U.S.

Airline employee charged in weapons smuggle

/ CBS/AP

ATLANTA - Federal authorities say an Atlanta airline employee is suspected of helping smuggle firearms to New York City on passenger jets.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said Monday that Delta baggage handler Eugene Harvey was arrested by federal agents without trouble.

An FBI affidavit says Mark Quentin Henry, a former Delta employee who was fired in 2010, was arrested in New York on Dec. 10 in a gun trafficking investigation after an undercover agent bought a gun from one of his accomplices.

The FBI alleges that a total of 18 guns bypassed security and ended up on a carryon baggage aboard a Delta Airlines flight to New York.

Authorities investigated Henry's cellphone, airport surveillance video and security records and determined that he conspired with Harvey to get the firearms past security.

Harvey was arrested without incident by FBI Atlanta this past Saturday and had his initial appearance in front of a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Atlanta on Monday on charges of trafficking firearms as well as entering an airport area in violation of security requirements, CBS News reported.

First published on December 22, 2014 / 8:45 PM EST

© 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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