Assistants Arrested for Smuggling $8 Million in Drug Money from NY to Dominican Republic

Four assistants from to fly there were arrest Tuesday accused of abusing “their benefits as airline employees” to smuggle 8 millions dollars from drug trafficking from New York to Dominican Republicreported the authorities federal.

• The suspects were identified as Charlie Hernandez42 years old (New Jersey); Sarah Valerio Pujols42 years old (The Bronx); Emmanuel Torres, 34 years old (Brooklyn); and Jarol Fabio35 years old (Manhattan), as the considered with “transmission unauthorized money,” prosecutors said.

The suspects were flying for various commercial companies with routes to the Dominican Republic. Two of them were employees of Delta Airlinesas confirmed by the airline.

• “Delta “He has fully cooperated with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so,” he said in a statement.

The four were arrest Tuesday and face several expenses related to the case, according to NBC News citing a spokesperson for Homeland Security Studies.

The suspects had access to the “Known Crewmember (KCM)” lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, giving them fast, X-ray-free passage through securitysaid the authorities.

“Of course, with these methods of security rest, the benefits of KCM to allow assistants from to fly avoid the security of the an airport with large sums of money money that money caught,” wrote a Homeland Security Investigations special agent in a complaint.

They are accused of smuggling about 8 millions dollars in “money greatly” to Dominican Republicprosecutors said.

“As said, these assistants from to fly smuggling millions of dollars of drug money and money from law enforcement who thought it was drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic for many years abusing them benefits as airline employees,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

How they worked

The four took advantage of theirs lighter security restrictions for cash through Queen’s airport checkpoints from around 2014.

Each of them was paid fee for being a mule (usually a portion of the drug money). When she arrived Dominican Republicthey delivered the money to drug traffickers.

The complaint reveals that an informant gave Hernández $121,215, money “derived from human trafficking narcotics“, and then he gave hills 61,215 dollars until they bring to Dominican Republic in December 2019.

In a case Torresaccused of smuggling at least 1.5 millions dollars in money drug trafficking a Dominican Republic between 2015 and 2022, according to the complaint.

Fabio scored 1.5 millions of dollars between 2015 and 2023, claiming that the authorities federal.