4 flight attendants plead guilty to smuggling drug money out of US after prosecutors say they used crewmember lanes to get through security

• Four flight attendants have pleaded guilty to smuggling drug money out of the US.
• They exploited their "Known Crewmember" status to get through airport security.
• Prosecutors previously said they transported about $8 million in cash to the Dominican Republic.

Four flight attendants have pleaded guilty to smuggling drug money out of the US, according to a press release from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York .

Sarah Valerio Pujols, 42, Charlie Hernandez, 42, Emmanuel Torres, 34, and Jarol Fabio, 35, who were employed by different international airlines, were arrested in May on various charges, including the operation of an unlicensed money transmission business.

They are said to have received a fee in exchange for transporting cash proceeds from narcotics sales to the Dominican Republic on commercial flights — authorities said they transported about $8 million in total.

Prosecutors said the flight attendants took advantage of their "Known Crewmember" statuses to get through a special security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and other airports with less scrutiny than regular passengers.

Each of them has now pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmission business, which has a maximum prison sentence of five years, per the press release.

As part of the guilty pleas, they "each agreed to forfeit property involved in their commission of the offense," it adds.

US Attorney Damian Williams said: "These four flight attendants abused their privileges as flight attendants to move money for drug traffickers."

"My Office is committed to staunching the illicit flow of narcotics proceeds in all of its forms. These guilty pleas show that the sky is not the limit when it comes to law enforcement's reach," he added.

The smuggling operation began in around 2014, indictment documents previously seen by Business Insider said.

It was eventually brought to a stop after Homeland Security Investigations and the New York City Police Department launched a number of sting operations working with cooperating witnesses.

Two of the attendants were Delta employees, the airline previously confirmed to NBC News.

In a statement provided to Business Insider , a Delta spokesperson said: "Delta has cooperated fully with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so."

It's unclear which companies the other two defendants worked for.