Airline workers were charged Tuesday with helping drug traffickers smuggle heroin and cocaine through John F. Kennedy International Airport, authorities said.A total of 18 people were charged in the plot, including seven employees at Delta Air Lines and one employee at American Airlines. Airport workers in the Dominican Republic concealed the drugs in luggage bound for New York, prosecutors said. A second group of conspirators at JFK then retrieved the packages and diverted them to a safe area before the bags were inspected.

The scheme was uncovered by U.S. customs agents, officials said.