I see what you mean about being sarched and the story being fishy. but as most guards will know if a EAS barrier goes off, 9 times out of 10 the customer will panic a turn back to the guard and the customer will nearly always hold there bag open, this is when i would ask if the have broght anything in store as i belive they they my have left the tag on. i walk them over to a till and hand them over to a member of staff. on the other hand if the barrier goes off and the turn a run, thats a different story!