American Airlines mechanic convicted for trying to smuggle over 25 pounds of cocaine under jetliner's cockpit

An American Airlines mechanic was found guilty of trying to smuggle more than 25 pounds of cocaine by hiding it in a compartment beneath the cockpit of a plane, authorities said. The stash had a street value of up to $320,000.

The mechanic, 55-year-old Paul Belloisi, was convicted Tuesday by a federal jury in Brooklyn of conspiring to possess cocaine, conspiring to import cocaine and importing cocaine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the eastern district of New York announced in a news release. The verdict, which followed a weeklong trial in district court, carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Belloisi worked as a mechanic for American Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Prosecutors say that during a routine random search on Feb. 4, 2020, customs officers and agents from the airports anti-terrorism contraband enforcement team found 10 bricks of cocaine, weighing roughly 25 1/2 pounds, stashed inside a hidden electronics compartment below the cockpit of an American Airlines flight from Montego Bay.