The Cocaine Smugglers Of American Airlines Spotlight Puerto Rico's Drug Problems

September 22, 2009 at 9:30 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

They say it never snows in Puerto Rico, but there was a whole bunch of white powder hitting the fan when some crew were arrested over the weekend after their cocaine smuggling operation of over a decade was found out.

According to the AP, the workers, a "mix of baggage handlers and other members of the ground crew, were part of a ring suspected of sending at least 9,000 kilograms (19,840 pounds) of cocaine over the past decade to destinations that include Miami and Orlando, Florida, and New Jersey. Of course this just throws the spotlight onto Puerto Rico as a major stepping stone to the US for drug traffickers, what with the lack of customs since Puerto Rico is already American soil.

The little American Airlines smuggling operation is only the tip of the iceberg however, and it's interesting to note that Puerto Rico has had 619 killings so far this year—most drug-related—compared to New York City's figure of 325, mostly not drug-related.

So what can the Airline smugglers expect for their future? Of course the threat is life imprisonment, but then some Southwest Airlines smugglers in a similar operation were only sentenced to 10, 5 and 3.5 years of jail time. But then they hadn't been in operation for ten years.

[Photo: Angel Rivera-AP]

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