This little item brought back a few unpleasant memories:
Three Transportation Security Administration officers were arrested at Miami International Airport for allegedly stealing from passengers during security screenings.
Arrest affidavits show that 22-year-old Elizabeth Fuster, 33-year-old Labarrius Williams and 20-year-old Josue Gonzalez were all arrested Thursday on charges of organized schemes to defraud.
According to the affidavits, the airport federal security director for law enforcement at MIA contacted a Miami-Dade Police detective regarding thefts that occurred at Checkpoint E involving TSA officers. The investigation revealed that three officers, while on duty, were seen on surveillance video conspiring together to distract passengers as they were being screened and stole money from their belongings.
This has happened to me too, only it wasn’t at Miami but at Jan Smuts O.R. Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, at the end of my last [sic] visit to my hometown. After unloading my pockets to go through the security cameras, I was (very politely) asked to open my carry-on bag for “extra” security checking. I did all that, then redressed (shoes, belt etc.) and went off to get some coffee before takeoff…
…only to discover at the coffee bar that all the cash had been stripped from my wallet — about $200, £250, R300 and €50 all told. Nothing to be done, of course — cash is untraceable, so I had no proof that I’d arrived with any cash in my wallet.
Plus, this was Johannesburg so what else could I expect? South Africa wins again. Bastards.