Arrests, Shut Downs, and Potential Bomb Threats (Full Episode) | To Catch a Smuggler

0:09 suspenseful music playing] -Okay.

0:28 -The shipment's coming in from deep inside of Mexico.

0:31 Not, not from the border.

0:33 And it's going, I think it's going all the way to Miami.

0:36 He was surprised that I was sending him to X-ray.

0:39 Like he has never gone or, he wasn't expecting to be sent to X-ray.

0:43 [siren] -There's only a few boxes on the front,

0:53 and by "a few," I mean like two, maybe three.

0:56 Why would you have just a couple of small boxes at the front of a, of a trailer?

1:00 A full-sized trailer.

1:02 That's gonna have to go in and be looked at.

1:30 theme music playing] -We have a suspicious package.

1:41 Please do not allow traffic until we call you back.

1:43 Thank you.

1:44 -10-4.

1:45 You got it.

1:46 [siren] [honking] [sirens] -At this point,

2:01 as you can see, this whole area is cordoned off.

2:07 The fire department has an Incident Commander on site.

2:09 [sirens] The bomb squad,

2:12 they'll make an assessment and then we'll take it from there.

2:22 -Yeah.

2:22 Thank you.

2:27 -That officer that's walking up there right now,

2:29 he's gonna take some images using an X-ray system that they have.

2:35 And once they get that, they're gonna have to bring

2:37 it back and get it developed inside their mobile, mobile unit.

2:45 So it does have a battery in it.

3:06 -It's got a signature in the back?

3:07 Okay, hold on.

3:08 Let's do this.

3:10 -Which way?

3:23 -Yeah.

3:23 Yeah.

3:23 -It's all clear.

3:24 -We really appreciate you guys coming out here.

3:27 So the art, it turned out to be nothing.

3:29 But, uh, it can be a little scary.

3:32 Yeah, we're all clear.

3:33 We can open up again.

3:34 All right?

3:35 Yes, ma'am.

3:36 Now that the bomb squad has given us an all-clear,

3:38 this shipment is gonna be ready to be released here pretty soon.

3:43 We'll have some conversations with the importer of how he can assist

3:47 us in the future if he continues to import this type of material.

3:51 Our job as frontline officers is we need to make

3:53 sure that everything is coming into the country and it's safe.

4:12 suspenseful music playing] -Keep coming.

4:28 Keep coming.

4:28 Keep coming.

4:29 Where are you guys coming from?

4:33 -Atlanta's one of the biggest transit hubs of the United States.

4:37 What'd you guys do while you were there?

4:39 -Sightseeing.

4:39 -A lot of pyramids.

4:40 A lot of museums.

4:41 Went sightseeing?

4:41 All right, have a good day.

4:42 -Thank you.

4:43 -Thank you.

4:44 65% of the passengers that come in here internationally, go somewhere else.

4:53 Sir.

4:54 [in Spanish] Passport?

4:55 You live here?

4:58 Okay.

4:58 Do you have another flight going there?

5:02 -Okay, all right.

5:02 Have a good day.

5:03 Go straight down this way.

5:04 -Thank you.

5:05 [Officer Pacheco] Most of the drugs that are here in Atlanta,

5:07 they're distributed throughout the United States.

5:09 So we look at good routes.

5:11 Usually, we're not busting down the big cartels.

5:13 We're looking at single passengers.

5:21 These are my, my last few days actually working here at the port.

5:25 I'm kind of like taking the step to another direction, going to a field office.

5:29 The equivalent to a civilian where it'll be corporate.

5:31 Where you're running more programs that influence the ports.

5:35 So I wanna work a little extra hard to be more successful,

5:38 to go out with a bang.

5:41 Young lady, can I see your passport, please?

5:47 You're going to Virginia?

5:50 -Who lives there?

5:52 -Okay.

5:52 How long are you gonna be staying for?

5:57 -You've been here before?

5:59 -First time?

