Passenger robbed of £100,000 jewels on US Airways flight

Stock photo: PA

A female passenger on a US Airways flight has been robbed of $160,000 (£100,000) of jewellery after she was 'forced' to check in her luggage.

Rita Lamberg, 69, a psychotherapist from Long Island, was flying from New York to Las Vegas via Phoenix when the theft took place.

According to the Telegraph, gate staff allowed her to board the plane although they had stopped her to warn her it was too large.

But before take-off, cabin crew approached her and ordered her to hand over the bag to put in the hold.

Mrs Lamberg said she was more than reluctant to hand over the jewels, and had made her way past gate staff by pleading: "Listen to me, I have more than $100,000 worth of jewellery here."

Big mistake.

She told the New York Post: "[The cabin crew worker] looked at me and said: 'You have a choice. You can either get off the plane . . . or [give over the bag] and take your seat. Nobody's going to touch your luggage.'"

When Mrs Lamberg - who was on her way to a poker tournament - landed in Pheonix, where she was due to change planes for Las Vegas, she went to get her bag from the luggage carousel, and found it had been ransacked.

A host of jewellery was missing, including a ladies' diamond-encrusted Rolex watch worth $40,000 (£25,000), a six-carat diamond ring in white gold worth $60,000 (£38,000), and a $25,000 (£16,000) diamond ring with blue sapphires.

Mrs Lambert has offered a $10,000 (£6,000) reward for the recovery of her jewellery, and US Airway are investigating the robbery.


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