TSA workers
suspended in probe

The four screeners have not
been arrested in the investigation
of Honolulu Airport thefts

Four Transportation Security Administration screeners are on indefinite suspension as federal officials investigate allegations they stole money and valuables from luggage at Honolulu Airport.

The Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and TSA Internal Affairs are investigating reports made by other screeners, said Nico Melendez, TSA West Coast and Pacific region spokesman.

"If the allegations are confirmed, TSA will take swift and decisive action," Melendez said.

The investigation started within the last couple of weeks, and the screeners were suspended within the last week, Melendez said. None of them have been arrested or charged.

However, TSA screeners in other cities, including New York, Detroit and Spokane, Wash., are being prosecuted for theft and other crimes. One screener at John F. Kennedy International Airport and three other screeners at New York's LaGuardia Airport were arrested and charged in sting operations last August by the city's Port Authority. Searches of their homes turned up hundreds of stolen cameras, laptop computers, designer clothing, watches and jewelry.

The Honolulu investigation does not involve a sting operation, Melendez said.

He said the TSA received 30,000 to 40,000 claims for lost, stolen and damaged items in 2 1/2 years involving more than 400 million passengers.

According to TSA records obtained by a Denver television station under a freedom-of-information request, there were 248 claims filed against the TSA at Honolulu Airport from 2002 -- when the federal agency took over airport security operations nationwide -- to Aug. 31, 2004. The claimed value of the losses is $91,017.

The total number of claims nationwide was 27,630, worth more than $36 million.

Los Angeles International Airport had the highest number of claims: 1,994, worth $854,622, as of Oct. 13. New York's Kennedy Airport had the highest claims value at $24 million for 1,183 claims as of Nov. 9.