AIRLINE WORKERS HELD IN DRUG PROBE

MIAMI (AP) -- Dozens of American Airlines employees and contract workers
were arrested today in a federal investigation into a drug ring that
authorities said used the airline's planes to smuggle drugs into the United
States.

Undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also
approached suspects about shipping guns and military-style explosives in the
sting.

``What they had was a very elaborate scheme for aiding in the distribution
of narcotics and weapons,'' said AFT spokesman Ed Halley. ``For a price
these individuals would bypass security and deliver anything that was paid
for to a person that was paying for it.''

By mid-morning, at least 37 people had been arrested at home and a few were
caught at Miami International Airport. Fifty-eight people were named in
multiple sealed indictments resulting from the investigation called
Operation Ramp Rat, said Brent Eaton, a federal Drug Enforcement
Administration spokesman.

The drugs, which included cocaine and marijuana, were taken to points
including Philadelphia and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Eaton said some contraband
was smuggled in airline food trays, and the people arrested included
employees of American contractors such as Lufthansa Sky Chefs.

American Airlines, the largest carrier servicing Latin America, issued a
statement from its corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, saying the
company has cooperated in the 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,'' the statement said.

The company was not expecting any disruption of service, spokeswoman Martha
Pantin said.

The people indicted were mainly ramp workers and baggage handlers, agents
said. Two U.S. Immigration and Naturalization agents were arrested, and a
Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who worked part time as a baggage handler
was indicted, Eaton said.

No one in management was arrested, and no American pilots or flight
attendants were indicted, he said.

``Because it was an undercover operation, it's hard to judge, but they were
making lots of money doing this, more than their salaries,'' Eaton said.

ATF agents said suspects used their security clearances to get drugs,
handguns and explosives provided by the agents onto airport ramps, where it
was loaded onto planes, Halley said.

``In the minds of these violators they were transporting the real thing,''
Halley said. ``Greed is the bottom line there. They did it all for a
price.''

Six people also were arrested in eastern New York state in a separate but
related case, Eaton said, but provided no details.

Fifteen indictments were to be unsealed later today at the U.S. Attorney's
office and those arrested were expected to make their first court
appearances.

Drug agents in Puerto Rico arrested an American Airlines ramp supervisor in
February on charges of trying to smuggle 205 pounds of cocaine into the
United States.

In July 1997, federal agents in Miami arrested six American Airlines
mechanics suspected of smuggling a half-ton of cocaine and heroin into the
United States aboard jetliners by stashing the drugs behind cabin walls and
ceiling panels and in the cockpit electronics.

Those arrests came a day after 12 Delta Air Lines employees in Puerto Rico
were indicted on charges of helping smuggle nearly $1 billion worth of
cocaine for Colombia's Cali cartel.

In March 1996, mechanics conducting an overnight maintenance check on an
American Airlines jet in Dallas found 64 pounds of cocaine stuffed into the
wall panels of the Boeing 757's cockpit.

The jet had made stops in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and several
U.S. cities before the drugs were discovered.