6:00 -Yeah.

6:00 [Officer Pacheco] All right.

6:01 Come with me this way.

6:02 We're gonna go through your bags real quick, okay?

6:03 I'll take this one for you.

6:10 So there's two reasons why I like her.

6:12 One, said she was coming for her first time

6:13 and I can see that she actually was here last trip.

6:16 And then, also her bag.

6:18 Bright purple.

6:20 I tell you how many times we hit on purple bags?

6:22 That's the ones I like more.

6:25 -Because it's the cheapest thing in the store.

6:27 Nobody wants a purple bag.

6:28 So they buy ten of them, load 'em up, and say, "Oh, you're going?

6:31 Here, take this bag." More than you, more than you know.

6:34 Okay, all of these bags are yours?

6:36 [Officer Pacheco] Everything inside belongs to you?

6:39 [Officer Pacheco] All right.

6:41 So you said you're coming to stay with your nephew?

6:45 -Godson.

6:45 How old's your godson?

6:51 -How long has he lived here?

6:55 -Oh, yeah?

6:56 Who paid for your trip to come?

7:11 -I smell it.

7:12 -Food items is a, is a big concealment.

7:15 We've seen stuff hidden in a lot of places.

7:17 Anything with powder, any kind of canned goods,

7:19 any kind of food item, any kind of perishables.

7:21 If you think about it, it's been done.

7:24 Who's doing the cooking?

7:25 -Ah.

7:26 You come to visit and you gotta cook?

7:29 When my mom comes to visit, she don't wanna cook.

7:32 -Ah.

7:33 What's your favorite dish to make with curry?

7:37 -Yeah?

7:37 You're gonna make some while you're here?

7:38 Ah, you're gonna spoil everybody.

7:44 Everything seem legit.

7:46 Can you close it up for me, please, sir?

7:48 Thank you.

7:48 You have kids?

7:50 [Officer Pacheco] Where are your kids?

7:53 -So I went to Chicago.

7:54 -You went to Chicago?

7:55 -Yes.

7:55 [Officer Pacheco] So it's not your first time?

7:57 Okay.

7:57 Okay.

7:58 She kinda like, told me why she was here last time.

8:01 I guess it kinda slipped her mind.

8:03 Here's your passport.

8:05 [Officer Pacheco] Okay.

8:06 Have a good day.

8:07 -Yeah.

8:07 -Stay warm.

8:09 We didn't find any contraband, nothing that wasn't allowed, so we let her go.

8:12 That's it.

8:13 On to the next flight.

8:25 [Agent Nick] We're going out to the City Heights area.

8:27 Do a little bit of a directed patrol, right?

8:30 Under Operation Fastball.

8:32 We looked at some of the overdose data.

8:33 It looks like that area has a fair amount of overdoses going on, so

8:36 I think it's a good place to do a little bit of surveillance.

8:40 Getting the word out that there's resources

8:41 and then also trying to stop some criminal activity,

8:44 stop some drug smuggling activity.

8:45 Any questions?

8:47 All right.

8:56 We're probably one of the largest task forces in San Diego County.

9:00 We're made up of a handful of different agencies.

9:03 We target areas throughout the county that, essentially,

9:06 there's either like a lot of drug activity going on.

9:08 And we're just trying to see if we can make something happen.

9:23 In San Diego, it is fairly simple for people to come by illicit fentanyl.

9:29 We have a very strong, steady supply of it from Mexico.

9:35 -Oh, jackpot.

9:39 -It's fentanyl.

9:41 -Our goal is to limit the number of fentanyl overdoses in San Diego County.

9:48 And we see something that a lot of places don't see.

9:51 What we see is we see a lot of people who are,

9:53 essentially, smuggling for themselves.

9:56 If I'm a drug user, I can purchase fentanyl in Mexico.

9:59 So I think that is accelerating the fentanyl problem, specifically in San Diego.

10:04 And the end result is, is overdose deaths.

