Thieves snatch couple’s dream vacation
A Lowveld woman's dream holiday was ruined last week when her husband's backpack, containing the couple's passports, travel money and air tickets, was stolen from under her nose at OR Tambo International Airport.
MBOMBELA – The trip to Paris had been a surprise gift from the woman’s husband for their 10th wedding anniversary, but without passports, the couple was unable to fly.
“We drove all the way to Johannesburg. We were so excited. We took our luggage to get wrapped and it was there that I interacted with a woman and her very cute baby. It was only when we had walked away that my husband noticed his backpack was gone,” said the woman, who prefers to remain anonymous.
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She was willing to talk to Lowvelder as she believed it was important to make the public aware.
“Very few people know about what happened and I would rather not rehash the story over and over again as it was not a pleasant experience.”
If we still had our passports, we would have gone anyway and sorted out the rest when we returned. But we couldn’t do anything and had to drive home. All I could do was cry.”
The CCTV footage
The Mbombela-based couple immediately opened a case of theft with the police at the airport and requested to see the CCTV footage.
“There were two ladies and a man. They made a V-shape around me. While the lady with the baby distracted me, the other woman briefly placed her shawl on my trolley and the man slid the backpack out from under it. It all happened in what seemed like a split second. It was a well-planned operation,” the woman explained.
They were so smartly dressed. One would never confuse them for thieves. As soon as they had the backpack, the CCTV footage shows the group leaving the airport, getting into a car and driving away.”
She added that the police had managed to take still frames of the vehicle and its number plates. SAPS spokesman, Brig Vishnu Naidoo, confirmed that a case of theft of luggage had been opened.
A lesson learned
Fortunately for the couple, they were able to cancel most of the accommodation and tourist items on their itinerary, and could postpone their flights to later in the year. Unfortunately, travel insurance will only pay for a quarter of what was lost.
“It was like we took our passports and money, dropped them off at the airport and drove home. But in my culture, when something horrible happens, we believe it is a way of protecting you from something terrible happening or telling you to re-evaluate your life in some way.”
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