SHOPS at Gatwick have been forced to lock earphones and phone chargers in anti-theft boxes.
chiefs took the decision after light-fingered travellers started pocketing electronics — before catching flights out of the country.
Shops at Gatwick have been forced to lock earphones and phone chargers in anti-theft boxesCredit: Alamy
Sun investigators spotted £17.99 Belkin chargers, £9.99 USB-C headphone jack adaptors and £34.99 InMotion headphones all locked in security boxes.
Even headphones for children — worth £34.99 — were in boxes that required a member of staff to unlock them at the chain’s South Terminal outlet.
Holidaymaker Eddie Monney, 52, of Streatham, South London, told The Sun on Sunday: “It’s pretty desperate if people can’t be trusted to go on holiday without nicking phone chargers they forgot to pack.
“Even the armed standing just yards away don’t seem to deter them.”
Independent consumer champion Martyn James said: “It takes a certain amount of nerve or stupidity to nick something at an airport.
“But if you’re foolish enough to risk your holiday for headphones, then you deserve all you get.”
A nearby M&S store in the airport has also fitted alarmed security tags to bottles of .
Lucy Whing, of the , said: “Retailers have invested over £5billion in the past five years to tackle , buying anti-theft boxes and security tags.
“Ultimately such theft is not a victimless crime. It pushes up the price for honest shoppers.”
WHSmith and M&S were contacted for comment.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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