DEA paid "tens of thousands" to airline employees for targeting innocent passengers to steal their cash — DOJ halts practice

President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973 to persecute Blacks and antiwar activists. Over 50 years later, it's still in operation, serving as an employer for sociopathic goons and drug cartel moles.

And today the DEA is hopping mad because the Department of Justice (DOJ) has finally clipped its wings. No more stopping random people at airports and stealing their cash, following revelations of their latest corrupt scheme: paying airline employees to snitch on travelers.

The suspension comes after a particularly egregious incident where DEA agents detained an innocent traveler based on a tip from an airline employee who was getting paid a percentage of whatever the DEA could steal from passengers. The traveler recorded the encounter and missed their flight, despite no contraband being found. The agents in the recorded incident weren't even wearing body cameras — though that's hardly surprising for an organization that's dedicated to protecting drug traffickers.

Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz's investigation revealed that one airline employee alone received "tens of thousands of dollars" for flagging passengers who committed the suspicious act of… buying tickets within 48 hours of their flight. Meanwhile, the DEA hasn't bothered documenting these encounters or training their agents since 2023, ignoring their own policies from a 2015 oversight report.

"The DEA is creating substantial risks that agents will conduct these activities improperly and violate the legal rights of innocent travelers," Horowitz wrote in the alert.

The Deputy Attorney General finally shut down these airport shakedowns (which the DEA calls "consensual encounters") unless connected to actual investigations or emergency circumstances.

Through civil forfeiture—a legal loophole that lets law enforcement steal your stuff without charging you with any crime — the DEA has been helping itself to millions in travelers' cash each year. The Institute for Justice's video shows how these badge-wearing crooks target flyers using absurd pretexts like "last-minute ticket purchases."

Previously:
DEA fuels moral panic over ADHD meds to justify its failed drug war
The DEA seized an innocent man's life savings without charging him with a crime
Barr gives DEA power to investigate people protesting George Floyd's murder
Smoke some shoes? The DEA's list of slang terms for cannabis