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AirTag leads to arrest of Florida airline worker accused of stealing luggage

<span>Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA</span>
Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

An Apple AirTag led to the arrest of an airline employee who is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of items in luggage from a Florida airport.

Giovanni De Luca, 19, a subcontracted airline worker, was arrested on 10 August for two counts of grand theft in Florida after police recovered a number of stolen items from his home through the tracking device developed by Apple, reported NBC News.

According to a press release from local police last week, an investigation was launched after a passenger reported that their luggage never made it to their final destination.

An AirTag in the woman’s suitcase last tracked the luggage to the Kathy court area in Mary Esther, about three hours outside Tallahassee.

On 9 August, a second passenger reported that more than $15,000 in jewelry and other articles had been stolen from her suitcase.

Police suspected that both pieces of luggage were stolen from the Destin-Fort Walton Beach airport in Okaloosa county, Florida.

Using the location of the AirTag from the first woman’s missing luggage, police checked to see if any airport employees lived near Kathy court.

De Luca was later apprehended at his home after police found the previously reported stolen items.

De Luca also admitted to police that he rummaged through the first woman’s luggage and removed the AirTag. Her stolen luggage has not been recovered by police.

In 2022 luggage has been mishandled at higher rates than previous years. In May this year, more than 237,000 pieces of luggage were mishandled versus more than 137,000 the previous May, according to a monthly consumer air travel report from the transportation department.

AirTags have been used by some travelers to track suitcases during the current period of relatively chaotic travel, but the devices have also been criticized after being used for more nefarious purposes such as targeting cars for theft or stalking.