Apple’s sub-$30 AirTag item tracker is being credited with helping a vacationing Florida family track down their stolen luggage. As reported by Queen City News, the Gavino family “turned their vacation to the North Carolina mountains into a sleuth mission to find their stolen luggage.”

According to the report, the Gavino family landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport last week and was unable to locate one of their bags at baggage claim. Catherine Gavino, however, had stashed an AirTag inside the luggage.

Using the location data from the AirTag, Gavino was eventually able to track the AirTag down to a house in Gastonia, North Carolina. She headed to the house and called the police once she arrived.

She contacted the police who arrived and notified the homeowners of the situation. Inside, they found the family’s suitcase and the suitcase of another victim whose luggage was also stolen from the airport.

Catherine told Queen City News that Gastonia Police informed her that “someone else called with the same issue. And they had an AirTag.”

Unfortunately, “there was not much left inside the suitcase” when it was recovered. Still, Gavino is happy they were able to recover the luggage itself and seek justice. The suspect was ultimately arrested and charged with multiple theft crimes.

“Police believe they may have sold the clothes for money, who knows,” Catherine explained. “These are my parents, coming to the mountains for a North Carolina view, so for this to happen made me sad, which was all the more reason to go after them…I wouldn’t have found them without this AirTag.”   

We’ve seen countless examples of AirTags being used to successfully thwart criminals. These range from stolen cars and stolen luggage to a bull statue that was stolen from a Taco restaurant in Texas.

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