Officer Kimberly Brown, 32, a Rikers Island guard since June 2000, was fired after her arrest last month as the NYPD moved in to shut down the ring.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Brooklyn narcotics cops also nabbed Brown's boyfriend, Cleon Earl, and three baggage handlers at Kennedy Airport in a case that once again exposed the frailty of the nation's borders.

"It's a matter of concern and it's certainly a concern to homeland security," said Kelly at a news conference detailing the arrests.

Kelly headed the U.S. Customs Service during the Clinton administration.

"Obviously there's tremendous potential for contraband, [weapons of mass destruction], you name it, from getting into the country," Kelly said.

Since the early 1990s, bags packed with cocaine made their way into Kennedy Airport from Guyana, undetected by U.S. Customs.

Some 18 months ago, Brooklyn cops caught wind of the drug-smuggling ring, which allegedly brought 600 kilos of coke into the city every year.

Two of the ring's leaders - Ansel Gouviea and Steven Gerrara - are being held on $10 million bail.

"There will be no option available to these people, other than going to trial or pleading guilty," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, who is prosecuting the case. "They ran a serious risk and they will pay the consequences."

The sting also netted two loaded guns, $400,000 and some 50 kilos of cocaine, most of it found in Brown's house, Kelly said.

Brown kept the drugs at her home in Queens Village, in plain sight and within reach of her kids, cops said.