Two Delta Airlines ramp agents were arrested for smuggling more than $3 million worth of ketamine through John F. Kennedy International Airport, federal authorities said.
Leandro Alleyne and Fabian Innis were collared after they were allegedly spotted grabbing backpacks and suitcases off a just-arrived flight Sept. 19, loading them onto a baggage transportation vehicle before ferrying the luggage to a deserted area of the tarmac, according to court papers.
Neither agent had authority to remove luggage, and Alleyne was not assigned to use the baggage vehicle at the time, authorities said.
Investigators for the US Department of Homeland Security spotted Alleyne, 38, of Brooklyn, and Innis, as they approached Flight 219, which had arrived from Copenhagen, Denmark, and later swooped in after the pair had started opening the bags, according to court documents.
They discovered each backpack contained multiple clear plastic bags containing a white crystallized substance, which field tests confirmed as ketamine. The pair were caught with 134 pounds of the drug, with a street value of $3 million, officials said.
Four of the suitcases bore luggage tags with the names of two different Flight 219 passengers, prosecutors said in Brooklyn Federal Court papers. The complaint did not specify if the passengers were part of the smuggling operation, but did say Alleyne and Innis were working with others.
“It appears that the backpacks were stowed away within the luggage. Somebody on the other side must have put the backpacks into the luggage after they went through customs,” a source told The Post. “It looks like an inside job.”
Delta personnel told investigators there was “no legitimate reason” for Alleyne and Innis to transport baggage or remove the contents of any checked bags, the feds said in court papers.
Innis allegedly confessed “he has done this at least five to 10 times in the past” with Alleyne and “he knew the bags contained drugs based on conversations with Alleyne, but did not know the type of drug,” authorities said in legal papers.
He was paid “approximately $4,000 to $5,000 per flight,” Innis said before he was arrested, according to federal authorities.
“That is a very large amount of ketamine,” Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, who is not handling the matter, told The Post. “If I were running that case, I’d be more interested in where it was going rather than where it was coming from, because that is what would have the greatest impact on our community.”
The US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn declined comment.
“Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful conduct by anyone at any place in our global operation and will always work with law enforcement to that end,” a Delta spokesman said.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of drug importation and drug smuggling, and were each released on a $50,000 bond.
Ketamine, a decades-old surgical drug, has made headlines recently as a trendy psychedelic therapy which caused the death of “Friends” actor Matthew Perry.
