SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT (publ. 3/11/2015, pg. A4)
A story incorrectly reported that two SFO security screeners arrested on charges of bribery and drug smuggling were employees of the federal Transportation Security Administration. Claudio Sunux and Amanda Lopez were employed by Covenant Aviation Security, a private company that contracts with the TSA to provide airport security workers.
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal authorities have arrested two San Francisco International Airport security screeners who allegedly took money to look the other way as large quantities of drugs stuffed in suitcases passed through airport security checkpoints, officials said Friday.
The FBI investigation suggests the two airport employees and a drug smuggler at the center of the probe conspired to smuggle drugs on multiple occasions from SFO to Hawaii, arranging to have the screeners ready when the suitcases passed through X-ray machines.
The two screeners — 30-year-old Claudio Rene Sunux and 27-year-old Amanda Lopez — were arrested on Friday, along with 28-year-old Anibal Giovanni Ramirez. The trio were arraigned Friday on charges of bribery and drug smuggling, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and the FBI said.
Sunux and Lopez were employed by Covenant Aviation Security, a private firm that contracts with the federal Transportation Security Administration to provide airport security workers.
The investigation began last fall when an Oakland Police Department confidential informant told the FBI that Ramirez had offered to smuggle drugs on commercial planes. On Sept. 2, the informant met with Ramirez in San Francisco in a car equipped with video and audio surveillance, FBI Special Agent Timothy Hughes wrote in an affidavit.
Court documents show Ramirez, who worked at a barbershop, said he had established a worry-free smuggling operation by working with two security screeners, later identified as Sunux and Lopez, who allowed him to carry large quantities of methamphetamine onto planes bound for Hawaii. Ramirez made “frequent” trips there, Hughes wrote.
Using Facebook messaging, Ramirez would set up a time to bring the drugs through security, authorities said, and sometimes would text “the coffee is ready,” to signal he was there.
The informant agreed to pay $5,000 to Ramirez and $1,500 each to Lopez and Sunux, who was out of the country but contacted Lopez on Ramirez’s behalf.
On Sept. 17, the informant and Ramirez allegedly carried a bag of FBI-provided real and fake narcotics through security and into the first-class cabin on a plane headed for Hawaii. After apparently spotting authorities at Honolulu airport, Ramirez returned the drugs to the informant before collecting the money.
Ramirez and Sunux, of San Francisco, and Lopez, of South San Francisco, each have been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and for either receiving or offering to bribe a public official.
If convicted, they each could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and fines totaling more than $10 million, authorities said.
David DeBolt covers breaking news. Contact him at 510-208-6453. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.