(NewsNation) — An airline worker was convicted Tuesday of drug trafficking charges after prosecutors alleged he was part of a scheme to smuggle drugs into the U.S. by stashing them in a compartment under the cockpit of a jet.

Paul Belloisi, 55, faces 20 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring to possess cocaine, conspiring to import cocaine and importing cocaine, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Federal prosecutors said the American Airlines mechanic was caught trying remove bricks of cocaine from a plane that landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 4, 2020. The plane had arrived from Jamaica and was selected for a random inspection, and Customs and Border Protection agents found 10 bricks of cocaine hidden inside an electronics compartment underneath the cockpit.

They removed the cocaine and replaced it with fake bricks covered with a substance that glows when illuminated with a special light, the news release states. Agents surveilled the plane and witnessed Belloisi go inside the electronics compartment before the plane was scheduled to take off for its next flight.

Belloisi’s gloves glowed under the black light when police confronted him, prosecutors said. He was also carrying an empty tool bag and had cutouts in the lining of his jacket, apparently to store the cocaine.

As proven, the defendant was caught red-handed trying to facilitate the smuggling of a large stash of cocaine hidden in an electronics compartment of the aircraft,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in the news release. “This corrupt airline mechanic not only abused his position of trust and undermined the security of a vital border crossing in our district, but was also willing to potentially endanger the safety of travelers as well as the community.”

The estimated street value of the cocaine, weighing 25 pounds, was $285,000 to $320,000.