Theft losses aboard Hong Kong-bound flights down 90 per cent as police tout fast reporting by passengers

In-air theft losses aboard Hong Kong-bound flights plunged nearly 90 per cent last year from the previous year, police said, crediting passengers with checking their belongings and reporting suspicions while still on the plane.

The 2017 figures – seven cases totalling HK$889,000 (US$114,000) – represented a dramatic drop compared with 22 reports and HK$8.13 million in 2016, or an 89 per cent reduction in total cash stolen. And compared with 2015, when there were 77 reports and HK$5.11 million missing, the case number was down 90 per cent and the amount lost by 82 per cent.

Recovering stolen property on aircraft landing in the city was vastly easier and more likely when passengers checked their belongings and voiced their suspicions to crew members before disembarking, police advised.

The force arrested two persons last year and 12 in 2016, with all caught before they left the plane.

“We compete with time,” chief inspector Sharon Wong Hau-suen of the airport district’s crime unit explained. “There is a limit to what we can do if a victim reports to us only after leaving the aircraft. The chance of recovering lost items is very slim if the victim doesn’t make a timely report.”