Airport passengers admit to €900 handbag theft from bathroom

Two women from Spain have admitted to having stolen €900 in cash from a handbag that was lost at the airport.

Inspector Roxanne Tabone arraigned Isabel Del Socorro Diaz Ramos, a nurse, and Carmen Dolores Martin Padron, an office administrator, both 53 years old, from Las Palmas, Spain before magistrate Noel Bartolo on Thursday morning.

The women were charged with having stolen €900 in cash from a purse inside the ladies toilets at the airport Arrivals lounge on Wednesday afternoon.

Inspector Tabone told the court how yesterday, the police had received a report that a Turkish passenger had absent-mindedly left her handbag in the toilets and when she returned to pick it up it was not where she had left it. Once eventually reunited with the lost item, she found €900 missing from its contents. 

Airport police acted quickly and identified the two defendants from CCTV footage taken outside the airport toilets. The women were arrested, still inside the airport, each carrying €450 in their possession.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to aggravated theft.

The court was informed that the stolen cash had been returned to its owner and that the defendants had cooperated with the police investigation.

Finding them guilty on their own admission, the court sentenced the women to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 2 years.

Lawyer Josette Sultana assisted the defendants as legal aid counsel.