2023-06-03 09:01:28
It is an oiled circuit, which always existed. Only the protagonists change. At present, the most important is that of a retired Argentine commander who acts as a link between jewelers (generally North American and Spanish) and Aerolíneas Argentinas crews.
The ex-pilot also has ties to reducers of stolen watches and jewelers on Calle Libertad. They are his best clients, and from whom he receives the merchandise to be transported. The next step for him is the meeting with hostesses, who are essential in the delivery chain. “He usually makes an appointment at a service station or a bar near the crew person’s house. Always 48 hours before the flight, or less,” says a person who knows the details of air logistics.
Each crew member will receive a ziploc bag with watches and gold pieces. Plus take away offer up to $9,999, what is allowed by the authorities. Only in this “procedure” a crew member you can earn a thousand dollars per trip. Or more, because after delivering to jewelry stores in Miami and New York, or to the same hotels where they stay, if you want, you can bring things on the flight back to Buenos Aires.
Aerolíneas Argentinas flight attendant Daniela Carbone (47) continues to be detained by decision of Federico Villena, federal judge of Lomas de Zamora. She is accused of being the author of the bomb threat of May 21on Aerolíneas Argentinas flight AR1304, bound for Miami, which had to be evacuated in its entirety (270 passengers).
Carbone regularly traveled to Miami, one of the most coveted destinations for flight attendants, along with New York, Rome and Madrid. She was detained upon arrival in Buenos Aires. In her carry-on she wore boots, sneakers, wine and clothes, in addition to her tablet, a Mac and a cell phone. She had barely spent 48 hours in Miami. However, sources in the case told Clarion that there were no indications to investigate her for smuggling.
But this case, and the success of the film “Extortion”, starring Guillermo Francella, they put the focus on a circuit that is vox populi and in which crew members, customs officers and police officers participate.
“You have to do a clarification“, asks a retired police officer from the Airport Security Police (PSA), a force with jurisdiction over Argentine airports. “‘Bagallero’ is said to the common passenger who buys a ticket and travels to buy wholesale merchandise that he will later resell in Buenos Aires”.
To do so, he adds, one must have complicity of customs personnel, since it is necessary to go through the controls without declaring the merchandise. And it is impossible to avoid going through the scanner. You must do the process like any passenger. Only the “eyes” of the customs officials change.
“You could say that the ‘bagallero’ is dedicated to the macro and the crew members to the micro. The two have to ‘arrange’ with someone from Customs“, explains the former PSA man, who worked for fifteen years at the airports of Ezeiza and Aeroparque. Another issue that he explains is that “the going is from the Police (for control) and the return from Customs.”
The circuit, from what this newspaper was able to learn, has a kind of tariff. What is electronic would cost 100 dollars. For gold and watches, the price could go up to 300. Although everything is “chatable”. The clothing package would be around 100 dollars. “The flight attendants travel with two suitcases and do not spend more than 48 hours outside the country. They do not need to carry many things. The rest of the space is occupied by orders“, details one of those consulted by Clarion.
In October 2021, American Airlines flight attendant Laura Diana Schulz was arrested in Ezeiza. They seized 2,204 grams of gold (in small bars, bracelets, bracelets, earrings, chains, and pendants and pins), Rolex brand watches, and cash: $11,413, Argentine pesos 19,360, and bills from Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile.
The woman was prosecuted by Marcelo Aguinsky, in charge of the Economic Criminal Court No. 6. The judge found evidence against her for attempted smuggling and money laundering, in an investigation carried out by Pablo Turano, prosecutor of the Attorney General of the Nation. The total amount seized would exceed $210,000.
From the investigation, information emerged about the rates that Customs charged to enter or remove merchandise. In his WhatsApp chat he wrote: “Everything has customs duty that I leave behind a percentage like that to which you grew up, except for electronics, which does have a fixed price, but it also all depends on the customs day, mood, etc, etc. That is why I say the prices of anything that is not electronic when I have them in hand and when I return.”
Just as there is the circuit of watches, jewelry and cash, there is the one with the clothes. It would be the second most important and organized, where a woman makes virtual purchases and contacts crew members who will receive clothing packages at their Miami hotels. In Buenos Aires, delivery and payment for transportation is made in Palermo. As it turned out, in conversations with her daughter, Carbone had told her that “the three packages” had arrived from the Shein clothing store.
Clarion tried to communicate with Customs, PSA and Aerolíneas Argentinas. But he received no answers.
“They see it as a job”, says a close friend to crews. “Perhaps they earn little for each assignment they make. But when they add up the total, they reach a significant number. Since the salary they earn is in pesos, until a few years ago they had a good economic situation. They lived on the salary and saved the dollars of the products. Many hostesses moved to closed neighborhoods. With the country’s inflation, they must already use the dollars to maintain themselves“.
Finally, there is direct contact with the final consumer. People who directly order products from hostesses. This is where they earn the most. Although it is not something fixed, like the circuit of watches and clothes. One of their clients tells Clarion that for each Apple Mac product they charge 10% of the cost. Another, that for a telephone they can earn 200 or 300 dollars. Although it is worth clarifying: not everything is profit. They have to go through the controls. To go and back.
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