LIMA, Peru – Peru’s counter-********* ****** broke up a ring that shipped ******* from Lima’s international airport to Mexico on commercial flights by swapping out unsuspecting passengers’ luggage with identical suitcases, their commander announced Thursday.

The passengers’ real bags would be put on later flights.

The ****** of eight employees at airport services companies through Wednesday followed the April and May detention of five ****** officers assigned to the airport, also for alleged ******* smuggling.

Gen. Vicente Romero told reporters that the latest arrests arose from a tip from Mexican ****** that led to the discovery last month of a suitcase holding 24 kilos (50 pounds) of ******* on a LAN flight.

The suspects worked for three different concessionaires at Jorge Chavez airport, including Transber SAC, which loads cargo on planes.

Romero said authorities don’t know how long the suitcase-switching ring operated. But he said one suspect had $58,000 in his possession and said he had earned $7,000 per ********.

Peru in 2012 supplanted Colombia as the *****’s No. 1 ******* producer, according to the U.S. **** Enforcement Administration.

By Franklin Briceno
Source: The Associated Press