Including random IT gear from the storage closet? It absolutely was some airport property and random accumulated crap used to pad out the bag to hide the theft.
This thread is really clutching at straws. This bag literally didn't make it through transit, which means the whole "they made it weigh the same to avoid flagging in transit" seem pretty stupid doesn't it? It was lost in transit and returned much later. Exactly what happens when a bag splits open and is put aside in the backroom.
Fully agreed, but it's a bit baffling to me that you don't realize how you are the one clutching at straws. "There's probably some ticketing person that to this day are scratching their heads wondering where their scanner went after briefly placing it down on a baggage cart in the chaos of an airport" is simply like the least likely explanation for what happened.
Is this what current ticket scanners use? It could be that some passenger had packed an old scanner they intended to use for some fun project. It's just the type of thing I might have done when I had time for such things.
What do we have that weighs 2 kilos? Hey, grab that thing over there!