Baggage Handlers used Two-Bit Burglary Group to Obtain Weapons

Zabdiel Santiago-Balaguer, a Comair employee and the head of a gun and drug smuggling operation in Orlando, bought some of his weapons from a group of low-end burglars who had been breaking into gun shops across central Florida.^[1] Santiago-Balaguer then used his security clearance to help sneak guns and drugs aboard a Delta Airlines flight to Puerto Rico in March, he was subsequently arrested in Puerto Rico.^[2]

The arrests of Santiago-Balaguer and three others drew national attention and prompted demands in Congress for screening all employees at every U.S. airport.^[3] The breach that landed Santiago-Balaguer in jail was not the first however; an accomplice told police after his arrest that Santiago-Balaguer had made several gun and drug runs to the island from Orlando.^[4]

At the time, it was unclear where the guns had come from until the Orange County Sheriff's Office found that Santiago-Balaguer was buying guns from the aforementioned low-end burglary ring. The sheriff's Organized Crime Squad documents show:

• A string of gun-shop burglaries in Brevard, Lake and Orange counties last fall was being investigated by deputy sheriffs, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor.
• That bust in January alerted authorities that gun smugglers were breaching Orlando International Airport security with ease and sneaking the firearms in carry-on luggage on flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Two days after those arrests, ATF discovered that two guns allegedly stolen by the ring were recovered at crime scenes in Puerto Rico.^[5]

Santiago-Balaguer later confessed to the FBI that he ran the smuggling operation out of the airport, and identified the group of former Evans High School students as major suppliers of guns.^[6] Apparently Santiago-Balaguer's relationship with the gun-theft ring began over drinks at an Orlando nightclub last fall. After that, about twice-monthly shipments of guns and drugs began going out of OAI.^[7] The gun-shop burglars are accused of breaking into TD Weaponry in Clermont on Sept. 16 and taking 134 assault rifles and handguns.^[8]

More arrests are expected as the OPD Organized Crime Squad continues to follow stolen guns used in the current epidemic of violence that set records for murder last year, sheriff's Cpl. Eric Edwards said Friday, May 20.^[9]

One of Santiago-Balaguer's accomplices, identified as 22-year-old Thomas Anthony Munoz, was arrested with guns and drugs in his possession when he stepped off the Delta flight from OIA to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 5. In his carry-on duffel bag, authorities found 13 guns, a semi-automatic assault rifle and 8 pounds of marijuana.

We have previously spoken about the Santiago-Balaguer case here, and here.

We have previously discussed the crime of arms trafficking at length, here.

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^[1] Henry Pierson Curtis, Gun-shop thefts linked to airport smuggling ring, Orlando Sentinel, May 20, 2007, available at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-oiaguns2007may20,0,1429947.story?page=2&track=mostemailedlink (last visited May 22, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id. Orlando International Airport (OIA) officials will be spending millions of dollars to ensure that all employees would be screened every time they entered a secure area.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id. They also are suspected of taking 16 pistols and two rifles from Action Gun Outfitters in Melbourne one week later. Then, on Christmas Day, the team allegedly took 93 weapons -- including AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles and handguns -- from Universal Weapons in south Orange County.
^[9] Id.