American Airlines Employees Are Drug Smugglers

CNN told on Sept 15th that 23 suspects were copped Tuesday for allegedly channeling approximately $20 million worth of cocaine in a narcotraffic operation that has been going on since 1999.

The news network disclosed that 9 American Airways employees were among those brought into detention in Porto Rico. It seems that bags filled with illegitimate drugs were ladened onto commercial flights in San Juan. Agencies reported them as a transshipment point for drugs bound for cities on the America mainland.

In a Sept 16th news report by The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators stated smugglers allegedly enrolled members of the ground-service crew to take suitcases and load each of them with 30 kgs or 66 lbs of cocaine. According to the indictment, it is calculated that over 9,000 kgs (i.e. 19,842 lbs) of cocaine had been smuggled through American flights.

The Wall Street Journal quoted that the DEA had detected this activity in March, after a neighbor called police when he saw American Airlines transporting containers at a home in a residential area. Police afterwards retrieved cocaine from the containers, told by a man familiar with this investigation.

Stated in a Sept 15th report published in The Examiner, the narcotraffic organization is allegedly led by a former part-time American Airlines cargo employee, Wilfredo Rodriguez Rosado( age-37). Rosado surrendered at a federal courthouse Tuesday afternoon. Stated by his lawyer, Luis Rivera, Rodriguez no more works for the airway and can plead innocent.

If convicted, the suspects may face sentences that could range from 10 yrs to life in prison plus some personal fines up to $4 million.