Taken Into Custody At Palm Beach (FL) International Airport

An employee of Delta Airlines was arrested Saturday carrying a backpack containing $282,000, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida last Monday.

Airline ramp agent Jean Yves Selius was stopped after bypassing security checkpoints and using him employee ID to enter a secure area at the airport, according to a report from ABC News. He was wearing civilian clothes at the time of his arrest.

In the affidavit, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security stated that Selius was asked to show the contents of the backpack, which he did willingly. It contained "large packets of cash wrapped in clear, vacuum-sealed bundles," according to the document.

A drug-detection dog indicated that the backpack had been in contact with drugs.

Selius said he had been paid $1,000 to carry the backpack to an "unknown person in a bathroom inside the airport's sterile area." He said he had done similar drops over the past year, for which he had been paid $4,000.

He said that he knew that the backpack contained money that "did not come from a good cause."

Selius said that he knew the men who had paid him only as "Ricky" and "John".

Delta said his employment has been terminated, and the airline said it is fully cooperating with law enforcement agencies in the matter.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.dhs.gov