Schumer wants all airline employees screened
Sen. Chuck Schumer wants the Transportation Security Agency to start screening all airline and airport employees after an investigation last month found a ramp agent allegedly helped a man smuggle more than 150 guns from Atlanta to New York City. Schumer said Wednesday the TSA should immediately start daily screenings of workers who clean planes, load luggage and work at some airport checkpoints, and are currently exempt from screenings.
Late last month, Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson announced the arrest of Mark Henry, 45, of Brooklyn and Georgia, who smuggled 153 guns on 17 separate flights. Henry, a former ramp agent, used his mother’s flying privileges as a retired Delta employee. The prosecutor said he handed off carry on bags to a gate agent, Eugene Harvey, who loaded the bags on the plane for him. Two other men have been arrested for allegedly selling the guns to an undercover detective in Brooklyn. The defendants in the case have been indicted on more than 600 charges. Schumer said he was “alarmed” to hear the men smuggled weapons, sometimes loaded, and ammunition through airports, and said terrorists could possibly use the “gaping loophole” to their advantage.
Schumer wants all airport employees screened
