There are baggage thieves, like these petty fellows, and then there are compulsive baggage thieves, like the couple who were just caught after having stolen 1,000+ checked bags from the carousels at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport.

Keith King and Stacy Legg-King lived in squalor amongst towers of stolen luggage strewn about their suburban home, the ill-gotten goods pinched by Keith straight from the baggage claims of arriving flights. He was spotted three weeks ago when an airport officer noticed King parking at the airport, taking a bag from the carousel, and then putting it in his car and leaving. After this incident, the police put surveillance on him and caught him in the act again this past Monday. And that's when the operation blew wide open... ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-05T10:34:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/26/75839/991

Drugs and airplanes hanging out together is nothing new, after all we’ve seen a lot of smuggling rings busted over the last year. Just recently officials caught up with a group that thought cocaine should get a first class seat aboard American Airlines. Well US Customs and Border Protection made another discovery, but this time the drug was a little more uplifting than the usual white powder or wacky tobacky.

Last week officials at the Miami International Airport seized over 20,000 counterfeit Viagra pills. That’s like fifty pounds of bootleg medication. It was a shipment from India that looked a little sketchy, and once they cracked it open they knew the pills were not on their way to your local Walgreens. ]]> kjb 2009-10-26T12:09:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/25/144940/47

Irony! Just when we vouched for the safety of travelers in Madrid last week with our "Bad Rap Cities: Madrid" story, a high-profile woman fell victim over the weekend to the city's thieves who prey on tourists.

It all went down on yesterday evening in front of the Thyssen Museum in Madrid, when beloved fashion designer, contemporary of Andy Warhol, and legend in her own right Diane von Furstenberg twittered: ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-26T08:53:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/7/105654/235

Are you anxious for winter to hit so that you can embark on a Carnival Cruise to Antigua, get drunk, and get your brawl on? Too bad, since six Brooklynites already went and spoiled your fun by doing exactly that and getting arrested. Not only were they arrested for getting into a fight with a cabbie and then assaulting the plain-clothes cops who tried to break it up, but their legal issues have turned Carnival off of the island for the time being.

Carnival's ships that sail the Caribbean—the group in question was onboard the Carnival Victory—will no longer stop at Antigua for the reason that they have "a desire to incorporate a new port of call." Right, we're sure that's the only reason, and that the detainment and guilty pleas of their brawling passengers had nothing to do with it. Carnival can try to keep up appearances, but the fact is that they are embarrassed; no cruise line wants to be pegged as the one that sails with shiploads of rowdy Brooklynites looking for a fight. Possible punishments for those under arrest include 2 years in jail or a $4,000 fine each. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-07T11:37:59-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/6/8448/77227

Back in middle school, one of our friends got a scanner for his computer—it was cool at the time, we promise. The logical thing was to immediately make fake hall passes, so we totally understand what Jonathan Moore was thinking when he did something similar. Instead of wandering the hallways, this IT expert made more than £12,000 in fake train tickets. His copies were pretty good since they allowed him to travel totally free for about two years.

He would have continued on his merry way except a ticket taker with a good eye finally ruined his free ride. One day in Brighton an inspector noticed a color variation in his ticket, and then another 11 fake tickets were discovered in the plastic wallet where he kept all his contraband. So instead of getting busted for just one ride, he pretty much got busted for every ride he ever took. It didn’t help that the local police found over 70 designs for forged tickets on his computer. ]]> kjb 2009-10-06T09:03:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/5/94836/7237

Sex offenders beware: You can run, but you can't hide. A new international crackdown is zeroing in on American "sex tourists" who could find law enforcement picking them up from the airport when they get home.

Operation "Twisted Traveler" was set up under the PROTECT Act of 2003, strengthening penalties for child-related crimes such as abduction and producing pornography. The act establishes an international age of consent at 16 as well as making it a crime to pay someone under 18 for sex; Americans who break the law can be tried and convicted back at home.

The first three suspects arrested under the international provision of the law were nabbed in Cambodia in February. All had served time for sex-related offenses in the U.S. before. The men have been charged with various crimes from enticing young boys with money and candy to visiting one of Phnom Penh's child brothels. ]]> egw 2009-10-05T15:33:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/21/23950/8846

They say it never snows in Puerto Rico, but there was a whole bunch of white powder hitting the fan when some crew were arrested over the weekend after their cocaine smuggling operation of over a decade was found out.

According to the AP, the workers, a "mix of baggage handlers and other members of the ground crew, were part of a ring suspected of sending at least 9,000 kilograms (19,840 pounds) of cocaine over the past decade to destinations that include Miami and Orlando, Florida, and New Jersey. Of course this just throws the spotlight onto Puerto Rico as a major stepping stone to the US for drug traffickers, what with the lack of customs since Puerto Rico is already American soil. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-09-22T09:30:46-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/