OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: 3 Southwest Airlines baggage handlers, 11 others accused of smuggling drugs

Three Southwest Airlines baggage handlers at Oakland International Airport are among 14 people charged with bypassing airport security in order to smuggle several hundred pounds of marijuana across the country, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

The three baggage handlers all hail from the Bay Area: Kenneth Fleming, 32; Keith Mayfield, 34; and Michael Videau, 28. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco, the three brought backpacks and duffel bags containing marijuana into restricted areas of the airport.

Using their security badges, the baggage handlers entered the airport terminal and handed off the drugs to a ticketed passenger who had already passed through airport security, according to a sworn affidavit filed by federal investigators.

The trio relied on about eight people -- who were also named in the complaint -- to smuggle the drugs into cities across the nation, including Nashville, Phoenix, New Orleans and Little Rock, Ark.

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