“These individuals were involved in a conspiracy to traffic massive quantities of illegal narcotics to the continental United States,” Rodríguez-Vélez said in a statement.

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Six current and former TSA employees, José Cruz-López, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo, Keila Carrasquillo, Carlos Rafael Adorno-Hiraldo, Antonio Vargas-Saavedra, and Daniel Cruz-Echevarríae allegedly smuggled the cocaine through while employed as TSA officers at the airport, where their responsibilities included providing security and screening for checked and carry-on baggage placed on outbound flights.

According to the news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, defendants Edwin Francisco Castro, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo and Ferdinand López served as facilitators between the drug trafficking organizations and the TSA employees who smuggled the cocaine onto the airplanes. Miguel Ángel Pérez-Rodríguez, who worked for the airport security company, was a source of supply of cocaine to the drug trafficking organization.

Rodríguez-Vélez said defendant Javier Ortiz began assisting drug trafficking organizations as an employee of Airport Aviation Services as a baggage handler/ramp employee. He allegedly would pick up suitcases he knew contained cocaine from the mules at airline check-in counters. Ortiz would then place the suitcases into the X-Ray machines being monitored by the TSA drug trafficking organization members, who cleared thems. After the suitcases had been cleared by TSA members, Ortiz took the suitcases to their designated flight, making sure no narcotic K-9 unit or law enforcement personnel were present when the suitcase went from the checkpoint to the airplane. Once the suitcases were loaded onto the plane, Ortiz would call the drug trafficking organization member with the all clear and the mules would then board the plane. Ortiz also paid the TSA employees for clearing the suitcases through TSA security, according to the indictment.

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Defendant Tomas Dominguez-Rohena assisted the drug trafficking organization by taking the suitcases he knew contained cocaine after they had been cleared by TSA members or smuggled past security to their designated flight; defendant José Gabriel López-Mercado served as a mule.