Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that a group of commercial airline flight attendants used their security clearance to smuggle $8 million in drug money through New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport over several years.
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According to the New York Post, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York unsealed federal indictments that revealed that the four flight attendants used their security restrictions to funnel illicit cash through airport checkpoints. “These flight attendants smuggled millions of dollars of drug money and law enforcement funds that they thought was drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic over many years by abusing their privileges as airline employees,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement.
The alleged smugglers Jarol Fabio,35, Emmanuel Torres,34, Sarah Valerio Pujols,42, and Charlie Fernandez,42 — are accused of transporting drug money to the Dominican Republic starting as early as 2014. Federal agents said the smugglers were paid a fee for serving as mules. Upon their arrival in the Dominican Republic, they would hand the cash to drug trafficking contacts.
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They also flew for various international commercial airlines that were not identified and worked routes to the Dominican Republic so they could take advantage of the relatively lax security measures for airline employees. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York’s El Dorado Task Force, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office broke the case with the help of confidential informants who unraveled the years-long operation.
“This investigation has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the airline security industry and illuminated methods that narcotics traffickers are utilizing,” said Ivan Arvelo, Special Agent in Charge of HSI New York. Federal agents said the bust revealed crucial security gaps in the airline industry, which authorities want to address.
