Brooklyn Prosecutor: Guns were smuggled aboard U.S. airliners
A brazen scheme in which guns — even an AK-47 rifle — were taken onto passenger jets for years in carry-on luggage was described by a Brooklyn prosecutor Tuesday as a terrorism threat that should cause the airline industry to end the practice of letting some workers enter airports without security screening.
“I hope this is a wakeup call for the nation,” Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said at a news conference. “This was an egregious breach of our nation’s air traffic security.”
Thompson’s comment came as he described a case brought against five people, including an airline baggage handler who was charged a day earlier by federal authorities in Atlanta.