10:12 Sometimes with these street operations,

10:13 it's just kind of the nature of, of the beast, right?

10:16 Just sitting out here, seeing what people are up to.

10:24 suspicious music playing] I kinda just wanna

10:27 see what this dude in the gray sweater is up to, 'cause he definitely handed

10:29 that, that guy in the jacket there something.

10:31 We'll see where gray sweater guy goes, what he's doing.

10:56 [Agent Nick] What's up, man?

10:57 You got that foil in your hand.

10:58 What are you doing?

11:01 [Agent Nick] You dropped it right there, dude.

11:06 [Agent Nick] Well, I didn't say fentanyl.

11:10 Okay, do me a favor.

11:11 Just turn around real quick.

11:12 Can you put your hands behind your back?

11:13 -Yeah.

11:13 -Okay, you're not under arrest.

11:15 I'm just gonna check for any weapons, okay?

11:19 -Okay, relax, dude.

11:20 Relax.

11:23 [Agent Nick] All right.

11:24 Well, you can have that.

11:25 It's California, man.

11:27 All right.

11:28 Thank you, sir.

11:30 So, do me a favor.

11:31 Have a seat.

11:32 Before you go, we work for a team

11:34 called the Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team.

11:36 So our job is to try and, and stop fentanyl problems in San Diego County.

11:41 This right here is, is an outreach card.

11:43 If you or anybody you know has a problem with fentanyl,

11:46 all of this stuff over here is resources.

11:48 It's phone numbers you can call, it's websites you can go to.

11:51 And they can do things like get people housing, temporary housing.

11:55 They can do things like harm reduction,

11:57 stuff like Naloxone, fentanyl test strips, stuff like that, okay?

12:00 So hang on to this, and you are free to go.

12:02 Thanks for being cool with us for a little bit.

12:04 -All right?

12:04 And no more burnt tinfoil, dude.

12:07 [Agent Nick] All right?

12:09 We took the opportunity to give him a little bit of resources and that's it.

12:13 So, he's free to go.

12:25 -Oh, yeah, absolutely.

12:35 -It looks like there's three people just

12:37 kinda sitting here in front of the store.

12:44 They're just kinda digging around in their stuff and talking to each other.

12:47 And it looks like one of the guys is maybe handing

12:49 a piece of paper over to the female there on the left.

12:54 Hey, I just saw a hand-to-hand.

13:00 Okay, guys, we got IDs?

13:04 -You don't have one?

13:06 Okay.

13:07 Can you hand me that little piece of paper, my dude?

13:11 [Agent Nick] You said there's a little bit of meth in there?

13:13 -All right.

13:14 And is this what you handed him?

13:17 [Agent Nick] Yeah?

13:18 Okay.

13:18 And the rest of the meth is in your purse?

13:21 -Yeah?

13:21 Okay.

13:21 I saw you take it out, that's why I'm asking, you know?

13:25 Is there anything else in your purse that you shouldn't have?

13:27 -Okay.

13:28 Is it okay if I look and make sure?

13:30 [Agent Nick] Okay.

13:39 [Agent Nick] It looks like methamphetamine.

13:43 [Agent Nick] Have you guys been arrested before?

13:48 -Okay, you do have a warrant?

13:49 Can you stand up real quick for me?

13:50 Can you put your hands behind your back?

13:52 Just 'til we figure out what's going on.

13:55 So far, we have a little bit of the, what I'm fairly certain is meth.

13:59 I saw her hand that to him.

14:01 And then we also have the ball of methamphetamine in her wallet there, so.

14:06 We'll do some records checks.

14:08 [radio beeps] Go ahead.

14:20 -10-4.

14:20 Thanks.

14:21 I'll be back on primary.

14:24 Black sweater has a armed-and-dangerous parole warrant.

14:28 He's taking a ride to central.

14:29 The female here, she's gonna end up taking

14:31 a ride to jail for the furnishing of meth.

