Walter Finch
A BRITISH tourist whose carry-on bag was stolen at Malaga airport has spent over a week tracking the thief’s daily movements through her Airpods.
Lauren Morley, 29, has managed to build up a picture of her thief’s life through observing their movements, including where they live and work.
Now, she is hoping to recruit an army of amateur detectives in Malaga who are willing to act as her eyes and ears from 1,800km away as they track the thief down and get a degree of justice.
The account manager has observed the individual go from a residential building in the western suburbs of Malaga to the airport at 6am every day – leading her to conclude that he or she works in the airport.
She has also watched with ‘voyeuristic fascination’ as this person has taken her Airpods on trips into central Malaga – ‘although their life is actually very boring.’
“It’s really frustrating, I feel so helpless,” the Sheffield native told the Olive Press.
“If I was in Malaga I honestly feel like I would just go to the airport and track this person down, tell security where they are and to search them.
“Or I’d do a little stake out, because I know the road that they live on, I’ve narrowed them down to only one or two buildings.
“I feel like getting on a flight and going and sitting outside that block and tracking the person walking home and taking a picture of them.
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Morley speculates that passengers about to board a flight are prime targets for airport thieves because once they get on the plane it’s very difficult to report the theft.
Her lack of Spanish has also hindered her efforts to exact punishment on the thief – ‘as soon as I speak English, the police just put the phone down,’ while airport operator Aena has not so far responded to her complaint.
Morley had gone on the weekend getaway to Malaga with her boyfriend to support him in a Hyrox fitness and endurance competition.
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The pair enjoyed a couple of days of ‘flamenco and tapas’ before flying back home on Sunday, March 23 – only for Morley’s hand luggage to go missing in the airport terminal.
“I went through security, and I was at the gates, and my bag was next to me – I don’t really know what happened, to be honest.
As well as the Airpods, the bag contained around €200 in cash, an electric toothbrush, some hair straighteners and some ‘sentimental things from my grandma.’
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“Luckily, I had my passport in my coat with my phone, thank God, because if it had been in my bag, I don’t actually know what I would have done.
“I remember having it all morning and then when we’re about to get on the plane, I was like, where’s my bag? And then I was panicking and stuff.
“Obviously, we’re about to board, so then I can’t do anything like go to lost and found, I just have to get on the plane and hope that someone finds it and hands it in.”
After she returned home, she checked Find My iPhone on Monday morning at 8am and saw the headphones were in the airport.
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“So me, being naive, was thinking, oh my gosh, someone’s realised they picked up the wrong bag and they brought it back to the airport to hand it into lost and found.
“So I excitedly emailed lost and found telling them my AirPods are back in the airport, that someone must have handed them in.
“And then they got back to me, saying ‘sorry, nothing’s been handed in today.’
“Then again, later on in the evening, I looked again, and saw that my Airpods were back at the same address, and that has been a repeated pattern all week.
“Now I regularly check in to see what my thief is up to throughout the day.”
“It’s just the principle of it,” she added.
“If the headphones weren’t in the bag and they weren’t being used every day, I probably would have just let it go and been able to close the chapter and move on.
“But the fact that I am tracking them, it’s keeping the fire alive.
“I know that I’ve got the information to catch this person, but I’m just frustrated that I can’t do anything about it.”
A spokesperson for Aena told the Olive Press that they were unable to assist as it was a ‘police matter’.
