Connell St because bags had been stolen so I guess it happens but we don't hear about it.

TirEoghain

markpb wrote: »

When I was in my last year in college, my Bus Eireann bus wouldn't let passengers with luggage disembark on O'Connell St because bags had been stolen so I guess it happens but we don't hear about it.

I always wonder too if ang baggage gets stolen from the Dublin Bus Airlink buses. If I ever use one, I'd always sit where I can see my bags. Don't like the idea of setting a bag downstairs and heading upstairs to sit where I can't see it, and other people around it.

For that reason I always thought single deckers were much more suitable for airport runs, especially in Dublin where a 40mph speed limit is imposed on the double deckers.

steyr fan

I was talking to a customer in Cashel on Monday who was telling me about this. He said that there had been items going missing on this route for many weeks, and the company & gardai had put meaasures in place to try to stop it. They segregated luggage - eg, if you get on in Mitchelstown, you will put your luggage in a seperate compartment from people who got on in Cork, and so on along the route. Yuo would not have access to others luggage.

However, the thefts continued. The Gards stopped the coach in Mitchelstown at a point a distance from scheduled stop, and discovered the 'stowaway' in the luggage compartment.

Well, that's what he told me anyhow.

1huge1

Must admit thats a clever one, hopefully they'll be more wary from now on...

Hotblack Desiato

Maybe Bus Eireann can route the exhaust into the luggage compartment... or inert it with CO2 "to eliminate fire risk"