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'Didn't State Who He Was': Federal Drug Agents Seize Millions from Passengers at Atlanta Airport While Posing as Regular Travelers In Plainclothes In 'Cold Consent Encounters'
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James Harris
Oct 21, 2023, 7:15:03 PM10/21/23
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In article <ugvegs$1hut9$1...@dont-email.me>
Catching many travelers off guard is a new practice being stealthily
carried out by drug agents dressed as plainclothes passengers at the
Atlanta airport who are randomly searching people they suspect are
transporting drug money.
Atlanta News First Investigates reporters tailed Drug and
Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force officers at the
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as they worked to track
down potential drug mules making their way through various
terminals. Atlanta Black Star also covered the claim of comedians
Eric André and Clayton English, who alleged they were racially
profiled by police and questioned about drugs at the airport on
separate occasions in 2021 and 2020.
Unsuspecting travelers never realized these were federal drug agents
until they were approached by one at their gates.
“He just approached me, and he asked me for my ID,” film director
Tabari Sturdivant told Atlanta News First. “He didn’t state who he
was. He just asked me for ID, and I thought he was a Delta agent. He
had airport credentials on, and so I gave it to him immediately.”
Sturdivant, an Atlanta-based film director, was heading to L.A. for
a film project when a group of task force officers walked up to him
and requested to search his carry-on luggage in front of other
passengers at his gate.
The officers didn’t find anything illegal, but during the search,
they asked if he was high or if he was carrying drugs and cash.
It’s not just the DEA that’s walking around Hartsfield-Jackson in
plain clothes. Clayton County narcotics officers are also in on the
action because some are reportedly cross-sworn as DEA task force
officers.
Hollywood actors and comedians Jean Elie, André, and English were
stopped by the agents on a jet bridge of separate ATL to LAX flights
and searched their belongings in front of other passengers in 2021
and 2020.
Flights from Atlanta to Los Angeles are routinely monitored by these
officers, who call them “known drug trafficking routes.”
The suit was filed by André and English, who not only claimed the
searches were “neither random nor consensual,” they also included
Clayton County data that revealed 56 percent of jet bridge stops
involved Black passengers, and 68 percent were people of color.
The DEA stopped collecting race data 20 years ago. A federal judge
dismissed their lawsuit last month, arguing in part that the two men
should have realized they were free to walk away and not engage with
the officers in the jetway. The men are appealing the dismissal.
While the searches may not be popular, they’re certainly profitable.
Clayton County records and federal documents show that drug agents
find large amounts of cash on passengers at departing gates rather
than drugs. Agents have seized millions of dollars, and while
travelers aren’t arrested, their money is often administratively
forfeited.
Like most civil forfeiture cases, people who have their money taken
must prove in court that their money isn’t connected to drug
trafficking or other illegal activity. Seizures like these don’t
just happen at the Atlanta airport. They’ve taken place at airports
across the country.
https://news.yahoo.com/didn-t-state-federal-drug-203000407.html
Catching many travelers off guard is a new practice being stealthily
carried out by drug agents dressed as plainclothes passengers at the
Atlanta airport who are randomly searching people they suspect are
transporting drug money.
Atlanta News First Investigates reporters tailed Drug and
Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force officers at the
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as they worked to track
down potential drug mules making their way through various
terminals. Atlanta Black Star also covered the claim of comedians
Eric André and Clayton English, who alleged they were racially
profiled by police and questioned about drugs at the airport on
separate occasions in 2021 and 2020.
Unsuspecting travelers never realized these were federal drug agents
until they were approached by one at their gates.
“He just approached me, and he asked me for my ID,” film director
Tabari Sturdivant told Atlanta News First. “He didn’t state who he
was. He just asked me for ID, and I thought he was a Delta agent. He
had airport credentials on, and so I gave it to him immediately.”
Sturdivant, an Atlanta-based film director, was heading to L.A. for
a film project when a group of task force officers walked up to him
and requested to search his carry-on luggage in front of other
passengers at his gate.
The officers didn’t find anything illegal, but during the search,
they asked if he was high or if he was carrying drugs and cash.
It’s not just the DEA that’s walking around Hartsfield-Jackson in
plain clothes. Clayton County narcotics officers are also in on the
action because some are reportedly cross-sworn as DEA task force
officers.
Hollywood actors and comedians Jean Elie, André, and English were
stopped by the agents on a jet bridge of separate ATL to LAX flights
and searched their belongings in front of other passengers in 2021
and 2020.
Flights from Atlanta to Los Angeles are routinely monitored by these
officers, who call them “known drug trafficking routes.”
The suit was filed by André and English, who not only claimed the
searches were “neither random nor consensual,” they also included
Clayton County data that revealed 56 percent of jet bridge stops
involved Black passengers, and 68 percent were people of color.
The DEA stopped collecting race data 20 years ago. A federal judge
dismissed their lawsuit last month, arguing in part that the two men
should have realized they were free to walk away and not engage with
the officers in the jetway. The men are appealing the dismissal.
While the searches may not be popular, they’re certainly profitable.
Clayton County records and federal documents show that drug agents
find large amounts of cash on passengers at departing gates rather
than drugs. Agents have seized millions of dollars, and while
travelers aren’t arrested, their money is often administratively
forfeited.
Like most civil forfeiture cases, people who have their money taken
must prove in court that their money isn’t connected to drug
trafficking or other illegal activity. Seizures like these don’t
just happen at the Atlanta airport. They’ve taken place at airports
across the country.
https://news.yahoo.com/didn-t-state-federal-drug-203000407.html
James Harris
Oct 22, 2023, 5:05:03 PM10/22/23
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