Baggage snaggage
Our “junk” isn’t the only thing TSA agents are grabbing these days.
Two greedy JFK Airport screeners helped themselves to nearly $40,000 from the luggage of a suspected Argentinean drug runner — and might have gotten away with it if they weren’t being watched for a slew of similar thefts, authorities said.
The sticky-fingered security guards slobbered over the $170,000 mountain of cash they found in the suitcase at the airport’s X-ray screening area last month, and allegedly crammed as much of the loot as they could into their clothing.
“That’s all they could stuff in their pockets,” a source explained.
Persad Coumar, 44, and Davon Webb, 31, were picked up by Port Authority detectives and charged with grand larceny, possession of stolen property, conspiracy and official misconduct in connection with the Jan. 30 theft, according to a criminal complaint.
A source said it could have been the “perfect crime” for both — if they weren’t already under a cloud of suspicion that they had filched nearly $200,000 from unsuspecting travelers — because their victim, who was bound for Buenos Aires, never reported her loss and had a compelling reason to keep quiet.
“The speculation is that she was a drug courier,” explained one source.
The night of the January cash grab, Coumar X-rayed a piece of the woman’s baggage and spotted what he thought was a big bag of cash, authorities say.
He quickly phoned Webb, who was in the baggage area of American Airlines, to tell him what he believed he had found. When the bag passed into Webb’s area, he took it to a “search room,” confirmed Coumar’s suspicions and marked the bag with tape, a source said.
Later, Coumar searched the parcel and allegedly found $170,000 inside wrapped up in tape.
He packed a small box with as much of the dough as it could carry and high-tailed it to the bathroom, where he met up with Webb and split the proceeds, according to the complaint.
The suspects then stuffed the loot into their clothing and split, officials said.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that when cops went to arrest the pair, investigators found $23,980 in Coumar’s Jackson Heights home — with $20 missing that he told cops had been used to buy food.
Another $16,000 was found in Webb’s Bronx home, he said.
Each man faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
