A simple drug bust in Brooklyn ultimately helped police uncover a huge Guyana-to-New York City cocaine ring involving baggage handlers overseas and at Kennedy Airport, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday.

The case, Kelly said, raises serious questions about security at Kennedy, where three baggage handlers, working closely with drug distributors in the city, pulled certain mailbags that contained cocaine from arriving planes before they could be inspected by customs agents.

"Is this a cause for concern?" Kelly said. "Yes. It's something that has to be guarded against. It's a challenge for the federal government."

Thirteen people have so far been indicted in recent weeks, including Kimberly Brown, 31, a city correction officer, and her boyfriend, Cleon Earl, 36. Police said they found a loaded .45-caliber handgun and several kilos of cocaine when the couple was arrested at Brown's Queens home.

Brown, who joined the Department of Correction in June 2001 and was assigned to Rikers Island, was suspended without pay. She is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Kelly said investigators have not uncovered evidence that Brown smuggled drugs to inmates.

She is one of nine suspects who face up to life in prison on charges of criminal sale and criminal possession of drugs. Four other suspects charged with drug conspiracy face up to 25 years in prison.

The three Guyanese kingpins, while identified by authorities, have not been arrested.

Operation Direct Connection kicked off about 18 months ago, shortly after a routine search warrant involving drugs helped police develop information that for the past 10 years or so, cocaine distributors in Guyana had been sending the drug to the city.

Kelly said baggage handlers for British West Indian Airways were paid to slip the mailbags holding cocaine onto the planes.