NEWARK, New Jersey (PIX11) — A thief swiped a traveler’s wedding ring at a Newark Liberty International Airport security checkpoint, but was foiled by the TSA and Port Authority police before he could fly off, officials said Tuesday.
While the victim was passing through a security checkpoint on Sunday, they realized that the band they’d placed in a screening bin was missing, authorities said. The victim notified a TSA officer, who checked surveillance video and saw that another passenger had stolen the ring and walked off, officials said.
The TSA officer alerted Port Authority police, who checked the video to figure out what direction the thief had gone in, then tracked him to his departure gate and arrested him while he was waiting to board his flight, authorities said. Officials did not release the name of the alleged thief or specify the charges against him.
The ring was returned to its rightful owner.
Thomas Carter, the TSA’s federal security director for the Garden State, hailed the ring’s recovery as an example of the strong partnership between his agency and the PAPD.
“We work with PAPD every day, from curb to gate to help ensure that travelers get to their destinations safely,” Carter said in part in a news release detailing the incident. “On Sunday that meant working together to catch a thief and return a stolen wedding ring.”