Friday, November 09, 2007

Mind Your Luggage

Here is some advice for those who pass through Barajas airport in Madrid; don't put valuables inside your checked-in baggage. There has been a wave of thefts from passenger luggage in the airport this year, to the extent that the issue has reached the national press, and 17 people have been arrested by the Guardia Civil because they have been caught in the act by security cameras. Once your baggage is checked in there is very little you can do about any theft from the bag because it is so difficult to prove where the theft has occurred. On one journey I made from Madrid this year I found on recovering my case at the other end that the padlock I had placed on it was still there, but was no longer serving any useful purpose. Fortunately I didn't have anything worth stealing in the case. It is something that can happen anywhere, Heathrow Airport in London was at one time known as Thiefrow because of the quantity of valuables that went missing. However, it does see that there is currently a significant problem in Madrid.

1 comment:

Gloskeith said...

Interesting piece. It seems to me that, three years on, Barajas still has a major problem.

Two weeks ago a colleague of my daughter had her case raided and various items stolen. And now my son has flown from Barajas to London to discover on arrival that a camera, iPod, computer cables and other things have all been pinched.

It makes my blood boil that the authorities have allowed this to go on for years.