Airport Drug Trafficking Sting Leads To 10 Arrests

DALLAS, TX — Ten people were indicted Tuesday for an alleged scheme to traffic drugs through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The indictment charges the ten for the transportation and delivery of counterfeit drugs onto commercial airline flights.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox said the drugs were fake, and that the parties on the receiving end of the shipments were law enforcement agents.

One defendant also stated he would also be willing to ship guns illegally on commercial airlines, Cox said. All told, the defendants facilitated the transportation of 66 kilograms of counterfeit drugs.

The group was working to ship another 13 kilograms of counterfeit drugs when they were arrested.

The counterfeit drugs were transported to various locations throughout the United States, including Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona.

“We have zero tolerance for employees who seek to undermine and evade the security protocols at airports,” Cox said. “Smugglers are constantly seeking new ways to move illegal contraband across the country and we will do whatever necessary to thwart these criminals at every turn. Working together with federal and local law enforcement partners, we continue to prioritize efforts to help mitigate the insider threat to aviation security.”

The sting began in 2016, after the FBI and other law enforcers began investigating people who said they were willing to transport narcotics by way of commercial airline.

“The FBI would like to thank its local and federal partners that assisted in this investigation. This joint operation allowed us to successfully arrest ten individuals who used their positions of employment and access to compromise an aspect of airport security,” said Eric K. Jackson, FBI Dallas Special Agent-In-Charge. “We at the FBI will continue to work diligently with our partners to ensure we aggressively investigate anyone who poses a threat to or attempts to compromise any aspect of U.S. aviation security.”

The indictment charges the following people with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a schedule II controlled substance: Nelson Pabon, 47; Jean Loui Vargas-Malave, 28; Juan Camacho Melendez, aka “Kendo Kaponi” and “Anthony,” 22; Ruben Benitez-Matienzo, 45; Jose Luis Gaston-Rolon, 24; Joshua Israel Pagan Zapata, 21; Domingo Villafane Martinez, III, 30; Luis Javier Collazo Rosado, aka “Luisito,” 21; Michael LNU, and Cristian David Cruz-Rodriguez, 23.

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