16-12-2024 (HONG KONG) Two men have been apprehended by Hong Kong authorities within a week for allegedly pilfering cash from passengers’ overhead compartments on flights originating from Vietnam, highlighting a concerning trend in airborne theft.
The most recent incident, occurring on Friday, involved the arrest of a 61-year-old suspect who allegedly made off with 10 million Vietnamese dong from a fellow passenger’s luggage during a Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong flight. The victim discovered the theft upon retrieving his overhead bag, prompting immediate police intervention. Officers successfully recovered the stolen funds from the suspect’s luggage, and he remains in custody whilst the Lantau criminal investigation unit pursues the case.
This arrest follows closely on the heels of another incident last Wednesday, where authorities detained a 38-year-old man accused of stealing US$4,500 from another traveller’s overhead compartment during a Da Nang-Hong Kong service.
Statistics reveal an alarming uptick in aviation-related theft, with Hong Kong documenting 169 incidents involving valuables worth HK$4.32 million in the first ten months of 2024 alone. This figure surpasses the annual totals recorded during the pre-pandemic tourism peak years of 2018 and 2019, which saw 103 and 147 cases respectively.
Analysis of the theft patterns shows that approximately 70% of incidents occurred on short-haul flights from Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and India. A further 20% involved routes from Middle Eastern destinations such as the UAE, Turkey, and Qatar, with the remaining cases distributed across flights from mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Western nations including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland.
Hong Kong’s Security Secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung has noted that the stolen items typically comprise cash, premium timepieces, jewellery, and credit cards. While acknowledging the increase in reported cases, Tang suggested this might partially reflect enhanced public awareness and improved reporting procedures, whilst pledging strengthened measures to combat these criminal activities.
