US AIRLINE STAFF RAN DRUGS RACKET

Airline food trays and items of baggage were used to smuggle drugs
into the United States through Miami airport, according to police in
the city. The drugs ring responsible was allegedly operated by ground
crew of American Airlines.

In raids before dawn yesterday, police arrested dozens of baggage
handlers working for the airline and a smaller number of employees of
Lufthansa Sky Chefs, which is contracted to supply meals to the
carrier. No managers, pilots or flight attendants with the airline
have been implicated.

The arrests were the culmination of a two-year under-cover
investigation led by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and
dubbed "Operation Ramp Rat" - after the slang name sometimes used for
the tarmac crew who movebaggage into and out of the bellies of jet
liners.

According to investigators, the ground personnel arrested yesterday
had routinely abused their special security clearances to launder the
illicit cargoes through Miami International Airport. As well as
cocaine, the ring allegedly handled other drugs such as marijuana, and
weapons.

The drugs were usuallybrought into Miami inside items of baggage from
countries including Bolivia, Chile and Colombia. Sometimes there were
concealed in food trolleys and meal trays. Trays that contained
cocaine rather than coffee creamer presumably never made it to the
seats of passengers.

The scam was broken by a classic sting, when agents posed as drugs
suppliers and arranged for some 660lb (300kg) of fake cocaine to be
handled by ring members. The agents also negotiated for the
distribution of explosives and illicit weapons.

Most of the 58 employees arrested early yesterday were seized at their
homes, though some were rounded up at Miami airport. They were
expected to appear in court late yesterday to face formal charges.

All appeared to have been leading double lives, drawing legitimate
salaries while earning considerably higher sums from their illicit
activities. Federal officials have long been worried that Miami
airport, as the main United States gateway from Latin America, was a
hive of drugs smuggling. American Airlines is the biggest carrier
serving Latin America.

Investigators believe that the ring members would identify the bags
containing the drugs at the moment of each jet's arrival and would
then pull them aside on the asphalt. Bags containing drugs were taken
to a domestic terminal or even to the parked cars of ring members to
avoid inspection by Customs.

The ring members were allegedly also active in distributing the
narcotics to cities along the eastern seaboard of the United States.
When not working for the airline, they would work as mules, taking
consignments of drugs in personal baggage to cities including New York
and Baltimore. They would often fly at little or no cost, because of
company discounts. To avoid security inspections at Miami, they would
use employee-only doorways to reach gate areas.

"Basically these employees were smuggling drugs and distributing them
themselves when they were off duty by flying, using their employees'
passes, through the United States," Bet Eaten, a spokesman for the
Drug Enforcement Administration, commented.

American Airlines, which has agreements with British Airways on shared
landing rights, said in a statement that the ring only involved a
fraction of its workforce and that it had co-operated with the
government in its investigation.

"While we are disturbed that a small group of employees were part of
this smuggling ring, their activities have been under federal
government and company surveillance for quite some time. We will
continue our co-operative efforts with law enforcement officials,"
the airline said.

There was no comment from Sky Chefs, which is partly owned by a unit
of Lufthansa, the German flag carrier.