AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- At least seven workers at a major Netherlands airport have been arrested on charges they smuggled cocaine into the country, officials said Tuesday.
The employees of Schiphol airport in Amsterdam were among 15 people suspected of being part of a criminal operation that brought drugs from Central and South America, Dutchnews.nl reported.
Those charged were between the ages of 23 and 65 and of Dutch, Turkish and Colombian nationalities. Almost all of them live in Amsterdam.
The airport workers, who all worked for the same company, are accused of removing the cocaine from hidden spaces in aircraft and shipping it to other members of the group.
A spokesman for the Schiphol military police called the arrests "a major hit."
He said the airport employs more than 60,000 people.
Some 20 people were arrested at the airport last year in a six-month investigation of drug smuggling.
