Southwest baggage handlers charged with smuggling marijuana

In what sounds like the working script for a Steven Soderbergh film, 14 people – including three who worked as Southwest Airlines baggage handlers at Oakland International Airport – have been charged with distributing marijuana. According to a 67-page affidavit (there's your beach reading), from July 2012 through this March, the three baggage handlers "used their ability to avoid security checkpoints and have packages shipped through airline cargo to smuggle the marijuana."

The Southwest handlers would carry duffel bags packed with marijuana through security checkpoints – relying on their employee badges to ensure that their bags wouldn't be scanned – before entering the terminal and handing those bags to their co-conspirators to take as hand luggage on their flights (one handler even posted pictures of the drugs and some fat stacks of cash on his Instagram account). The drugs were then sold and distributed at those various destinations.

Nine of the individuals listed in the affidavit have been arrested and charged with "conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana," while three more are still "being sought." The final two are already in jail for – you guessed it – distributing marijuana.

In a statement to the Contra Costa Times, an Oakland airport spokesperson said that airport officials were "pleased to see the investigation concluding and the people involved held accountable." Meanwhile, Southwest told the San Francisco Chronicle:

[Southwest] does not tolerate any behavior or activity that could jeopardize the safety and security of our operation. We are fully cooperating with authorities and will continue to work with law enforcement, airport authorities, and our security partners to perform due diligence in upholding high security standards. The safety of our employees and customers is a top priority every day.