Thieves Caught by Radio

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 45, 23 May 1930, Page 5

Thieves Caught by Radio

Ingenious Detections

A FIRM of cigarette manufacturers in London has successfully employed microphones in the detection of theft. The firm had been suffering severe losses of stock totalling hundreds of pounds, and being unable to trace the leakage, enlisted the aid of a well-known English radio manufacturing company. An engineer, in the guise of a telephone inspector, concealed three microphones at _ strategic points, and connected them to a sensitive amplifier under the roof. Here one night the detectives put on headphones and settled down for a long vigil. At first they heard only the mysterious creakings and whisperings which one seems to hear in every building at dead of night. Then close on 12 o’clock the sound of footsteps and rustling paper came to their ears. By switching to each microphone in turn, the detectives were able to locate the origin of the sound. They crept down stairs and two of the watchers confronted the man as he came out from the back door with hundreds of cigarettes under his arm.