Article Image

IPFS News Link • Transportation: Air Travel

Southwest Airlines baggage handlers ran alleged marijuana ring from Oakland

• www.theguardian.com

Southwest Airlines baggage handlers took part in a marijuana distribution operation that stretched from Oakland, California, to Little Rock, Arkansas, a recently unsealed federal affidavit alleged.

Nine of the accused have been arrested, two are serving sentences for other crimes, and three are still at large.

The operation, the Drug Enforcement Agency said in its statement, allowed the baggage handlers – who weren't required to go through a full security screening – to carry duffel bags and backpacks filled with plastic bags of the drug into the Oakland airport, where they handed them off to passengers who had already been through TSA checkpoints. The passengers then flew to cities including Little Rock and New Orleans, where they passed off the bags.

At the center of the investigation are three Southwest employees: Kenneth Fleming, 32, Michael Vindeau, 28, and Keith Mayfield, 34, all Oakland-native baggage handlers. Mayfield's financial records "show activity consistent with money laundering", according to the DEA.