DFW Workers Arrested For Offering To Ship Drugs & Explosives On Commercial Flights

DFW Workers Arrested For Offering To Ship Drugs & Explosives On Commercial Flights

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This is quite disturbing, though I guess not surprising, since there will always be greedy people out there.

There are quite a few airline employees who use their security clearance to smuggle drugs. It’s only natural that some people would be willing to do this to make extra money. This seems to be especially common with flight attendants and ground agents, as we’ve seen plenty of stories of drugs being transported both domestically and internationally (like this former JetBlue flight attendant, who made a run for it after being caught with 70 pounds of cocaine in her bag at LAX).

To be clear, this still only represents a tiny percentage of the overall airline workforces, so I’m not suggesting most flight attendants and ground agents are smugglers. Hopefully that’s obvious.

While I sort of expect that to be a thing, something much more disturbing has emerged from DFW, about airline employees who were willing to smuggle explosives onto a plane.

Dallas News covers a two year undercover investigation that the FBI has conducted, which saw nine people get arrested. This includes seven Envoy Air employees (a subsidiary of American Airlines), and two Spirit Airlines employees. According to the story:

When one of the defendants, Nelson Pabon, 47, allegedly told undercover officers that he could smuggle C-4 explosives on board a plane for $5,500, agents decided to end their two-year sting operation and make the arrests.

“Nelson Pabon told undercover officers that his organization could smuggle anything onto a commercial airplane, including guns,” the indictment said.

Agents used undercover officers who told the suspects they had methamphetamine that needed to be shipped to other parts of the country, Nealy Cox said. The defendants negotiated shipping prices of between $1,500 and $2,000 per kilogram, she said.

More than 66 kilograms of fake methamphetamine were shipped to Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix and Newark, NJ, from August 2016 to February 2018, she said.

Based on the investigation, it’s said that the defendants weren’t affiliated with any drug gangs, but rather this was purely about the money. Furthermore, no drugs or firearms were actually smuggled onto planes during the operation.

What I find most disturbing here is that I wonder how far they would have been willing to take this. For example, a few years ago a chartered MetroJet flight from Sharm El Sheikh crashed shortly after takeoff due to a bomb that was planted on it. An EgyptAir mechanic is said to have planted that bomb, as his cousin had joined Islamic State in Syria.

In that case it sounds like the reasons may have been more political than financially motivated, though it’s still concerning to think that people are willing to put others’ lives at risk to this degree in exchange for money.

(Tip of the hat to Drew)

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  1. Paolo Diamond

    This hits rather close to home in the context of 1. Forever pointing the finger at other countries for lax security and 2. Repeated assurances that this kind of thing is impossible in the US.
    Of course the great and dear leader would say everything would be fine if only the supervisor had a gun at hand.

  2. Max Johnson New Member

    A couple of years ago I flew YWG ORD LHR with UA. My bags were tagged properly with a priority sticker and I had three hours connecting time. I arrived in London to be told that my luggage had gone to Hong Kong, but that CX would fly it back the next day.

    All well and good.

    However, the question of how this could happen in today's environment of security and bar codes perplexed...

    A couple of years ago I flew YWG ORD LHR with UA. My bags were tagged properly with a priority sticker and I had three hours connecting time. I arrived in London to be told that my luggage had gone to Hong Kong, but that CX would fly it back the next day.

    All well and good.

    However, the question of how this could happen in today's environment of security and bar codes perplexed me. Another carrier's baggage helper told me that in all likelihood my case had been used as a mule. In Chicago they would have opened it and put in drugs, guns, gold or whatever they were smuggling and sent it to HKG where their colleagues would retrieve the contraband and "find" the bag before returning it to me. A very clever alibi.

  3. txrus Guest

    Yet another illustration, as if it were needed, as to why airport employees shouldn't get a free pass when it comes to security. Same goes for TSA-plenty of those people have been caught doing exactly the same thing.

  4. mark Guest

    ... purely about the money...
    download the IRS Form 990's. It's all there in black-and-white to see:
    https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about/annual-financial-reports

    ... purely about the money...

  5. Debit Guest

    Nothing wrong in this.

    Our president is selling our national security for Chinese money.

    So we have good role models.

  6. Endre Diamond

    ...weren't affiliated with any drug gangs, but rather this was purely about the money... I believe if you do something for someone for money (or even for free), at that point you are affiliated. :-)

  7. The nice Paul Diamond

    From one of the greatest movies ever made:

    "Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped, would you really, Old Man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare. Free of income tax, Old Man. Free of income tax."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21h0G_gU9Tw

    Utterly appalling and inhuman cynicism, verging on evil. Though...

    From one of the greatest movies ever made:

    "Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped, would you really, Old Man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare. Free of income tax, Old Man. Free of income tax."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21h0G_gU9Tw

    Utterly appalling and inhuman cynicism, verging on evil. Though ironically, given the setting of The Third Man in the aftermath of the slaughter of the Second World War, it seems the price of life has plummeted in the intervening years.

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The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Paolo Diamond

This hits rather close to home in the context of 1. Forever pointing the finger at other countries for lax security and 2. Repeated assurances that this kind of thing is impossible in the US. Of course the great and dear leader would say everything would be fine if only the supervisor had a gun at hand.

0
Max Johnson New Member

A couple of years ago I flew YWG ORD LHR with UA. My bags were tagged properly with a priority sticker and I had three hours connecting time. I arrived in London to be told that my luggage had gone to Hong Kong, but that CX would fly it back the next day. All well and good. However, the question of how this could happen in today's environment of security and bar codes perplexed me. Another carrier's baggage helper told me that in all likelihood my case had been used as a mule. In Chicago they would have opened it and put in drugs, guns, gold or whatever they were smuggling and sent it to HKG where their colleagues would retrieve the contraband and "find" the bag before returning it to me. A very clever alibi.

0
txrus Guest

Yet another illustration, as if it were needed, as to why airport employees shouldn't get a free pass when it comes to security. Same goes for TSA-plenty of those people have been caught doing exactly the same thing.

0
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