Baggage Handler Arms Deal Update

Earlier this week authorities arrested Thomas Anthony Munoz and Zabdiel J. Santiago Balaguer, two airline baggage handlers who allegedly used their employee uniforms and airport identification cards to enter restricted areas with a bag full of guns and drugs and then transport them via a commercial flight from Florida to Puerto Rico.^[1]

Two more men have since been arrested in connection with the same smuggling ring.^[2] Jeffrey Lorenzano Cruz and Joel Eluit Matos Cruz were arrested on Thursday, March 8, at a Sam’s Wholesale Club in Orlando after Jeffrey Lorenzano Cruz allegedly agreed to meet with an undercover agent there to sell drugs and two guns with silencers.^[3]

Jeffrey Lorenzano Cruz told authorities that Balaguer paid him $800 to take 20 pounds of marijuana to Puerto Rico in December 2006, and that drugs were received in Puerto Rico about twice a month.^[4] After his arrest, Joel Eluit Matos Cruz told authorities that his cousin paid him "a couple hundred dollars" to go with him to "take care of some business.”^[5]

Both men are charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance,^[6] and Possession of firearms that traveled in interstate commerce during a drug trafficking offense.^[7] We have discussed both of these offenses and this case previously, here.

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^[1] 2 more arrests made in airport drug-smuggling scheme in Florida, AP (via Sand Diego Union-Tribune), March 10, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id
^[5] Id.
^[6] 21 U.S.C. § 846 (2007).
^[7] 18 U.S.C. §924 (c)(2007).