15 Miami Airport Workers Arrested in ‘Cocaine’ Sting
MIAMI — Fifteen airport workers were arrested Thursday on charges they diverted luggage containing fake cocaine around customs and into the hands of undercover agents posing as drug smugglers.
The arrests were the second major roundup of suspected drug smugglers at Miami International Airport, bringing to 74 the number of people apprehended since Aug. 25.
Undercover agents used fake cocaine in a yearlong sting operation. Ramp workers, supervisors and others allegedly used their airport access to smuggle drugs into the country, U.S. Atty. Thomas E. Scott said.
Surveillance photos and audiotapes showed workers removing luggage full of fake cocaine from planes, circumventing customs inspectors and handing off the luggage to the undercover agents.
More than 115 pounds of fake cocaine made it through Miami International Airport on eight occasions from October 1997 to September 1999, Customs special agent Frank Figueroa said.
The fake cocaine was planted on flights from the Caribbean and South America.
Those arrested Thursday worked for four companies that service the aircraft industry at the airport: Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprises Inc., American Sales and Management Organization, RS Investigations Inc. and Dispatch Service Inc.
Fifty-nine people were indicted on federal drug and weapon smuggling conspiracy charges Aug. 25. Thirty were American Airlines baggage handlers and ground crew workers at Miami International Airport.
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