Apple’s AirTag merchandise tracker is as soon as once more within the information, this time for its function in serving to investigators observe down two brothers accused of stealing $1.1 million in a Brinks armored truck theft. New courtroom paperwork this week revealed that the AirTag was hidden in one of many bins of cash…
The 2 brothers have been initially charged for his or her function on this theft final December. The 2 are accused of stealing over $1 million “from an armored truck and automatic teller machine” in Chicago on Halloween.
The preliminary announcement from the US Lawyer’s Workplace in December defined the main points of the theft:
In response to the indictment and legal complaints filed within the case, the theft occurred shortly after 10:45 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2022, whereas a Brink’s safety courier was refilling an ATM at a financial institution within the 16700 block of Torrence Avenue in Lansing. Robbers brandished handguns and stole a gun and a bag of cash from the courier, in addition to money from the ATM, the costs allege. They then forcibly dragged the courier into the armored truck and ordered her to open interior compartments and hand over baggage of cash, the costs allege. The robbers stole roughly $121,824 from the courier and ATM, and roughly $904,132 from the armored truck.
In response to a brand new native Chicago information report from WGN, an AirTag finally performed a task within the two brothers being captured. Witnesses revealed that there was a grey Nissan parked close to the armored truck that the 2 brothers used when initially arriving on the scene.
From there, the suspects swapped automobiles and moved the cash right into a Jeep owned by a 3rd man who was not initially charged alongside the brothers. In a brand new legal criticism filed this week, authorities really useful that this man even be charged for his function.
The newly launched paperwork additionally revealed an AirTag hidden inside one of many bins of the stolen cash. Brinks is alleged to have contacted the federal investigators and knowledgeable them of the AirTag, which was “offering stay updates on the situation of the gadget.”
“It was about an hour from the time of the theft till the monitoring gadget was exhibiting on the dwelling” of the suspects, the report says.
“They have been created for misplaced items and Apple doesn’t promote them getting used for recovering stolen objects, however they’re actually getting used for that increasingly,” stated retired FBI agent and CEO of Veracity IIR, Doug Kouns.
“Maybe the proprietor of that individual department of the corporate was safeguarding themselves by randomly throwing an AirTag in each so many baggage or bins,” Kouns stated, “and on this case it labored out.”
That is solely the most recent instance we’ve seen of AirTags getting used for lots greater than monitoring misplaced keys and backpacks. Most not too long ago, New York Metropolis introduced that it was handing out 500 free AirTags as a part of its efforts to crack down on stolen vehicles within the Bronx.
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