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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.
Operation
Green Air concluded with the arrests of over 100 individuals, including
25 FedEx employees.
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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.
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