Lost luggage airport driver charged over theft and drug smuggling

Stock photo, JFK Airport: PA

A man whose job it was to return lost luggage to fliers has been arrested for theft and drug smuggling.

Jorge Guerrero was was meant to reunite lost luggage with air passengers, but he and his ring allegedly stole luxury goods from them first, exchanged them in Ecuador for drugs, which were then smuggled into the US to be sold, according to the NY Daily News.

Mr Guerrero worked for a company that contracted with American Airlines, United, JetBlue and Southwest, and was supposed to drive baggage that didn't make its connecting flight from LaGuardia and JFK airports back to their owners.

But before he returned the luggage, he would remove valuables first; after a raid on his home in Queens on Tuesday morning, authorities found more than 50 handbags from designers like Prada and Burberry, electronic goods like iPads, iPods, laptops and cameras, around 50 watches, 30 pairs of sunglasses and even Victoria's Secret underwear.

New York's special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget Brennan, told the NY Daily News that Guerrero, his wife and four others used their connections with the airline to take the goods to Ecuador to sell.

They would then buy cheap cocaine and heroin in South America and smuggle back through JFK airport in empanadas, chocolate bars, and even on scuba diving certificates saturated in liquid cocaine to sell in America, according to seattlepi.com.

Guerrero and his wife, Cecilia Guerrero, both pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted criminal possession of drugs, and conspiracy to distribute drugs.

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