A drug bust in Puerto Rico led the authorities to arrest rogue TSA and airport employees who have allegedly been helping local drug dealers in smuggling cocaine to the United States for the last two decades since 1998.
The smuggling ring who consists of 12 members are mostly Transportation Security Administration workers. The long-term success of their drug smuggling activities was greatly covered by the rogue federal workers, using their security clearances in the airport to secretly get the drugs undetected in the x-ray machines, then delivering them personally to the airplanes to avoid further detection.
The rogue TSA employees were identified as José Cruz-López, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo, Keila Carrasquillo, Carlos Rafael Adorno-Hiraldo, Antonio Vargas-Saavedra and Daniel Cruz-Echevarría. The drug supplier was Defendant Miguel ángel Pérez-Rodríguez, an airport security company worker, and Javier Ortiz was the one responsible for taking the drug-filled suitcases to the airplanes after they pass the x-ray machine.
Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, said in a statement: "These individuals were involved in a conspiracy to traffic massive quantities of illegal narcotics to the continental United States. These arrests demonstrate the success of the AirTAT initiative, which has successfully allocated a dedicated group of state and federal law enforcement officers, whose mission is to ensure that our airports are not used in the drug traffickers' illicit businesses."
The illegal activities apparently started three years before the formation of TSA, when the suspects tried and successfully smuggled 15 tons of cocaine through the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan. Five drug mules were apparently used every flight, each carrying two suitcases. This went on for 18 years, and a total of 20 tons of cocaine was sent to the US during the conspiracy.
A thorough investigation is now being headed by the TSA and DEA. They are also working with the FBI, the U.S. Marshals, the Police of Puerto Rico and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations. If proved guilty, the suspects are going to face 10 years of prison.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
