Airline Employees Used Jobs to Bypass Security and Smuggle Drugs Onto Commercial Flights, Feds Say

This story will be updated throughout the day:Drugs were one thing, but when FBI agents learned that one of the airline company employees offered to smuggle explosives on a commercial flight, they moved in to bust up the operation.Nine airline employees out of DFW International Airport were arrested last week and charged in connection with smuggling what they thought was methamphetamine onto commercial airlines, the U.S. attorney in Dallas said on Tuesday.Seven worked for Envoy Air, a regional carrier for American Airlines. Two others worked for Spirit Airlines, authorities said. The tenth suspect had not been arrested as of Tuesday morning.One of the defendants, Nelson Pabon, 47, told undercover officers that he could smuggle C-4 explosives for $5,500, after giving assurances that it wouldn't explode, according to the indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday."Nelson Pabon told undercover officers that his organization could smuggle anything onto a commercial airplane, including guns," the indictment said.U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said the defendants were not affiliated with any drug gangs and that the investigation remains ongoing."This is about greed and people who abuse positions of trust," she said.No actual drugs, firearms or explosives were smuggled onto airlines during the operation, Nealy Cox said.  Continue reading...

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