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Notes -
Just to be clear - the entire contents of the bag are worth over $2K while the suitcase is only worth $295 brand new. It would really shock me that someone in this position would a) risk a government job for petty theft B) steal a non-collectible, relatively inexpensive suitcase. What's the max you could even resell a used $300 suitcase for?
Obviously this story is really weird. But life is crazy enough that something like this could happen and at this point it was likely a mistake.
"It was a mistake" works right up to the moment when they opened the case and saw the clothes weren't theirs. Even then, "oh crap what do I do?" is excusable as a panic reaction, but first claiming "the case might be wrong but the clothes were mine" (that's a terrible lie, how do you expect to be believed?) and then "I took the clothes out and left them but took the case with me" isn't any better. Surely it would be easier to either take everything with you, or else leave everything behind. Granted, people don't act rationally when in a panic, but unless they can produce the other case that really belongs to them and have both cases for comparison, then "I thought it was mine" doesn't work, and unless there are two identical cases where they can do "This is mine and the one I was using on other trips, this is the case I took by mistake", then it does look like deliberate theft.
Why? I honestly have no idea. Maybe it was one moment of craziness. Maybe they are a kleptomaniac and it's going to come out that they've taken other stuff before.
Reacting to that situation with panic at all is just pathetically terrible judgement. Act like a fucking adult, and call the airport to explain what happened.
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