Drug trafficking

12 individuals indicted, arrested for drug trafficking in Puerto Rico

Six former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, three airline workers and three other individuals were arrested Monday for drug trafficking. The investigation that spurred the arrests was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), TSA, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) and the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD).

The indictment, unsealed Monday, alleges that during the course of the conspiracy, the defendants smuggled suitcases, each containing at least eight to 15 kilograms of cocaine, through the TSA security system at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (LMMIA). At times they used as many as five mules on each flight, with each mule checking-in up to two suitcases. From 1998 through 2016, the defendants helped smuggle approximately 20 tons of cocaine through LMMIA.