[LISTEN] Thieves target perfume as baggage tampering spikes at OR Tambo
Ten security officers from a contracted security company were dismissed after being found in possession of stolen from passenger luggage at OR Tambo International Airport.
Stolen items include perfume and other aerosols.
The airport's spokesperson Betty Maloka says they’ve seen a spike in baggage tampering since the start of the holiday season.
"The successes that we have includes a number of arrests for about ten people who been arrested and some their permits have been confiscated pending disciplinary action. We have also seen a number of dismissals.
"From August we have seen a spike in baggage tampering. One of the items that we have identified is perfume being one of the items that has high stats in terms of those things that are missing from passengers belongings."
She adds that smaller items are easier to remove from passenger bags and to resell on the black market.
"We don't really know the reason, but I think perfumes are sort of those things that are regarded as expensive or sort of your quick kind of things that you can take and put in your pocket.
"Those are the quick things that people can sell, whether used or not used."
Security has subsequently been beefed up at the airport.
Baggage wagons and other vehicles are being subjected to random stop and searches.
"It's just those strict measures that we've put in place to ensure that whatever those people that are working at airside, they do not come out with anything that does not belong to them,” Maloka says.
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The pair -aged 35 and 44 - were arrested during a police stop-and-search operation on Tuesday. Gauteng police spokesperson Mathapelo Peters says a third suspect was subsequently arrested after he attempted to bribe police officers with R10 000 to secure the release of the two suspects.