14:35 That gentleman there,

14:36 the one that we saw her hand the meth to, it's a user amount,

14:39 so he'll end up just getting a citation.

14:45 When it comes to F.A.S.T.

14:46 and how we attack fentanyl kind of on this full spectrum,

14:49 some days we go after the, large bulk vehicle loads of, you know,

14:53 thousands of pills, hundreds of pounds.

14:55 And some days, we're out here chasing, you know, grams.

14:58 Now that drug use is what's causing people to die.

15:01 So they're all kinda equally important, um,

15:03 when it comes to trying to stop overdose deaths,

15:05 when it comes to trying to stop, uh,

15:06 this cycle of addiction and drug use in our communities.

15:09 So, successful so far.

15:24 suspenseful music playing] -How are you doing?

15:32 -You two together?

15:33 -Family?

15:39 [Officer Pacheco] Here you go.

15:40 All right.

15:41 Just go straight down.

15:41 You're fine.

15:42 This flight just came from Kingston, Jamaica.

15:44 Jamaica is a hotbed for narcotics.

15:47 Come through.

15:47 Come through.

15:48 I'm looking for people who either have unexplained travel,

15:51 uh, short trips, a lot of trips.

15:55 If we see anything that stands out for us, we're gonna be taking them,

15:57 we're gonna be escorting them down,

15:58 and we're gonna be going through their bags downstairs.

16:00 Hello.

16:01 How are you?

16:02 -You live here or are you coming for a visit?

16:05 -How long will you be staying?

16:08 -Where are you gonna be staying?

16:10 -Who lives there?

16:12 -And how long are you gonna stay with her?

16:16 -How long are you gonna stay with her?

16:22 -How long did you stay the last time you were here?

16:25 -All right.

16:26 Just do me a favor, come this way.

16:29 She seemed super nervous, snapping her lip a lot.

16:33 Every question I asked her, she was pausing,

16:36 couldn't have good, direct eye contact.

16:40 So we're about to grab her bags and see if there's anything interesting.

16:51 All right.

16:52 Okay.

16:52 You have no other bags?

16:53 That's it?

16:56 -Oh, okay.

16:56 Short trip.

17:04 -You stayed in Atlanta?

17:06 [Officer Pacheco] And how long did you stay for?

17:09 -How long ago?

17:11 -Two years ago?

17:13 -Only two weeks?

17:14 And you stayed for how long?

17:18 -The last time you were here.

17:23 -Now and then, you know, we come into people who are coming to visit the U.S.

17:26 and sometimes their intentions aren't just to visit.

17:29 They may be coming here to work.

17:30 Okay.

17:31 So was it two weeks or was it more than two weeks?

17:34 As long as you're honest, you'll be fine.

17:37 -About, about how long?

17:40 -A month?

17:41 Or like three months?

17:47 -Are you sure?

17:49 She had traveled here before, and she had, uh, a little bit of a lengthy stay.

17:53 She wasn't really forthcoming with it right off the bat.

17:56 Okay.

17:57 Here's your purse.

17:59 He's gonna take you over to another room real quick, all right?

18:02 Some other officers are gonna have a conversation with you, all right?

18:05 My main mission is looking for narcotics, looking for bad players and so,

18:08 we'll have the guys over there talk to her.

18:10 And if all she did was come to visit, she's gonna be good to go.

18:13 But if she came here and she was,

18:14 she was working, then it's probably gonna be a problem.

18:17 Her visa will probably be canceled and she'll be sent back to her country.

18:21 So the next load is the next passenger, you know, so.

18:23 We're gonna move on and just keep on working our other flights.

18:30 [thunder][♪ suspenseful music playing] [Officer Torres] Hello, sir.

19:01 -When it comes to processing the buses,

19:03 as soon as they arrive here at the port of entry,

19:05 every single traveler exits the bus.

19:08 And once their bus is examined, they go ahead and wait in a waiting area.

19:16 [radio beeps] Z-portal, are you up?

19:19 [officer] 10-4.

19:21 [Officer Torres] We have a bus heading your way.

19:26 Every single bus that passes through this port

19:28 of entry is scanned by the X-ray machine.

19:39 That side...

19:42 I see, uh, some square objects, uh,

19:45 located from the middle of the, the bus floorboard area,

19:48 all the way towards the end of the bus.

19:51 And that's definitely not supposed to be there.

19:59 suspenseful music playing] [Officer Dierlam] There seems to be,

20:12 like, some anomalies underneath the seats,

20:13 so we're just right now, at this point,

20:16 accessing areas that we can access without damaging the vehicle.

20:24 [Officer Torres] Let's look in there.

20:26 We've actually had several buses that have had narcotics.

20:30 Ranges from cocaine to meth.

20:33 We've found them in the floorboards, on the side of the buses, within the walls.

20:37 If anything, we're looking up higher, right?

20:39 [Officer Dierlam] Yeah.

20:40 -So I just wanna get a better check underneath.

20:43 [Officer Torres] Now I'm trying to get these screws to get loosened up,

20:47 but they're pretty tight on here.

21:01 -It's the support where the, where the, where the seats go.

21:06 [Officer Solis] Yeah.

21:07 Here's your anomaly.

21:12 -So, the anomaly is the actual support on the seats,

21:15 that are made differently than we're used to.

21:18 -Oh, yeah, yeah.

21:20 That makes sense.

21:21 -You have it here.

21:22 You have it here.

21:23 There's nothing here, here, here, and here.

21:24 It's only there.

21:26 So we're good to go.

21:28 We're done.

21:29 The bus will get all the passengers in and get it down the road,

21:32 so they don't have to wait anymore.

21:37 -You can't get them all, right?

21:38 So, you just keep trying until a narcotic seizure pops up on you.

21:52 suspenseful music playing] [Officer Pacheco] My last

22:00 day coming to work here at the airport.

22:02 I'm not going that far away.

22:05 -We've been together for a few years, before this port.

22:08 Talking about in New York.

22:11 He got stuck between two pillars, and that was the funniest day.

22:14 -Oh, she's taken...

22:14 She's still gonna bring that up.

22:16 -I have a picture.

22:16 So funny.

22:17 -Seven years ago, she still talks about it to this day.

22:19 [Officer Evans] Yes.

22:20 It's so funny.

22:22 Memories♪ -Yes.

22:29 -Hopefully, today is the day we, uh, get a load.

22:34 We're waiting on a flight coming from Ethiopia that actually stops in Dublin.

22:39 It's a good flight for us.

22:40 It's a big transit route for a lot of the other,

22:42 Middle East and all the other countries over there.

22:45 The main thing we're looking for is we're looking for narcotics.

22:49 Most likely, we're looking for heroin.

22:55 How are you?

22:56 How are you doing today?

22:58 -Traveling by yourself?

23:01 -Okay.

23:01 All right, there you go.

23:03 -Thank you.

23:09 How are you doing, young man?

23:10 -Traveling alone?

23:12 -Okay.

23:12 What countries did you visit on this trip?

23:16 -Any other countries?

23:17 -You traveled.

23:19 -On this trip?

23:21 -So how long were you gone from the United States altogether?

23:27 -Oh, okay.

23:27 Okay.

23:28 Just do me a favor.

23:29 Just hang out over here for me, please?

23:31 Thank you.

23:33 We have six people up here.

23:35 So we're about to head down for further examination.

23:38 Follow.

23:43 This one guy, he went, like, all the way to China.

23:45 There's a hot route from Ethiopia going to China for drugs.

23:48 Also, they are producers of fentanyl too, right?

23:51 So if he was in China, what was he doing in China?

24:02 suspenseful music playing] Right over here, sir.

24:10 Put your bags right up here for me, please.

24:13 Okay.

