The audacity of mainland theft syndicates has soared sky-high - literally.
Well-dressed crooks posing as travellers are stealing valuables worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the overhead lockers of Hong Kong-bound flights, police say.
Syndicate members rummage through travel bags and luggage stowed in the lockers when the owners are asleep or in the toilet.
'They scout their prey before boarding and place their own bags in the same overhead compartment their targets use,' a police officer said.
Last month, there were at least two such thefts involving foreign currency and diamonds worth more than HK$250,000.
On June 10, three diamonds worth US$18,000 and US$8,400 in cash were stolen from the bag of a foreign trader on a flight from Kuala Lumpur. Last Thursday, US$6,900 and Euro30 (HK$295) was stolen from the bag of a German tourist who arrived from Bangkok.