The Guardia Civil have intercepted a passenger at Tenerife North Airport with a suitcase containing 83 mobile phones and a tablet, all believed to be stolen. The devices, intended for Dakar Airport in Senegal, were discovered following a security alert.
According to the Guardia Civil, agents from the Fiscal and Borders Section were alerted to “unusual items” inside a suitcase destined for Dakar, so spoke to the airline to identify the passenger so they could speak to him.
After locating him they proceeded to open the suitcase to see what was inside and found a tablet and 83 mobile devices wrapped in aluminium foil and bundled in groups of four. This packaging technique is used to try and bypass airport security checks but actually does the opposite as it flags up as ‘suspicious’.
When asked for proof of purchase for the devices, the passenger couldn’t justify where the phones had come from, leading to their confiscation for further investigation. The Fiscal and Borders Analysis and Investigation Unit is now working to trace the rightful owners of the devices, and preliminary findings indicate that many of them were reported stolen in previous thefts and robberies.
The man has been detained and stopped flying to Senegal pending investigation as authorities seek to identify all affected parties.
