TSA screeners at LAX charged with taking bribes

They allegedly received up to $2,400 in cash bribes in exchange for allowing large drug shipments to pass through checkpoints. From the LAT:

In addition to the two current and two former screeners, prosecutors also indicted two alleged drug couriers and a third who allegedly tried to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine but was nabbed when he went through the wrong security checkpoint. The TSA employees "placed greed above the nation's security needs," Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. The 40-page indictment outlines five alleged smuggling incidents over a six-month period last year. In one incident, screeners schemed to allow for about eight pounds of methamphetamine to pass through security, then went to an airport restroom where he was handed $600, the second half of the payment for that delivery, according to prosecutors.

From the Justice Department statement:

"This case underscores the unique nature of 21st century drug smuggling," according to Briane M. Grey, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in Los Angeles. "Here, the defendants traded on their positions at one the world's most crucial airport security checkpoints, used their special access for criminal ends, and compromised the safety and security of their fellow citizens for their own profit."