4-7-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) A man traveling on a flight had his backpack placed in the overhead bin in the aircraft cabin. He fell asleep shortly after boarding, only to discover upon arrival that a substantial amount of cash, totaling five figures, had been stolen from his backpack.
The man firmly believes that the theft occurred during the flight since that was the only time his backpack was out of his sight. The thief selectively took only the large denomination banknotes from the backpack, leaving the smaller ones untouched.
In a Facebook post, the man explained that he had divided all his cash into two separate wallets, which were then placed inside the backpack. He asserted that the backpack never left his possession throughout the entire journey, except for when he placed it in the overhead bin as usual after boarding. Due to the early morning flight, he fell asleep immediately after getting on the plane.
Even before disembarking, he reached into his backpack to check, but at that moment, he did not notice anything unusual. His passport and wallet were still intact. However, when he arrived at the hotel and prepared to retrieve money for shopping, he discovered that all the large denomination banknotes were missing, leaving only scattered small bills.
“There were only scattered small bills left in the wallet. The large denomination banknotes, including Hong Kong dollars, Taiwanese dollars, Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, and Singapore dollars, were all gone!” he exclaimed.
The man initially suspected that he might have forgotten to bring the cash with him, but after asking his family to check at home, it was confirmed that he had not left any money behind. He stated that he had inspected the wallet before boarding, ensuring that all the banknotes were inside. However, upon disembarking, all the large denomination banknotes had vanished, leading him to suspect that the cash was stolen during the flight.
“The thief was clever enough to only take the banknotes, so I didn’t immediately notice anything amiss when I organized my backpack before disembarking,” the man added. After sharing his ordeal on Instagram, he received responses from individuals who had faced similar incidents, urging others to sleep with their backpacks or lock them while on the plane to ensure maximum security.
Reflecting on the incident, he expressed his realization that securing the backpack during sleep or using locks would be essential when traveling by air. Alternatively, he advised against carrying cash to prevent the recurrence of such theft.
