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Another arrest made, 2 Delta employees fired in gun smuggling case at Atlanta airport
ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned there has been a new arrest in a smuggling case involving guns found at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and now two Delta Airlines employees have lost their jobs over the case.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson confirmed that Abdoul Diallo was terminated by Delta Airlines around the time of his arrest.
According to court documents, a special agent with the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Oct. 11, 2021, “firearms were recovered concealed within two karaoke boxes, and further concealed within two pieces of checked luggage destined to Saint Martin at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The ticketed passenger who checked the luggage was Kenan L’homme.”
The document indicates
A well-placed source told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that at the time of his arrest, L’homme was attempting to travel to St. Martin with a Delta employee who is a female relative.
A Delta representative confirmed to Winne on Monday that the female relative has also been terminated.
In the court documents, the agent said according to ATF records, Diallo purchased nine of the firearms that L’homme attempted to bring to St. Martin from two separate firearms licensees at the RK Hun Show in Marietta on the weekend of Oct. 2.
“Messages were located between L’homme and Diallo which stated that Diallo was to be paid $2,200.00 for purchasing the firearms for L’homme. Additionally, L’homme stated he was taking all the risk by exporting the firearms and then reselling them and that Diallo had nothing to worry about,” court documents said.
A Delta statement said, “Delta is aware of the incident and we’re cooperating with law enforcement and TSA officials.”
Eric Bernstein, Diallo’s attorney, told Winne that he had no comment at this time.
Diallo was given an unsecured $10,000 bond with an ankle monitor plus standard conditions.
Winne attempted to reach attorneys for L’homme for a response to this story, but so far he has not heard back from them.
French man charged, Delta employee suspended after TSA finds guns in luggage
ATLANTA — Nearly a dozen guns hidden inside one man’s luggage bound for an international flight from Atlanta has left one French man facing charges and a Delta employee facing suspension.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne says that according to the account of an agent for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in a federal document, Kenan L’Homme checked two bags for his Delta flight and those bags were sent to a TSA security screening area.
The same agent says that TSA agents became suspicious after watching his luggage move through scanners at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Agents found a piece of a karaoke machine in one bag and the speaker to the karaoke machine in the other. Both karaoke machine pieces were opened up and nine handguns were found inside, as well as two AR/M-4 lower units. Each of them was wrapped in aluminum foil, which he told agents he did to avoid detection.
Winne learned that an AR/M-4 lower unit typically refers to the receiver portion of an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle.
Sources told Winne that L’Homme was traveling with a Delta employee, who is a close relative, when he was stopped.
The HSI agent’s report goes on to say that Delta Security and Atlanta police asked L’Homme to come to their office voluntarily, where he was met by two ATF special agents.
L’Homme reportedly admitted to the agents that he was taking the firearms to Saint Maarten to resell them for a profit. He said he bought them from the trunk of a car in Newnan.
He did not place the barrels of the firearms into his luggage because the supplier told him that would make exporting them illegal.
The HSI agent’s report also states that L’Homme was aware that exporting the firearms was illegal.
A Delta spokesperson released a statement saying that the employee in question has been placed on suspension pending an investigation. Their statement also said, “Delta is aware of the incident and we’re cooperating with law enforcement and TSA officials.”
Winne reached out to an attorney representing L’Homme for a statement, but did not hear back.
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