Airline Workers Charged in Drug Scheme in Miami

Twenty-two current and former Eastern Airlines employees and one Air Mexicana worker were indicted Friday on charges that they helped smuggle nearly $1 billion worth of cocaine through Miami International Airport.

The 45-count federal indictment said the defendants used their jobs as cargo and baggage handlers to prevent detection of shipments of cocaine into the airport.

Meanwhile, Eastern announced the firings of 50 other ramp and airport service workers here because of drug-related infractions of company work rules.

A company spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said those indicted also will be fired.

The indictment, resulting from a Drug Enforcement Administration undercover probe, accused the Mexicana employee and four of the Eastern workers of organizing the scheme. The five were charged with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

828 Pounds Seized

DEA agents said Colombian drug smugglers aided by the cargo handlers used commercial jets to deliver as much as 300 pounds of cocaine a week through Miami from about June, 1982, until Aug. 24, 1985, when authorities seized an 828-pound shipment.

U.S. Atty. Leon Kellner said hundreds of pounds of cocaine were smuggled aboard Eastern jets on at least 18 other occasions.

Authorities have said the total shipments were valued at nearly $1 billion. The handlers reportedly concealed the drug-laden baggage from U.S. Customs agents and narcotics-sniffing dogs, then tagged the luggage for passage to U.S. cities.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of “all profits and proceeds” gained through the illegal activities by the five alleged organizers.

Eleven of those named in the indictment were arrested Friday; two already were in jail on other charges, and 10 remained at large, Kellner said.

Court Date

The subjects in custody are to appear before a U.S. magistrate Monday. The airline applauded the indictment.

In August, 1985, the Federal Aviation Administration fined Eastern nearly $1.4 million after more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine valued at $430 million was found aboard two jets flying into Miami from Colombia.

Last year, the airline began random drug checks of employee lockers and set up a hot line that employees could use to phone in anonymous tips about drug use by fellow workers.