Cebu Pacific probing theft complaint

MANILA, Philippines - Budget carrier Cebu Pacific is looking into an alleged theft by one of its flight attendants in a plane bound for China.

In a statement yesterday, Cebu Pacific said it was made aware of the alleged incident and that “appropriate action would be taken depending on the result of the investigation.”

“Cebu Pacific is conducting an investigation in parallel with an independent, third-party security group on this alleged incident,” the airline said. 

Chinese news websites reported yesterday that the incident involved a male flight attendant who was “caught stealing cash” from three Chinese passengers on flight 5J52, which left at 1 p.m. from Boracay to Changsha, Hunan in China on Tuesday.

A total of 8,000 RMB (about P58,000) was reportedly stolen from three Chinese passengers who put their bags in the luggage compartments above seat numbers 11, 12 and 13.

The passengers claimed that during the flight, the attendant was checking personal belongings in the compartment several times.

When the plane was about to land, one of the Chinese passengers checked on his bag to change his phone’s SIM card. It was allegedly at that point when the loss was discovered. Two other passengers found they lost some cash too.

The male attendant then reportedly went into one of the plane’s restrooms to flush the cash down the toilet. 

Policemen reportedly found cash in the trash bin and about P19,000 flushed down the toilet.