Five employees of JetBlue and Delta are now facing decades behind bars after using Boston’s Logan Airport to smuggle $417,000 worth of drug money onto flights.

Rupert Crossley, 25, of Lynn, Eric Vick, 24, of Mattapan, Anthony Trotman, 24, of Boston, Dino Dunkley, 31, of Boston, and Alvin Leacock, 27, of Hollywood, Fla., were reportedly paid for their actions by a “cooperating witness involved in the investigation.” Dunkley was an employee of Delta, while the other men were employees of JetBlue. They each face up to 20 years in prison on a total of nine counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States by way of TSA

The United States Attorney’s Office wrote in a press release that the men “transported cash, which was represented to be drug proceeds, past Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials and security check points and, in some instances, aboard commercial airline flights at Logan International Airport.” Dunkley, who worked as a customer service ramp agent, allegedly teamed with Vick to smuggle the money onto commercial flights from Boston to various locations in Florida.

However, this isn’t the first time that airport employees have been involved in smuggling operations. Last January, a bag handler at LAX was sentenced to five years in prison after helping bring drug-filled suitcases onto flights. In 2011, several international travelers at JFK Airport were detained after Customs officers discovered drugs placed in their bags by corrupt airport employees. A separate smuggling trial involving a former JFK baggage handler involved him revealing that he had made over $400,000 smuggling drugs through the airport.

“Their goal is to get the drugs into the U.S. When they select somebody, they could care less how many victims there are,” said Martin Ficke, a former special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New York office. “If someone ends up being incarcerated, they could care less.” Artcle Link…