New York – According to New York Times, setting an example for the growing corruption of airline companies, the court sentenced the airline baggage handler for life imprisonment. The handler was convicted of trafficking multi-million-dollar worth drugs.
Victor Bourne was a former employee of American Airlines at the Kennedy International Airport. He was a leader of a syndicate that stowed cocaine without detection of custom agents at the airport.
Last year’s trial showcased the horrible corruption at the airport, wherein employees sacked on passengers’ belongings, like perfume, laptops, and wine, to move large quantities of drugs. In the scheme “Bourne Organization”, 19 other employees pleaded guilty or were convicted. However, Bourne pleaded not guilty with defense that other employees were lying before the court. The Federal District Court judge in Brooklyn concluded that it was Bourne who lied before the court and not the 19 witnesses.
“You personally exacerbated one of this nation’s greatest blights,” Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said of Bourne. The life imprisonment sentence was one of the harshest for a drug-related case, meting out the sentence on Bourne perjured statements.
Judge Garaufis once served as the Federal Aviation Administration chief counsel. In a statement to the press, Garaufis said that he is not alarmed by the conviction of an airline employee in a drug-related case. The conviction of Bourne should set a warning to other airline employees, he said.
At court, Bourne pointed out that the government built their case against him on false evidence. The court acquitted Maria Alleyne, Bourne’s mother, of money-laundering chargers connected to the “Bourne Organization.” Prosecutors claimed that Maria placed them in a voodoo course during the trial.
Hiding spots of Bourne’s operation include loose bags and freights of Boeing 757, and giant containers of Boeing 767. Wall and ceiling spaces for Airbus A300 serve as stow-away spots as well.
