Email

By Greg Bartlett

Most people never think about it, but airline catering trucks run on a very precise schedule. Schedules are prepared for each driver, which include loading time at the catering kitchen, travel time to the airport, loading time at the airport and return time to the kitchen with the food and beverage carts used on the flight.

At a major airport, one of the drivers of the catering trucks was reported late once or twice a week when he would return to the kitchen after unloading a flight. The driver wasn’t grossly late, just a matter of 15 or 20 minutes. Since it was only once or twice a week, it wasn’t a major issue. When asked about being late, the driver usually gave the excuse of traffic or security; however, this particular driver was the only one late.

The kitchen manager inquired of the security department if there was any way that they could find out where this particular driver was going and why he was going there. The security director decided to install a GPS tracking device into the truck that this particular driver was assigned to. When the truck was removed from service for scheduled maintenance, a GPS tracking system was installed. This installation was completed by a vendor and done after hours when vehicle maintenance personnel were off duty.

The truck now equipped with a GPS tracking system was given back to the driver. The drivers’ movements were monitored for a week. The GPS system showed that the truck was driven to a vacant warehouse that was in close proximity to the kitchen and was parked for 10 – 15 minutes. The question arose as to why the truck was going to that location. This pattern was observed for several weeks and a correlation was established that the aircraft the driver was servicing was always a flight that originated in South America.

When the truck was scheduled for maintenance again, a covert CCTV camera was installed in the truck. When the images produced by the CCTV camera were reviewed it was showed the driver upon parking the truck at the vacant warehouse, was removing a package from the bottom of one of the food carts used on the aircraft flight and passing it on to another person outside the truck.

Determining that something was amiss, the local metropolitan police department was consulted. Due to the fact that something was being removed from the truck that had not passed through customs, the metropolitan police department turned the matter over to U.S. Customs. Customs continued to track the catering truck and established covert surveillance at the vacant warehouse. Customs determined that it was narcotics being smuggled and brought the DEA into the picture.

In a matter of a few weeks a major drug smuggling operation had been broken up and several hundred pounds of narcotics were seized. The utilization of the GPS tracking system allowed the authorities to maintain close surveillance on the truck used without any sign that the surveillance was being maintained.