April 2000

OPERATION GREEN AIR

On April 13, 2000, the DEA concluded an important marijuana trafficking investigation called Operation Green Air. This case was significant and unique because it successfully halted the marijuana trafficking activities of an organization that used a commercial shipment company, FedEx, as its exclusive method of transportation. While it is common for traffickers to secretly ship illegal drugs via commercial packaging services, whole organizations that relied entirely on this method had not been encountered prior to Operation Green Air.

The Los Angeles-based criminal organization had devised a clever system of bribing FedEx employees to aid in the delivery of marijuana. Most of the employees that accepted bribes were drivers, but a security official and several customer service representatives were also involved. The corrupt FedEx employees were located in Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, New York, and New Jersey. They were recruited to ensure that marijuana shipments were loaded onto FedEx aircraft travelling from California to various FedEx distribution centers including Atlanta, New York, Boston, Connecticut, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Newark.

The corrupted employees also provided security for the marijuana shipments while in FedEx Corporation facilities and delivered the marijuana to organization members for distribution in the destination cities. They used false labels and met with traffickers parked along their normal distribution routes in order to avoid detection. Other corrupted FedEx employees manipulated corporate billing and accounting records to permit free shipping and to make tracing of the shipments more difficult. It is estimated that over 4,000 packages of marijuana were smuggled in this manner. Like the majority of the shipments handled by FedEx, the illegal packages were picked up by 4 p.m. and delivered by 10 a.m. the next day.

After learning of this group's activities, the DEA began an 18-month investigation that was coordinated by the Special Operations Division. Operation Green Air concluded with the arrests of over 100 individuals, including 25 FedEx employees, and the seizure of 34,000 pounds of marijuana and $4.2 million in currency and assets. In addition, it effectively dismantled the target organization, which had shipped at least 121 tons of marijuana valued at $145 million over the past two years. The criminal organization consisted of Jamaica-based traffickers who were supplied marijuana by the Mexico-based Arrellano-Feliz organization.

FedEx cooperated fully with the DEA during this investigation, and its support greatly facilitated the operation and contributed to its success. The DEA also collaborated with the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Attorney's Offices, the Internal Revenue Service, and state and local law enforcement on this case.