Terminal Mixup Implicates TSA Agents In LAX Smuggling Plot 255
First time accepted submitter ian_po writes "The U.S. Attorney's office has filed indictments against 7 people, including two Transportation Security Administration Screeners and two former TSA employees, after federal agents set up several smuggling sting operations. The alleged smuggling scheme was revealed after a suspected drug courier went to Terminal 5, where his flight was departing, instead of going through the Terminal 6 checkpoint his written instructions directed him to. Court documents indicate the plan was to return to Terminal 5 through a secure tunnel after being allowed through security by the accused Screener. The courier was caught with 10 pounds of cocaine at the other checkpoint by a different TSA agent. If convicted, the four TSA employees face a minimum of 10 years in Federal prison." If ten pounds of anything can get onto a plane by the simple expedient of bribery, please explain again why adult travelers, but not children, must remove their shoes as they stand massed in an unsecured part of a typical U.S. airport.
TSA corruption?! (Score:5, Informative)
Who would have thought?!?!
Seriously, though, as someone that proctored the TSA tests for years, believe me, I'm not surprised at all. Half the people I sat for the tests seemed to be under the influence of some type of narcotics, not to mention the gang tattoos and shit.
The test itself was stellar, too, asking hard hitting questions like "Have you ever lived in a house you thought was haunted?" I wish I could say I was kidding, but I'm not.
Remember this next time they've got their hand in your 8 year old's waistband....
Why? Because (Score:5, Informative)
If ten pounds of anything can get onto a plane by the simple expedient of bribery, please explain again why adult travelers, but not children, must remove their shoes as they stand massed in an unsecured part of a typical U.S. aiport.
Because the TSA isn't about security, it is about making people feel secure. Well, that and wasting billions of federal dollars on "security" equipment manufactured by private companies run by buddies of TSA directors and/or former TSA directors. I'm not actually sure which one is their main goal, right now.
Kudos to the Terminal 6 guy for actually noticing the 10 pounds of cocaine. I would not want to be a TSA agent who got thrown into Federal prison. That does not sound fun, at all.
Re:Side effect of War on Drugs (Score:4, Informative)
Because they can tell that a 10 pound package contains 10 pounds of cocaine and not 10 pounds of explosives with their magical ESP powers?
Or that there's not a knife or gun hidden in the center of that cocaine like substance?
Or, god forbid, a bottle of water hidden inside?
Re:The Weakest Link (Score:5, Informative)
Since they where caught, and are being tried, apparently someone is watching them.
Caught by the drug runner's stupidity. Dude went down the wrong line, that's how they got snagged. I wouldn't say the TSA "caught" them by their elite skills.
Re:The Weakest Link (Score:5, Informative)
This begs the question
Raises.
Sorry. I need help.
Re:The Weakest Link (Score:5, Informative)
no other country is 1 gram of cocaine worth 20 bucks sorry, but making it so illegal has made it extremely profitable and this, being the USA, makes it irresistible since we're all 100% entirely profit motivated
The USA is high, but not the highest:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/how-much-is-cocaine_n_883853.html [huffingtonpost.com]
$154/g - Norway
$129/g - Finland
$120/g - USA
$104/g - Greece
$104/g - Sweden
$99/g - Italy
$97/g - Austria
$97/g - Ireland
$94/g - Denmark
$87/g - Luxembourg
Re:Who says the TSA ignores children (Score:3, Informative)
A 7 year old?
I got that beat: Howabout a 4 year old girl getting dragged away to a special room for a strip search?
http://articles.boston.com/2012-04-25/news/31399816_1_pat-down-tsa-agents-screening-procedures
Re:The Weakest Link (Score:4, Informative)
People already know what to do in case of a crime, why bother with police?
No, they don't. Most people would panic, shoot randomly, get shot, and/or violate all of the "alleged" criminal's civil rights. And most of the time, during the course of most crimes, people don't happen to be in the right place at the right time or have the authority to do anything about it if they are. Police do have that authority, and devote their full working hours to investigating (and occasionally stopping in the act) crime. In addition, any random crime is going to take place in an uncontrolled environment where stopping the criminal may lead to more collateral damage than just letting him/her get away. If we leave it to the general public to do what they "know" to do in case of a crime, we end up with 700 million George Zimmermans running loose.
A hijacking is a special circumstance. At the moment a passenger announces his intention to blow up the plane (and possibly crash it into thousands of people along the way), you no longer need to worry about social niceties like civil rights and proper police procedure -- the survival of the passengers depends on one thing only, STOP THAT HIJACKER. And thanks to the heroics of UA Flight 93, people do know what to do. Finally, unlike city streets, the body of an airplane may or may not have police (air marshall) on board so it's not like you can call 911 for help.
Suggesting that the dissolution of TSA is a call for the dissolution of law enforcement is a false equivalent, because what we're trying to establish here is that TSA is notlaw enforcement.
Apart from that, your rebuttal makes perfect sense.