Feds Bust JFK Drug Trafficking Scheme, Charge 18 Airline Employees
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Federal prosecutors dismantled a major international drug trafficking operation Tuesday, charging 18 airline workers with helping smuggle heroin and cocaine through John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to prosecutors, airport workers in the Dominican Republic concealed the drugs in luggage bound for New York, where a group of airline employees at JFK retrieved the packages, diverting them to a safe area before the bags could be inspected. The plot was uncovered after a two year investigation during which afederal gents seized more than 46 kilograms of cocaine, 25 kilograms of heroin, and 3 kilograms of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in New York Tuesday. In addition to drugs, the defendants were also smuggling cash, the complaint alleged. Of the 18 charged in the scheme, 10 worked at JFK, including seven employees of Delta Airlines and one employee of American Airlines. Authorities said the trafficking scheme was organized and headed by Henry Polanco, 31, who ran the operation out of the Washington Heights section of New York. Polanco, the complaint alleged, arranged for drug suppliers in the Dominican Republic to provide him with large quantities of cocaine and heroin, and relied on corrupt employees at JFK to get the drugs into the U.S. More : foxnews.com |