NEW YORK: The Brooklyn District Attorney and the New York Police Department announced that five people suspected of smuggling more than 153 guns on commercial flights from Georgia to New York have been arrested, prosecutors said.
The airline security breach put hundreds of travelers at risk and was allegedly aided by a Delta Airlines agent in Atlanta, who carried the weapons past security checks, officials said.
Former Delta employee Mark Henry, 45, carried bags full of guns and ammunition on 17 flights from Atlanta to New York from May to December, said the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
He and three other defendants have been charged in a 591-count indictment in Brooklyn that includes first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, which is punishable by up to 25 years.
A fifth man, Delta ramp agent Eugene Harvey, 31, was arrested in Georgia and arraigned in court on Monday, they added.
Chief culprit Henry was denied bail for his alleged role in the conspiracy to sell assault weapons, 9mm handguns and Glock pistols to an undercover NYPD detective in Brooklyn.