Baggage Handler Busted for Stealing Money from Inside Tourists Luggage

BANGKOK – Tourist Police have arrested a baggage handler for stealing cash from a South Korean tourists luggage at Suvarnabhumi airport.

Phairin Pholkhan, 30, was apprehended on Friday. Police and airport officials seized four 1,000-baht banknotes from his locker at the airport.

The arrest came after Lee Soyeong, a South Korean passenger, filed a complaint with tourist police at Suvarnabhumi Airport. She told police she had flown on a Jeju Air flight from Inchon to Thailand.

Before boarding the flight, she had placed Thai banknotes totaling 20,000 baht inside her baggage. She took photos of them and the purse she had put in her checked baggage.

After she claimed the baggage at the airport, she found the money was missing.

Tourist police officers then took her to file a complaint.

Police and airport officials examined closed-circuit television cameras, which led to the arrest of Mr Phairin.

The numbers of the four banknotes found in his locker matched those on the photos taken by the tourists.

The baggage worker confessed and is being held in custody pending legal action by police.

Meanwhile, A Thai Airways flight attendant has been detained for try to smuggle designer-name products from Italy. The unnamed flight attendant was trying to avoid paying duty on the luxury items.

Following a tip-off, customs officials arrested the Thai Airways attendant for trying to avoid tax payments. She had boarded a Thai Airways flight from Italy.

Thai customs found designer-name products concealed under the flight attendant’s clothing and in her baggage.