Once again, a major seizure of drugs is making news here in South Florida. News agencies are reporting that employees at Miami International Airport were arrested over allegations that they had participated in heroin and
cocaine trafficking.
More than a dozen people, some of whom work at Miami International Airport, have been arrested in a cocaine smuggling operation, according to federal agents.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said 27 people were involved in using commercial cargo flights from Colombia, Panama and Venezuela to smuggle hundreds of kilos of cocaine, as well as heroin, into South Florida.
Eighteen people have been arrested and accused of importing multi-kilogram loads of cocaine and heroin. Federal authorities are searching for nine more suspects.
If convicted of charges including importation and possession and distribution of cocaine and heroin, the suspects face a maximum penalty of 10 years to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Agents seized a total of 204 kilos of cocaine, four kilos of heroin and $74,000.
The arrests follow a large drug trafficking case in 1999 in which nearly five-dozen people, including 30 American Airlines baggage handlers and ground crewmembers, were arrested. They were accused of hiding $21 million worth of drugs in carry-on luggage, food carts and garbage bags.
The suspects who have been arrested faced a judge in federal court Friday afternoon.
Cocaine and heroin trafficking can be handled by both the State Attorney's Office in the county in which the alleged offense occurred, or by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Typically, the U.S. Attorney's Office will make the offense a federal matter if the amount of the drugs is substantial or if the incident involved allegations of international trafficking.
On the state level, heroin and cocaine trafficking are both very serious crimes. Florida state law has
mandatory minimum sentences that punish even first-time offenders.
Florida's government, in an effort to fight drug crime, believes that the only way to curtail the flow of drugs throughout the State of Florida is to require all convicted traffickers to serve mandatory prison time. These mandatory sentences take away the judges' ability to exercise their discretion. Even if the judge believes that the accused trafficker is a good person who made on mistake, he or she is required by law to sentence that person to prison.
Only the State Attorney's Office can waive a mandatory sentence on a drug trafficking case.
I practice
criminal defense in Miami-Dade County and Broward County. I represent clients charged with a variety of drug-related crimes, from simple possession to trafficking.
If you or someone you know has been charged with a drug-related offense,
call me today.