Sleeping SAA passengers targeted by Hong Kong crime syndicate during flights

Oct 4th, 2018 Sandisiwe Ntlemeza 862 Views

JOHANNESBURG: The notorious Hong Kong in-flight “organised criminals”, who apparently rob sleeping passengers, are believed to have been behind thefts allegedly perpetrated aboard an SAA flight this week.

On Wednesday, SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed that Hong Kong police conducted an operation on flight SA 286 from Joburg on Monday, after two passengers complained that money and a watch had been taken while they were sleeping.

SA 286 is the same flight on which, according to a January 2016 report by Traveller24, a South African passenger, William Becker, said he had about R30 000 stolen from his luggage while he was sleeping. Hong Kong police said in an August 2015 report that they could not rule out the possibility of criminals targeting flights to the China-administered region, following 93 reported robberies totalling about R10.27 million from January 2014 to August 2015. A passenger aboard Monday’s flight said that suspects were caught red-handed stealing fellow travellers’ valuables from the aeroplane’s overhead compartments. Article: Khaya Koko