Posted on 06/21/2002 5:45:12 AM PDT by areafiftyone
(New York-AP) -- An employee at the John F Kennedy International Airport, his wife and another man have been arrested on charges of helping smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.
Police say they charged Sergio Salazar and Angelica Arce-Salazar, both of Queens, and Ramon Thomas Delacruz of Rockland County with alien smuggling today
Prosecutors say 42-year-old Sergio Salazar was working for a food and beverages provider at JFK Airport, where he smuggled illegal immigrants through a private tunnel connecting international flights to an immigration inspections area. They say he would help them enter the corridor by unlocking the door and turning off the alarms.
Then he had 39-year-old Delacruz contact the arriving immigrants on his cell phone and instruct them how to get through the tunnel and avert the inspection area.
Prosecutor's allege that Salazar's 29-year-old wife would relay information between the two men.
If convicted, the three suspects face prison sentences from three to ten years for each immigrant they helped smuggle. They also each face a $250,000 fine.
So food and beverage employees have access to this sensitive area and can turn off alarms? Absolutely unbelievable.
A few months ago they found a blocks of cocaine taped to a food and beverage cart at Miami airport. The good news, I guess, is that it wasn't explosives.
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