Two United Airlines employees charged with stealing Marijuana from passenger luggage
It is reported that the scheme ran for years.
Last Friday, the United States Department of Justice charged two United Airlines staff members for stealing marijuana from passenger luggage at San Francisco International Airport. The two are now out on bail and awaiting a trial date.
Stealing weed from passenger bags
Joel Lamont Dunn and Adrian Webb work for United Airlines in San Francisco, and the two enlisted the help of other personnel at the airport to steal marijuana from passenger luggage. A confidential informant informed authorities of the scheme, which ran for years. Supposedly Dunn was the operation's leader, and Webb was his right hand.
Those taking the marijuana from passenger bags were paid as much as $2,000 per shift, amounting to $10,000 some weeks. The cannabis was taken from luggage and placed in 15-20 gallon trash bags before being transported to the employees' vehicles. In June 2021, Dunn and Webb were seen moving large black trash bags on airport security cameras. In October last year, two accomplices in the scheme were confronted by law enforcement while carrying vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana.
Simple Flying has contacted United Airlines for a statement but has not received a reply at the time of publication.
Other incidents with airline employees
In March, Vietnam Airlines flight attendants were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City after returning from Paris. Customs officials detected drugs in the bags of four flight attendants during a routine security check. The four flight attendants carried 112 tubes of toothpaste with 18.5 pounds of gray tablets and a further 42 tubes with 6.7 pounds of white powder.
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The flight attendants confessed to being paid the equivalent of $424 to transport the goods, which turned out to be methamphetamine, ketamine, and cocaine. Officials asked the flight attendants if they had noticed any signs of tampering, and they said they had not. Word of the arrests broke to the media, which interfered with the customs investigation. Customs officials hoped they would catch the person supposed to retrieve the items carried by the flight attendants, but no one showed up.
Last November, two Delta Air Lines flight attendants were arrested at Miami International Airport for drug smuggling. Marcelo Chaves and Ronaldo Maldonado had returned from Brazil on an American Airlines flight when they were caught.
"CBP officers at Miami airport arrested (2) US citizens after they arrived on a flight from Brazil for possession and transportation of narcotics. State Attorney's office accepted prosecution and both subjects were turned over to Dade PD at MIA Airport. This incident remains under investigation." - Robert Brisley
Customs officials quickly noticed the pair were not only carrying regular travel items, and substances were found in their luggage, including ketamine, methamphetamine, and GBL, a GHB substitute. The two men admitted they had done drugs while in Brazil but were unsure how the drugs had ended up in their luggage. Delta immediately suspended Chaves and Maldonado pending the outcome of the investigation.
