Drug smuggling

Undercover agents bust attempted meth smuggling operation run through DFW Airport

Ten airline employees who work at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport have been indicted for allegedly attempting to smuggle narcotics on commercial airliners.

Undercover FBI agents busted the attempted operation by negotiating deals for the transportation of certain amounts of what the suspects thought was methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox said Tuesday.

The employees agreed to ship meth to cities across the U.S. for as much as $1,500-2,000 per kilogram, the indictment said. Cox said the men executed shipments of 66 kilograms of the counterfeit meth during a 19-month investigation between August 2016 and February 2018.

The first shipment occurred on Sept. 30, 2016, when eight kilograms were sent to a Newark, New Jersey airport on American Airlines Flight 0952. At least eight other shipments – as large as 10 kilograms apiece – were made to Newark, Charlotte and Phoenix.

Law enforcement officers were at the receiving end of each flight to collect the fake contraband.

A shipment of 13 kilograms was in the works when the operation was thwarted Monday afternoon, according to the indictment.