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A flight attendant was arrested in Melbourne, Australia, after allegedly attempting to smuggle $1.4 million of heroin into the country.
The Herald Sun reports that in May, a Malaysia Airlines flight attendant was detained by airport police in Melbourne Tullamarine International Airport (MEL) after trying to sneak in nearly eight pounds of heroin.
The flight attendant, 33, is a Malaysian national and was behaving “suspiciously” after grabbing his checked luggage from the baggage carousel. The flight attendant had opened his bag and stuffed multiple packages into his jacket.
“It looked like he knew something was about to happen. He went to the bag but left it at the carousel for a few minutes,” a witness of the event told the Herald Sun.
Police arrested the flight attendant, who had flown in from Kuala Lumpur (KUL), in front of other travelers. They found 10 plastic-wrapped packets of heroin inside the man’s jacket.
The flight attendant was “charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border control drug.”
The rest of the Malaysia Airlines crew was held at the airport and questioned regarding the incident.
Flight crew are typically subject to less security screening than a normal flyer, making it easier for them to smuggle contraband through airport checkpoints.
This isn’t the first time a flight crew member has been caught trying to smuggle illegal contraband. In 2016, three Malaysian staff members were arrested smuggling tortoise in Bangladesh. Earlier this year, a Jet Airways flight attendant was arrested after being caught red-handed with $500,000 in cash.
TPG has reached out to the airline for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
Source: thepointsguy.com