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5 arrested in federal bust of California-Hawaii ringMar 29, 2012 (The Honolulu Star-Advertiser - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A methamphetamine ring that operated between southern California and Hawaii used employees of Delta Air Lines and the Transportation Security Administration to bypass airport security, moving drugs to Hawaii and money to California, a federal criminal complaint says. The ring operated from at least January 2011 to January 2012, moving hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine to Hawaii and hundreds of thousands of dollars of drug proceeds back to California, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. The complaint charges Walter Dominguez, Larry Chung, Lloyd Talia, Sifatutupu Fuamatu and her husband, Falefia Fuamatu, with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The defendants were arrested Tuesday and appeared in court Wednesday. They will remain in custody pending their detention hearings Monday. Homeland Security Investigations identified Sifatutupu Fuamatu as a Hawaii-based Delta Air Lines ramp service agent who used her security credentials to bypass airport checkpoints to transport hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug transaction proceeds to the mainland. Fuamatu appeared in court Wednesday wearing shorts and a blue Delta Air Lines T-shirt. The complaint alleges that Dominguez arranged transportation of the drugs from California by using a Delta or TSA employee to bypass security and place 30- to 40-pound shipments of drugs in luggage that had already gone through screening. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Dominguez sent a shipment of 174 pounds of meth to Hawaii on or about May 28 and sent 129 pounds of meth on a later date, based on statements from confidential sources and intercepted cellphone text messages. According to the complaint, investigators secretly recorded a conversation between a confidential source and Fuamatu in which she tells the source how she uses her State of Hawaii Air Operations Area security badge to bypass TSA security checkpoints with the drug proceeds. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) says federal agents confirmed that Fuamatu has a state security swipe card that allows her access to parts of the airport that are not accessible to the public, including internal baggage carousels and the runway. The card also allows her to bypass security checkpoints and enter the gate area without being screened by TSA or any other airport security. Investigators say Dominguez was the supplier for a drug-trafficking organization headed by John Tai, 43, of Carson, Calif. Authorities arrested eight members of the organization on June 1 and arrested Tai on June 24. HSI said one of the members, Jordan Fonoti, admitted to investigators in September his involvement in Tai's organization and identified Chung as involved in the organization. Later in June, HSI said its agents obtained Tai's Blackberry cellphone which contained a record of the 174-pound shipment of meth. The agents, posing as Tai's common-law wife, used the phone to communicate with Dominguez, Talia and Chung. In one text message, the agents said, Chung says he is praying for Tai and waiting for Dominguez to send more drugs to Oahu. Chung also says he has collected $1 million from the sale of previous drug shipments and that he and Tai owe Dominguez $600,000 for a shipment that went to Maui. In October, HSI said its agents secretly recorded a conversation between a confidential source and Chung in which Chung says the source is owed $516,000 for a 129-pound shipment of meth for which he had already taken delivery. HSI said it recorded another conversation between a confidential source and Dominguez in January in which Dominguez says he sent 60 pounds of methamphetamine to Chung in Hawaii and two packages of heroin to Talia in Alaska. Dominguez also tells the confidential source he is owed $168,000 for drugs that were already delivered to Hawaii but that Fuamatu took $8,000 for car payments when she transported the money to California. ___ (c)2012 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |