ORLANDO, Fla. -- A lapse in airport security that allowed people to smuggle 14 firearms onto a passenger flight from Orlando to Puerto Rico exposed a bustling gun trade between the areas, according to a Local 6 investigation.

On March 5, 2007, federal agents realized 14 automatic weapons and eight pounds of marijuana made it into the overhead compartments of a Comair flight from Orlando to San Juan.

Two airline employees were charged and, in July, a third was set up by the feds, allegedly agreeing to carry four handguns and two machine guns to Puerto Rico.

Luis Fraticelli, who is the head of the FBI's Puerto Rico office, said he knows where guns wind up.

"In my opinion, their final destination was to fall in the hands of local gang members involved in drug trafficking," Fraticelli said. "We see the connection between Puerto Rico and Central Florida."

So, Local 6 followed the gun trade from Central Florida to Puerto Rico, where special units of the Puerto Rican police rounded up illegal weapons and the people who sell them.

Local 6's Tony Pipitone traveled to the rural town of Yabucoa, where an eighth person was taken into custody and charged with selling his share of $50,000 in illegal firearms.

In the vault of Puerto Rico police headquarters in San Juan, there are more than 7,000 weapons turned over to or confiscated by police in just the last three years.

And, when it comes to guns used in crimes, one state leads the way in being the supplier -- Florida, Pipitone reported.

"Orlando and Florida has emerged as a place where weapons are shipped to Puerto Rico because of the large Puerto Rican population," San Juan police Superintendent Pedro Toledo said. "This group, that I'm seeing, has bought the weapons from Orlando, Florida -- from Central Florida and from different gun shops."

Guns confiscated in Puerto Rico can be sold for more than twice what they cost in Central Florida.

Pipitone said that after the airline employees were arrested in March on charges of smuggling guns and drugs, TSA began searching all employees before they enter restricted areas.

But all that can be defeated by someone with an accomplice on the inside by going to the baggage pickup area with luggage already packed and instead of picking something up off the carousel, putting something on the belt, Pipitone reported.

An accomplice on the other side of the wall could then take the bag and try to smuggle it onto a plane.

Airport officials said safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening, but a police source said it's still a vulnerability -- one you don't see in other airports where luggage drops onto a belt that never enters a secure area.

Pipitone reported that there was nothing illegal about putting secure, unloaded guns in luggage and flying them to Puerto Rico, as long as they are declared to the airlines.

However, once they get to Puerto Rico, it is illegal for all but a few thousand people licensed by Puerto Rico police to possess weapons.

Contributing to this report was Investigative producer Diane Morales.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.