Feds: Crooked TSA Screeners Arrested in Drug Trafficking Scheme

Editor`s note: yet another TSA scandal, when will they dismantle this inept institution?


By JASON RYAN (@JasonRyanABC) and LEE FERRAN
ABC News
April 25, 2012

Multiple airport screeners have been arrested for allegedly taking handsome bribes to look the other way while loads of illegal drugs slipped through security at Los Angeles International Airport, federal officials announced today.

Two current and two former officials at the Transportation Security Administration were arrested in the last 48 hours in connection with at least five incidents from February 2011 to July 2011 in which on duty screeners took payments of up to $2,400 to allow suitcases filled with drugs to pass unimpeded through X-ray machines at LAX, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.'s office said in a statement.

According to Birotte's office, the scheme was uncovered after a member of the alleged conspiracy accidentally went through the wrong security line and was busted by TSA screeners who were not in on the plot. In another case, a TSA screener unknowingly arranged with a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration to receive $1,200 for a shipment of methamphetamine to pass through security.

The current TSA employees, 23-year-old John Whitfield and 25-year-old Capeline McKinney, and the former screeners, 30-year-old Naral Richardson and 27-year-old Joy White, are all expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles today. If convicted, each could potentially face life in prison, Birotte's office said. The two current officials have been suspended indefinitely without pay, officials from the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News. The plot also allegedly involved a couple of known drug runners.

"Airport screeners act as a vital checkpoint for homeland security, and air travelers should believe in the fundamental integrity of security systems at our nation's airports," Birotte said. "The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs."

A spokesperson for the TSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report, but Randy Parsons, the TSA Federal Security Director at LAX, said in the statement from Birotte's office the TSA "has assured the investigating agencies we will do everything we can to assist in their investigation."

"While the arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards," he said.

US Soldiers sold weapons and drugs to DEA agents posing as Los Zetas

More Furious: U.S. Soldiers Trafficking Arms, Drugs to DEA Agents Posing as Los Zetas

Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
April 5, 2012

In case you missed it this week, an Afghan War veteran and one other active duty serviceman – along with multiple accomplices, were indicted for their involvement in a year-long federal agency sting. This particular story reads like a supermarket aisle fantasy novel… if only it were.

A gang which included US soldiers allegedly offered ‘wet-work’ murder-for-hire services, narcotics trafficking and stolen US military weapons to undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents… posing as foot soldiers for Mexico’s notorious Los Zetas drug cartel.

Following the conclusion of a year long sting which ended in Laredo Texas, Kevin Corley, a 29 year old formerly active US Army Drill Seargent and Afghan veteran from Fort Carson, active duty soldier Samuel Walker, 28, both of Colorado Springs, CO, and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver, CO, while two other men – Marcus Mickle, 20, and Calvin Epps, 26 have been arrested and charged in a conspiracy related to drug trafficking and attempted murder. A sixth man, Mario Corley, 40, from Saginaw, Texas, was also arrested in Charleston, S.C. as part of the same investigation.

During the arrest on last Saturday, another man, Jerome Corley was fatally shot.
The federal sting started back in January 2011, when Mr. Mickle entered negotiations with what he thought were members of the Lot Zetas Cartel, in order to purchase marijuana in return for stolen weapons.
(From left, Kevin Corley, Shavar Davis and Samuel Walker)

Mickle and Epps, first tried to organize the drugs shipment with the undercover agents, but are said to have brought Kevin Corley in after agents inquired about arms.

Corley later provided security for a 500 lb shipment of marijuana trucked from Texas to South Carolina, according to the complaint.

In addition, Kevin Corley offered to provide full combat training for 40 cartel members in just two weeks. The Army soldier explained that an array of military weapons could be easily stolen from army posts. According to the complaint document, Corley also “offered to provide tactical training for cartel members, including approaches, room clearing, security, and convoy security. Kevin Corley also offered to purchase weapons for the cartel under his name as long as he could destroy serial numbers.”

Kevin Corley traveled to Laredo on Jan. 7, to meet with undercover DEA agents and discuss the murder-for-hire scheme, where, according to the official complaint filing (PDF), “Kevin Corley proposed a $50,000 fee to perform the contract killing and retrieve the 20 kilograms of cocaine, and Kevin Corley offered to refund the money if the victim survived… also told the agents he would accept cocaine in lieu of the fee for his service, but ultimately agreed to accept $50,000 and five kilograms of cocaine for a full team.”

So we have Kevin Corley leading a US Military hit-squad for the DEA’s faux Zetas, and later conspiring to supplying drugs to these same Zetas.

A few interesting questions remain regarding this latest bizarre operation:

One of the unanswered questions here is why Kevin Corley and Walker was discharged from duty right before their unit were due to be deployed to Afghanistan in February?...

(click here to read the rest of the article)

Allegations of the Queen`s fortune from drug trafficking...not at all entirely surprising if true

UK queen accused of drug trafficking
Press TV
Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:27PM GMT

Britain’s financial regulator has fined the British queen’s bank for money laundering failures as a French presidential candidate has said part of the queen’s fortune “comes from drug trafficking.” 

credit: PressTV

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined the British queen’s bank, Coutts Bank, 8.75 million pounds for failing to carry out correct checks on “politically exposed persons” and prevent money laundering.

“The failings at Coutts were serious, systemic and were allowed to persist for almost three years. They resulted in an unacceptable risk of Coutts handling the proceeds of crime,” the FSA said in a statement posted on its official website.

The news comes less than a week after a fringe candidate for April’s French presidential election said the British queen owed her fortune to drugs money laundered by “Jewish bankers in The City.”

On 21 March, Jacques Cheminade, an independent presidential candidate running in the French election, said, “a part of the fortune of the Queen of England comes from drug trafficking.”

“No, not any property, there are several other sources. But it is a series of trafficking in which, yes, there is trafficking drugs,” Cheminade said on television LCP French National Assembly.

Known as the British queen’s banker, Coutts was criticised for “significant, widespread and unacceptable” failures, as described by Tracey McDermott, acting director of enforcement and financial crime.

“The size of the financial penalty demonstrates how seriously we view its failures,” McDermott said.

ISH/PKH/HE