81 Charged in Kennedy Airport Thefts
Designer clothing, guns, electronics, cars and airplane parts worth more than $13 million were stolen from Kennedy Airport by thieves who made the mistake of selling the goods to a government sting operation.
Airline employees and shippers were among the 81 people charged in the three-year operation, dubbed Operation KAT-Net for Kennedy Airport Theft Network.
After a round of arrests Wednesday morning, details were disclosed at a news conference by U.S. Atty. Zachary Carter, FBI Assistant Director James K. Kallstrom and Queens Dist. Atty. Richard Brown.
Carter said the investigation confirmed that criminals view Kennedy International Airport as “their private supermarket for merchandise to be stolen and then sold in a burgeoning underground economy.”
The case was developed by undercover federal and state agents who posed as operators of a warehouse for hot goods.
The agents paid about 7 cents or less on the dollar for the goods, which included Waterford crystal; Liz Claiborne, Donna Karan and Gap apparel; Raymond Weil wristwatches; computer parts; video cameras; CD-ROMS; cellular telephones, and thousands more pieces of clothing.
Carter said there was no ringleader and many of the suspects were lone operators.
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