3 baggage handlers at Newark Liberty International Airport charged in cocaine smuggling

3 airline workers charged in cocaine smuggling

NEWARK, N.J. — Federal authorities in New Jersey have seized approximately 125 kilograms of cocaine and arrested three current and former airline employees they say conspired to smuggle the drugs into the United States through Newark Liberty International Airport.

Criminal complaints filed Tuesday charge 25-year-old Yunior Lopez of Elizabeth, 29-year-old Amaurys Caminero of Linden and 27-year-old Kerlwin Taveras of the Bronx, N.Y., with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Messages left for their attorneys were not immediately returned.

Lopez and Caminero are baggage handlers for Houston-based Continental Airlines, where Taveras formerly held the same job.

Prosecutors say the cocaine arrived aboard flights from the Dominican Republic.