Authorities arrested a Delta Air Lines baggage handler yesterday for allegedly sneaking guns into Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, then passing them to a co-conspirator. Officials added that some of the weapons were loaded.
According to NBC News, 31-year-old Eugene Harvey would smuggle the guns into Hartsfield-Jackson, then turn them over to former Delta employee Mark Quentin Henry. Henry would then traffic them to New York:
Harvey, also a ramp agent, allegedly shuttled the firearms into the airport — avoiding detection since airport workers don't go through TSA screening, according to an affidavit filed by a senior federal air marshal, George Randell Taylor.
The 31-year-old Harvey came under suspicion as a result of a New York Police Department investigation into individuals trafficking stolen and straw-purchased firearms from Atlanta to the New York area.
Video footage from the Atlanta airport showed Harvey allegedly delivering the weapons to a man, Mark Quentin Henry, who would then carry them with him on flights to New York. Those guns were believed to have been handed over to a third co-conspirator who sold the weapons to a New York undercover officer, the affidavit says.
NBC News adds that Henry was arrested on Dec. 10 with 18 handguns in his possession, seven of which were loaded. Officials say he supplied a third party with a total of 129 assorted handguns and two assault rifles, and faces charges for criminal sale of firearms and criminal possession of weapons. Meanwhile, Harvey has been charged with entering an airport in violation of security requirements.
Officials believe that Henry and Harvey had been running the scheme since January.
[via NBC News]
