File under "Are We Safe Yet?" : Counterfeiting ring used airport employees to steal $2M

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Feds: Counterfeiting ring used airport employees to steal $2M

March 20, 2008Recommend

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWARK, N.J.---- A counterfeiting ring stole U.S. Treasury checks from cargo at Newark Liberty International Airport, created sophisticated copies and cashed $2 million worth of bogus paper, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The suspects paid airport baggage handlers to steal the mail from the holds of airliners, outfoxing airport inspectors by hiding stolen mail in their clothing and backpacks as they were unloading luggage, authorities said.

Two Newark baggage handlers and a woman from the Dominican Republic have already pleaded guilty in the scheme, which ran from June 2003 to November 2007, authorities said. Another suspect remains at large.

According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday, the ring used real Treasury checks to create counterfeits by copying five complicated security features. The 14 counterfeit checks cited in the indictment ranged from $5,120 to $340,184.27.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/852944,counterfeit032008.article