SEPANG: People travelling alone have been advised to be careful with their hand luggage at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here.

Police yesterday detained a South American man and woman and a Malaysian in Ampang for allegedly stealing bags and laptops from travellers at KLIA.

Sepang police chief Assistant Commissioner Zahedi Ayob said the three were responsible for at least 15 thefts.

Police had been watching the three after receiving complaints and reports from travellers who were robbed at KLIA.

They also recovered several handbags, laptops, and hand luggage with clothes and cameras.

"We also seized two Peruvian passports and a Mexican one, all believed to be false."

Zahedi said the South American man had a previous conviction for robbing a woman in Petaling Jaya last November.

Police believe with the arrest of the three, they have smashed a syndicate operating in KLIA.

The syndicate's method was simple: one of them would distract an intended victim while another would take his or her valuables.

Zahedi said the suspects would also make away with whatever they could find on the trolley if a traveller was not attending to his or her valuables.

The suspects would usually replace the bags that they had taken with an empty bag so that the victim would not be suspicious until much later.

They target travellers in a crowded area so that they could get away unnoticed.

Zahedi said police had viewed the closed-circuit television camera recordings and managed to catch the suspects in action at KLIA.

The suspects have been remanded for four days and police are looking for several other people believed to be involved in the syndicate.

-The New Straits Times