Workers at Delta Charged in Drug Ring

NEW YORK -- A ring of airline employees exploited weaknesses in security procedures to help a New York drug ring smuggle heroin and cocaine through John F. Kennedy Airport, federal authorities charged Tuesday.

At least 18 people have been charged in the plot, including seven employees at Delta Air Lines, one at American Airlines, and two others who worked at JFK. Several were arrested Tuesday in a roundup that followed a two-year probe by customs agents.

Prosecutors said the group concealed drugs in luggage on jets traveling from the Dominican Republic, then retrieved the bags at JFK before they could be inspected by customs agents.

The suspects include cargo and baggage handlers, an employee of a global courier service and a "lookout" for the group who had access to JFK's tower through her job with Aramark, a cleaning, maintenance and food service company.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent said in a court filing that, in some cases, workers whose jobs gave them "virtually unfettered and unsupervised" access to arriving flights simply turned up, removed the drug-filled bags from the jet's cargo hold, and walked off with them while taking care to avoid security cameras.

"Conspiracies of this nature are particularly effective in the smuggling of contraband into the United States," senior special agent Meredith Leung said in a court affidavit.

The agency said it began investigating in 2005 after a suitcase containing cocaine and heroin was seized at JFK after arriving on a Delta flight.

Agents built the case by tapping the phones of several suspects, including some who turned up to unload bags on shifts when they weren't scheduled to work.

Agents also intercepted the shipments of more than 100 pounds of cocaine, 55 pounds of heroin and 6.6 pounds of the drug ecstasy.