A BAGGAGE handler has been questioned in connection with suspected theft from luggage at Dublin airport.
The man in his 20s was arrested last month and was also suspended from his job with Servisair, one of the biggest baggage handling companies at Dublin airport.
He was released without charge and a file is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). He is facing disciplinary charges with Servisair.
Though a number of callers to RTÉ’s Liveline programme yesterday complained about alleged theft at the airport, gardaí say they are not aware of a major problem among baggage handling staff.
“We don’t have a huge file in relation to Servisair as some reports claim,” a Garda spokesman said. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s not a major problem.”
A Servisair spokesman confirmed that an employee had been suspended and arrested on July 24th as part of the ongoing inquiry.
The company has 350 employees at Dublin airport and services 19 airlines.
“Servisair confirms that after an internal investigation into possible theft from baggage at Dublin airport, the Garda were informed and an arrest has been made,” the company said.
“Servisair . . . continues to work in conjunction with the Garda and Customs to ensure that any such incidents are investigated thoroughly.”
News that a Servisair employee had been arrested on suspicion of stealing led to a number of calls to the Liveline programme yesterday from passengers who claimed items from their luggage had been stolen.
A former baggage handler with 22 years’ service at the airport, who was called Pat, said a colleague of his had been sacked last year for theft of cigarettes and personal belongings.
“It was known he was doing it. He was watched and found out,” he said.
A woman called Patricia said her sister had cigarettes and perfume stolen from her luggage when her bags arrived at Dublin airport on a flight from Turkey. A friend of the caller had a designer handbag and cigarettes stolen.
“It is an absolute scandal. Thank God that someone at Dublin airport had the decency to blow the whistle on this because it is not good enough,” the woman said.
Another passenger said she had three packets of cigarettes taken from her case on a flight from Lanzarote and her sister had experienced a similar theft on a return flight. “I know I definitely put them in my suitcase and so did my sister.”
Another caller said cigarettes were targeted because many passengers were bringing in over their duty-free limit and would therefore not report the theft.
A woman who returned from Malaga said a camcorder and cigarettes were taken from her case and she had complained to Servisair.
The woman, who had also worked at Dublin airport, said there was an “ongoing” sale of stolen cigarettes at the airport.
However, another baggage handlers who contacted the programme said it would be a “physical impossibility” to steal from bags as they are unloaded from aircraft.
Separately, David Gilligan from Swords, who had previously worked with Aviance at Dublin airport, said that CCTV is so prevalent at the airport that there is “no time for anybody to do anything”.
A spokeswoman for the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said baggage handling was not its responsibility, but the responsibility of airlines and the ground-handling companies.