Theft from luggage at SeaTac Airport ranks among the nation’s worst -- that's the results of an exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation.

For the first time ever, the Transportation Security Administration has publically released details of how tens of millions of dollars in personal property disappears from luggage.

That revelation didn't come easily. KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne spent a year battling the federal government to bring you this.

TEAM 7 INVESTIGATION VIDEO: Investigation Uncovers Airport Luggage Theft

Halsne says “We're not talking damaged luggage or bags that arrive a few days late; this is organized theft of items like video cameras, guns, diamond jewelry, prescription drugs, credit cards and cash. Shortly after Sept. 11, for security reasons, the federal government asked you to unlock your luggage. Criminals, working behind the scenes at SeaTac, say ‘thank you’.

You fly. They steal.
Thieves taking whatever they desire from your luggage; even dangerous weapons.

Ben Peterson had his 9 millimeter stolen from his luggage, telling us, "The pistol was just flat out gone!”

We found dozens of handguns missing from secure areas of major airports nationwide, but criminals have their sights set on so much more.

For the first time ever, KIRO Team 7 Investigators have documented how millions of dollars in cash, prescription drugs, and electronics disappear from your luggage.

12-year-old Davis Healy learned a really hard lesson early in life while flying out of Sea-Tac on Alaska Airlines to see his cousins.

"I picked up my bag from baggage claim and it was really light. I knew something was missing.”

He lost an Xbox, 2 controllers, and 16 games, which Davis bought with his own money. His mom Debra Healy says the whole family was disappointed.

"I know a lot of people get a lot more expensive things stolen, but to us it was a big deal.”

Davis is just one of 49,353 passengers nationwide who reported to TSA being ripped off at an airport over about the last three years. A never-before-released federal database shows thieves steal something nearly every day from Sea-Tac passengers. Of the 1,328 reported crimes here, most of the property disappeared after bags entered "secure areas" of the airport.

“There are so many opportunities out there, it's insane”, says Chris Johnson. Johnson is a former loss prevention security agent at Sea-Tac Airport. He says theft from luggage is rampant from airline tarmacs and luggage storage areas alike.

Halsne: “There's nobody looking?
Johnson: “Very, very rarely. When you walk in there, it's pure opportunity. It's a haven for a thief, plain and simple. You can hide behind pillars. You've got time on your hands.”

Johnson shared with us confidential confessions of Menzies Ground Handlers & Alaska Airlines baggage employees who admitted stealing bottles of alcohol, DVD players, sunglasses, cameras and even golf clubs.

Menzies baggage handler Michael Cross took full advantage of his access behind the scenes. Court records show he's guilty of snagging credit cards from luggage. Bellevue police caught him trying to use them at a clothing store.

Cross let his middle finger talk when we approached him and his attorney for a comment after a court appearance in Kent.

Halsne: “Michael can answer for himself. We're working on a story about theft out at the airport. (Silence.) He's not going to answer his own questions? You're not going to answer any either?”

Our undercover videotape proves employees, like Cross, would have no trouble getting stolen goods out of the airport. Near carousel number 8, employees routinely enter a secure area, carrying backpacks, coolers, and hockey bags. There are no metal detectors; no hands-on security checks. Employees can leave whenever then choose - with whatever they can carry.

That really irks Granite Falls firefighter Eric Cole.
Someone stole his digital camera, complete with family Easter photos from his supposedly secure luggage. He filed a claim with TSA then got the run-around.

“I don't care if they rifle through my bag, but it's not theirs to take. That's what got me the most. I feel more violated than anything. Money is money. It's a replaceable camera. You can replace those kinds of things. Just the fact that someone decided it was theirs and just took it.”

Sea-Tac ranks as one of the most theft-prone airports in the US, topped only by Liberty in Newark, New Jersey, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, & LAX-Los Angeles. We identified the worst of the worst by analyzing an exclusive TSA database. To be fair, we even calculated losses per passenger, so high-volume airports weren't penalized. The list is no surprise to Selene Forrestall. She flew to Seattle from Alaska to Christmas shop, but returned missing the presents.

“I had brand-new clothes I had bought for my kids. They were in the outside pockets and they were nowhere to be found when I arrived home.”

In about three years, SeaTac passengers reported more than $1.6 million in stolen or missing items. Topping the list: 146 passengers lost expensive or "fine jewelry". Also lifted and never returned were 42 laptops, 36 DVD players, and at least 140 digital cameras.

Sea-Tac may be vulnerable to more theft because of a certain luggage storage room. KIRO Team 7 Investigators obtained legal access to shoot videotape there. It is where your bags sit for hours while you wait for your flights. We found it to be a dark, three-story maze of catwalks, luggage belts, hidden runways, and unexposed corners.

We asked National Security experts Robert Ramsey and Mark Solomon to review this backroom situation. Ramsey’s resume includes classified military, aviation, and seaport security expertise.

He says, “It's so easy. There are so many opportunities to snatch a bag! What I saw there is not a secure area.”

Solomon adds, “Acquiring the item actually could be pretty easy because of just the way the place is laid out. Getting the item out, would be just as easy because there are no control points.”

You don't have to tell that to Davis' mom, Debra Healy. She wrote letters to Congress, Homeland Security, and police, asking they do something to fix the airport theft problem. The response she received was underwhelming.

“It's discouraging, very discouraging. There is no accountability anywhere. It doesn't matter what you do.”

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne adds this side note:

Our fight with TSA is not over. That agency, so far, has blocked the release of how many handguns and other weapons are being stolen from luggage in secure areas of our nation’s airports. If theft of guns at Sea-Tac is any indication, you'll see why the federal government may be dragging its feet.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators will expose how handguns and ammunition gets into the hands of criminals – criminals who have direct access to passenger jets. Read the exclusive story