Orlando Airport Workers Busted In Federal Sting

Want to find out just how easy it is to smuggle something -- anything -- through the airport? All you have to do is spend a little money.

Undercover agents at Orlando International Airport arrested six people, five of them current or former baggage handlers, charging them with sneaking drugs and weapons aboard commercial passenger flights.

The suspects, most of whom made a whopping $6.00/hr, proved to be easy targets in the bribery sting. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports one suspect took two duffel bags he thought contained 25 pounds of marijuana each right past TSA security and delivered them to a gate.

News of the August 21st sting operation infuriated those who've lost loved ones to terrorism.

Take Cherry Hill (NJ) resident Robert Monetti, for instance. His son, Rick, was one of the 270 people killed aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when it was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

"Guess what. The terrorists are not stupid people. They notice what's been fixed and what hasn't," said Monetti in an interview with the Sun-Sentinel. "And so we'll spend billions of dollars buying these machines, and all they have to do is find a guy to bribe."

Across the country, about 900,000 airport workers walk right past security every day. The Sun-Sentinel reports only eight of the nation's airports require personnel with ramp access to be screened.

At OIA, the arrests earlier this month have resulted in one change. Ramp workers and construction personnel now face the possibility of random checks.

Things are a bit different at Miami International Airport, according to the Sun-Sentinel. In the wake of a drug bust in which 60 people were arrested in 1999, MIA is the only major airport in Florida that requires mandatory screening of all employees who enter secured areas.

So why doesn't Orlando International do the same? "All employees know they are subject to a physical search at this time," airport spokeswoman Lauren Stover told the newspaper. "Random elements are a must for a robust security system. The arrests in Orlando do not warrant emergency amendments to overhaul the nation's transportation system at this time, nor is it feasible to take away the resources we have dedicated to passenger screening and divert them to physical screening of airport workers."

"I hate to say this, but this is all political drivel," said Charles Slepian, who was also interviewed by the Sun-Sentinel. He's a security consultant at a company called Forseeable Risk Analysis, based in New York. "It's defending the status quo, and the status quo is a disgrace. It's a huge hole in security, and it's one the government refuses to address for whatever reason."

Critics also blast what they say is a ridiculous double standard when it comes to airport security. Passengers must be screened. Same goes for flight crews. Even judges have to take off their shoes at the security concourse.

"When I go to the airport, I'm a federal judge and I can't just waltz past security with a backpack," Federal Magistrate James Glazebrook said in denying bail to two of the baggage handlers arrested August 21st. "But we did trust Luis Morales and Angel Diaz to do that and . . . to have them breach their responsibilities and provide an enormous hole in what thousands of agents are trying to prevent is very sad."

FMI: www.orlandoairports.net