As a Brooklyn mobster’s trial continues in the famed 1978 Lufthansa heist, crooks looking to pull off similar big-bucks schemes just got a boost from harebrained Port Authority officials, critics charge.

Until recently, PAPD officers armed with shotguns and rifles had been assigned to the department’s Cargo Unit to protect every shipment worth more than $25,000 being transported on JFK Airport grounds, sources say.

The security precaution was instituted in the aftermath of the embarrassing Lufthansa heist at JFK.

But in a meeting with industry executives last month, a senior PA official announced his agency was doing away with the unit — a powerful deterrent against similar airport thefts, sources said.

“The old rule that required cargo over $25,000 to be escorted by the police is abolished,” said John Selden, deputy general manager for JFK Airport, according to minutes of the meeting.

PA spokesman Steve Coleman said that the PAPD hasn’t changed its policy and that Selden wouldn’t be available to comment.

But a senior PAPD official sharply disputed Coleman’s claim.