24:13 All of these bags are yours, right?

24:15 -Okay.

24:15 So you said you were in China.

24:17 How long were you there?

24:19 [Officer Pacheco] 12 days.

24:20 What were you doing in China?

24:24 -The World Expo?

24:25 Okay.

24:27 So which part of China did you go to?

24:30 -What kind of expo was it?

24:33 -The Canton Fair?

24:40 What's this?

24:44 -What kind of powder?

24:54 [siren] [Agent Matt] We're scheduled to meet with a, uh,

25:06 known area drug trafficker, who's scheduling to meet with an undercover.

25:09 And do a deal for fentanyl pills.

25:11 We're, uh, getting ready to go get set up.

25:21 In today's specific operation,

25:23 this particular offender has reached out to an undercover

25:26 agent who is posing as a significant drug trafficker.

25:29 The undercover agent will actually be the one

25:31 who's furnishing the pills to this individual,

25:33 who is supposed to show up with a large amount of cash.

25:37 This type of reverse operation is one

25:39 of the more dangerous that law enforcement and HSI use.

25:42 But sometimes the only way to lure out those most prolific drug traffickers

25:47 is to insert themselves into their supply chain at a relatively high level.

25:56 We have this particular individual identified and engaged

25:59 in undercover communications to meet at a parking lot.

26:06 Hey, Jim.

26:06 Go ahead and radio in when you guys are set.

26:11 -Once the undercovers have heard from the subject that he's

26:14 on his way and he's agreed to the meeting location,

26:16 we anticipate he'll arrive here in a white

26:19 Alfa Romeo with possibly one other individual.

26:21 And we will take it from there.

26:28 [Agent Matt] 10-4.

26:31 All right, location is hot and the subject is en route.

26:44 There's a white Alfa Romeo.

26:47 It's occupied with two adult males.

26:50 Looks like it's backing in.

26:53 [agent] The driver looks like S1.

26:58 [Agent Matt] 10-4.

26:59 The U.C.

27:00 said they're in two cars with one other individual in a Mercedes.

27:10 [agent] Looks like it's occupied by one.

27:15 [agent] Yeah, that's it.

27:16 [agent] All right, it just, it looks like they're parking.

27:21 [Agent Matt] Driver from the Alfa Romeo is out,

27:23 walking towards the direction of the U.C.

27:25 wearing a black hoodie with, it looks like, a white hat.

27:32 [Agent Matt] The passenger from the Alfa Romeo is stationary for now.

27:34 So there's one individual in the Mercedes now,

27:37 one individual in the Alfa Romeo, and one individual's interacting with the U.C.

27:42 Let's just hold and see what unfolds.

27:47 All right.

27:48 The U.C.

27:49 negotiated a price and we're looking at, approximately a 50,000-pill deal.

27:56 [Agent Matt] Door of the Alfa Romeo is open.

27:59 The passenger is out.

28:04 They're staring right at us.

28:07 Hold on a second.

28:08 Break, break, break.

28:08 Put all the cameras down.

28:09 Put all the cameras down.

28:11 Here.

28:22 [radio chatter] -He's coming around your side.

28:42 -Did he?

28:45 [Agent Matt] S3 is getting in the Alfa Romeo.

28:47 S2 is in the Mercedes.

28:52 [Agent Matt] Looks like S1 is back, looking down at his phone.

28:55 Possibly texting.

29:08 -They, uh, burned surveillance.

29:15 [Agent Matt] We're gonna move just so we're outta here.

29:23 So the U.C.'s gonna depart the scene

29:26 and reestablish communications with the, uh,

29:28 subjects in the hopes that we can get a, uh, another location for a meet.

29:35 As with anything, with these undercover operations,

29:38 things change and what you plan for to happen doesn't always happen.

29:42 So we just gotta be flexible.

29:52 [Agent Matt] That sounds like both vehicles have met

29:54 back up in the, in roughly in the similar area.

