Two Edmonton men are facing fraud charges after filing bogus claims for lost luggage at the Edmonton International Airport, RCMP say.
A 27-year-old man returning from Hamilton walked up to the WestJet counter on Sept. 26, 2016 to claim that two pieces of his luggage had gone missing during the flight.
He filed paperwork claiming that more than $5,000 worth of his belongings had been lost.
But video footage showed otherwise, RCMP said in a news release Thursday.
Investigators looked at surveillance images from the terminal and discovered that the man had retrieved similar bags from the baggage carousel a few minutes before filing his complaint.
In a separate incident, a WestJet passenger returning from Los Angeles on on Nov. 27, 2016, retrieved his luggage from the carousel and left the airport only to return moments later and file a lost baggage claim for $2,000.
Again, surveillance footage proved that 63-year-old man left the airport with all of his luggage intact, RCMP said.
“Airline investigators and baggage specialists work regularly with law enforcement and the EIA to conduct investigations into fraudulent baggage claims,” Const. Drew Burchett said in the release.
Both men were arrested on fraud charges and are due back in Leduc provincial court on Feb. 23 and March 23, respectively.