MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors said Friday that police detained an employee of the Mexico City airport who allegedly tried to smuggle 569 pounds (258 kilograms) of cocaine out of the terminal.
Federal prosecutors say ground-operations employee was driving an official pickup truck on the apron of the airport’s baggage area.
The man tried to drive out of an area where baggage was offloaded from flights originating in Central and South America.
Video monitoring alerted airport officials, and federal police stopped the man Wednesday with five suitcases containing cocaine.
Prosecutors said the bags had no identifying tags.
The man was arrested and taken to a federal prison, pending possible charges. Federal security commissioner Renato Sales said he was apparently part of a gang operating at the airport.
“This is not an isolated case, it is indeed an organization that we are investigating, one airline in particular,” Sales told local media.
In September, police at the airport seized a ton of so-called “black cocaine” in a freight area.
Federal police made the bust after learning the drug shipment was arriving from Bogota, Colombia.
Police found 40 sacks, each weighing 55 pounds (25 kilograms). The sacks were labeled zinc oxide, but tests showed it was cocaine and cocaine base mixed with another, unidentified substance.
Authorities in Colombia said the technique is used to disguise cocaine as printer ink.
Yahoo News