30:01 -Our undercover was able to make communications with the main subject.

30:04 And seems like they've made an agreement to move forward with the drug exchange.

30:24 [Agent Matt] So the U.C.'s discussing the drug exchange.

30:31 [siren] [siren] -That's bowling balls.

31:02 We normally process anywhere between 2,200 to 2,600

31:06 trucks a day from any part of Mexico.

31:15 -They usually bring produce, automotive parts, and parts for appliances.

31:44 [siren] [Officer Marroquin] What do you have?

31:56 -The tractor looks good, the floor and the trailer,

31:59 but when we come over here to the reefer we have this anomaly here.

32:04 -Yeah, send it into a dock, you know?

32:06 -Have it looked at.

32:07 -'Cause I'd like to do a better close inspection.

32:09 -Okay.

32:09 Find out what's really there.

32:19 [Officer Pacheco] Give me one minute.

32:21 I'm gonna use our Gemini equipment.

32:22 I just wanna see what this stuff is.

32:28 This guy has got a bunch of stuff that looks kinda suspicious,

32:29 so we're gonna run some tests to, to see

32:32 if any of this stuff comes back positive for narcotics.

32:40 It's starch.

32:41 -Yeah.

32:44 [Officer Pacheco] Okay, you can pack that up.

32:45 All right, sir.

32:46 Here's your passport.

32:51 -Why are you so nervous?

32:52 No need to be nervous.

32:53 We're just checking your bags.

33:02 -So this was a package that someone gave him there.

33:05 -Oh.

33:05 -To ship to someone here.

33:07 That's, like, his whole story and I'm just, like.

33:09 -It's a suspect thing.

33:10 It could be meth.

33:11 I mean, they're making meth over there now.

33:14 -We're gonna be testing it to see what it is.

33:24 suspenseful music playing] [Officer Pacheco] Even though all the stuff

33:31 that we tested in his bag is coming back negative,

33:33 we have to follow our instincts and what we're seeing in front of us.

33:36 This guy is really nervous.

33:37 He really doesn't have good,

33:38 explained reasons for why he's traveling with this stuff.

33:41 He doesn't know where it's going to.

33:42 -We're gonna be conducting a pat-down to make

33:45 sure you have nothing concealed on your body, okay?

33:50 [Officer Pacheco] The story is not making much sense to us,

33:51 so we're gonna take him inside,

33:52 we're gonna search his body and talk to him a little

33:54 more in-depth to find out what's going on with him.

34:09 -They're just searching his body to make sure there's

34:11 nothing dangerous or anything hidden on his body, real quick.

34:21 -All right.

34:22 How are you doing?

34:25 -You're doing okay.

34:25 You live here in the U.S., right?

34:27 [Officer Pacheco] All right.

34:28 Tell me about your trip.

34:29 How long have you been gone from the U.S.?

34:32 -How long have you been outside of the United States?

34:34 -So your family lives in Chad?

34:36 -But you're not from Chad?

34:39 -You're from, originally, from where?

34:41 -Sudan?

34:42 -Yeah.

34:42 -Okay.

34:42 And why is your family in Chad?

34:44 Did they leave?

34:45 [Officer Pacheco] Refugees?

34:47 [Officer Pacheco] How many years in Chad?

34:51 [Officer Pacheco] Oh, so a long time?

34:57 -So you went back to go spend time with your wife?

35:00 [Officer Pacheco] Are you trying to get her to come here?

35:02 -Okay.

35:03 Let's talk.

35:06 I think he's good to go.

35:09 He's not, like, usually they're gonna look away or they're gonna,

35:12 like, like, I think he looked pretty chill.

35:15 -Looks pretty chill.

35:16 As long as you're good with it, I'm good with it.

35:19 [Officer Pacheco] All right.

35:20 Everything that he's telling me seemed, you know, pretty straightforward.

35:23 As far as narcotics go, he's clear for us.

