Delta Worker, Wife Charged With Smuggling Thousands In Cash

ATLANTA, GA — A Delta Air Lines employee and his wife are facing federal charges that they smuggled hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to California through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to a media report. Federal officials also allege that the Delta employee, Bubacarr Drammeh, attempted to bribe security workers at the airport, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

The officials did not say how the couple obtained the cash, to whom it was delivered or what it was used to purchase.

From November 2016 to September 2017, Drammeh, 42, and his wife, Matako Drammeh, 38, used his status as a Delta employee to evade security screenings to smuggle hundreds of thousands in cash through Hartsfield's security checkpoints, according to Byung J. “BJay” Pak, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Once through security, Bubacarr Drammeh transported the unscreened bulk cash on passenger flights to California, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. His wife took similar trips to California with cash that her husband delivered to her in the airport after he smuggled it through security undetected, say federal officials.

Together, the Drammehs took more than 50 trips to California with the undetected cash, say U.S. Justice Department officials.

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The bribery charge against the husband stems from an incident on Sept. 2, 2017, at the airport, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. The Justice Department alleges that Bubacarr Drammeh tried to bring a bag filled with more than $140,000 in cash through an employee security checkpoint.

When a screener found stacks of money in his bag, Drammeh offered the screener $8,000 in cash in exchange for not reporting the money to the authorities, say federal officials. Security workers refused and contacted law enforcement.

Last week, a federal grand jury indicted the couple, who live in Riverdale, on charges of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and entering an aircraft and airport area in violation of security requirements, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The grand jury also charged Bubacarr Drammeh with bribery.

The FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency are investigating the case, with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department.

Image: Delta Airlines flights at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Barry Williams/Getty Images)