Tourists' cars targeted at Atlanta's airport

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Atlanta Police have stepped up patrols in light of a spike in car thefts last week. That is bad news for travelers on spring break at the world's busiest airport.

A pilot told FOX 5 News, on March 29, his car was gone from the North Economy lot when he returned from a flight. Surveillance video showed, according to a police report, someone took off with the car two days before his return flight to Atlanta.

On March 25, a tourist's Facebook photo of a Jeep on cinder blocks with tires missing went viral on social media. The car had been parked at the South Daily lot when thieves stole the tires.

This brings the number of car thefts in 2019 to 10 out of the 23,000 cars parked a day, police said.

"We're aware of these incidents and the fact they've gone viral on social media... Obviously, we don't want anyone's cars stolen," said Public Affairs director Carlos Campos.

Campos said the numbers show the vast majority of tourists have no incidents during their travels.

Police advise travelers to keep an eye out for suspicious activity in parking lots and make sure to lock their doors and clean out their cars of anything valuable before leaving on their flight.