A pair of Delta Air Lines ramp agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York were arrested earlier this month after, federal prosecutors allege, they smuggled in ketamine from Denmark.

At around 5 p.m. on Sept. 18, Delta Flight 219 from Copenhagen, Denmark, arrived at gate B33 at JFK’s Terminal 4. Aboard were two people, named as Individual 1 and Individual 2, in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, who checked three bags and two bags, respectively. 

Defendants Leandro Alleyne and Fabian Inniss are alleged to have offloaded those suitcases, including four that contained untagged backpacks that contained about 133.8 pounds of ketamine, which is worth $3 million on the street, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials told the New York Post Saturday.

Mr. Alleyne, who was not supposed to be on ramp duty until 6 p.m. and Mr. Inniss, who was assigned to the bag room, are accused of driving carts to the plane and offloading bags anyway, and then driving to another area at terminal 4. 

Another Delta employee saw them move some bags to Mr. Alleyne’s vehicle, and Mr. Alleyne was seen opening a suitcase. Delta personnel told complainant Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Pedro De Los Santos that there was no legitimate reason for the pair to have done so.

HSI agents saw Mr. Inniss drive away, according to the complaint and saw four suitcases and the four backpacks on Mr. Alleyne’s cart.

Two of the suitcases had tags for Individual 1, and two had tags for Individual 2. Each suitcase was found to contain clothing and to weigh much less than flight records indicated. The agents then found plastic bags of a clear white substance in the backpacks, which tested positive as ketamine.

Mr. Inniss waived his Miranda rights according to the complaint and told law enforcement that he took the four suitcases in question and gave them to Mr. Alleyne, that he had done that with Mr. Alleyne about five to 10 times before, that he knew the bags had drugs in them but not what kind, and that he was paid between $4,000 to $5,000 per flight.

Despite that, both defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of drug importation and drug smuggling and have each been released on a $50,000 bond, according to the New York Post.

Delta Air Lines told the New York Post that it “has zero tolerance for unlawful conduct by anyone at any place in our global operation and will always work with law enforcement to that end.”

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.