Airport worker’s $450k luggage swindle
A former Sydney Airport worker pocketed almost half a million dollars from selling electronics stolen from cargo while he was employed as a freight handler.
The 38-year-old man has been handed a three year and four month jail term after pleading guilty to a raft of offences, including dealing with the proceeds of crime.
In a statement on the conviction, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the man became a potential suspect after reports of theft at the airport in February 2022.
AFP officers executed a search warrant at the man’s house in Green Valley, northwest of Liverpool in May 2022.
Up to $50,000 worth of smartphones, smart watches and tablet devices were seized by officers.
Police uncovered that the man had either sold, gifted or kept a number of electronic devices for personal use, which he had stolen from an air cargo container he had access to in his role as a freight handler.
The AFP later located $189,000 cash in the boot of the airport employee’s car and uncovered $261,000 had been transferred into his personal bank accounts.
The man had generated a combined $450,000 in proceeds from selling stolen electronic devices.
He was soon arrested and charged with receiving stolen property contrary and knowingly deal with proceeds of crime.
The man’s 45-year-old partner was also arrested and charged with two counts of dealing with money or other property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime under $100,000.
Both entered pleas of guilty to the charges in December last year, with the woman sentenced to 70 hours of community service.
In late May the man was sentenced to three years and four months’ jail, with a two-year non-parole period.
AFP Sydney Airport Police Commander Morgen Blunden said that the AFP will not hesitate to catch criminals at the airport.
“People with trusted access in an airport precinct are critical to the successful operation of Australia’s tourism and trade sectors, but the AFP will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute those who abuse this trust,” Det. Supt Blunden said.
“Criminals are motivated by profit and greed and the AFP has zero tolerance to those to abuse their access to airside operations for their illegal pursuits.”