35:25 We, we have, we have no other interest in him.

35:28 [Officer Laska] Are you good?

35:29 [Officer Evans] Uh-hmm.

35:30 [Officer Pacheco] This is my last interview inside the room.

35:32 Starting Monday, I mean, I'm moving on to another position.

35:35 -You can pick up all your stuff and I'll show you now the exit, how to exit out.

35:39 [Officer Pacheco] Always a good day when my guys are all working together.

35:41 Everybody's working for the same common goal, right?

35:42 We're all here trying to, trying to find something, find the next smuggler.

35:47 I'm one of those guys who's been doing it the longest here.

35:50 So I think it's, it's good to have someone to lean on to, right?

35:53 Whether I'm here or not, they can always lean on me.

35:55 It's not a problem.

36:12 [Agent Matt] Block traffic, please.

36:15 Let's just get these cars parked on the side and then we'll get them out.

36:18 We'll get towing arranged.

36:20 All right.

36:21 Pat these guys down and get them cleaned up.

36:25 So, both cars were stopped.

36:28 The white Mercedes and the white Alfa Romeo.

36:30 Both cars have evidence within them,

36:31 so we're gonna arrange for tow for the two vehicles.

36:38 As you can see down here, we have the proceeds from the uh,

36:41 drug transaction on the floorboard here of the Mercedes,

36:43 in this kinda zipper bag.

36:45 The drugs are at a separate,

36:46 secure location and those are gonna be transported down for processing.

36:50 Okay.

36:51 Go ahead and pull up the transport vehicle and we'll walk 'em both up to you.

36:57 The suspects in custody here are gonna be taken for interviews,

36:59 processing, and eventual booking into jail.

37:09 We're headed to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

37:11 The plan is to start gathering and processing all

37:13 of the evidence so we can make sure that the U.S.

37:16 Attorney's Office gets everything they need to prosecute these offenders.

37:29 suspenseful music playing] [honking] -Right now let me check,

37:42 uh, the reefer unit.

37:44 Just to see if there's any tampering.

37:51 If it's loaded, they might add like a GPS

37:55 tracking device on the, on the unit itself.

37:59 But in this case, everything looks normal.

38:03 There's no tampering, no GPSs around.

38:08 The anomalies are in this specific area.

38:11 So I'm just gonna make some holes just to see if, if we hit something.

38:18 [drilling] There's a crystalized powder.

38:29 I don't know if it's a, a part of the, the Styrofoam.

38:33 But we need to remove the paneling so

38:35 we can inspect the actual unit from the inside.

38:43 suspenseful music playing][♪ suspenseful music playing] Oh, yeah.

39:01 It's loaded.

39:07 suspenseful music playing] [Officer Martinez] Turns out it's quite a load, huh?

39:13 [Officer Marroquin] Yes.

39:25 This is the last, the last one.

39:28 All right.

39:32 -We think, because of the makeup of the packages,

39:35 might be cocaine, but we're not sure.

39:37 So we have to verify what we have here.

39:43 So we've got the narcotic in a secured container for our own protection.

39:53 It takes very little for this Gemini to detect.

39:56 It doesn't have to put just a few grains on there really and this thing will...

40:01 analysis in progress.

40:05 Cocaine.

40:07 It's positive for cocaine.

40:23 suspenseful music playing] -Weighing 28.88 kilos.

40:37 The subject was escorted to Hidalgo Port of Entry for our withdrawal.

40:42 We're gonna be seizing his tractor, the trailer,

40:44 and he's gonna be sent back to Mexico.

41:02 For us, doing our job is a feeling of, um, of safety for the kids.

41:09 To get those drugs off the street, it feels really good.

41:25 suspenseful music playing] [Agent Matt] These are

41:36 the fentanyl pills that the defendant took possession of.

41:39 Now, they're needed for evidence to show

41:42 that in fact during this law enforcement operation,

41:46 the defendant took possession of these specific uh,

41:52 pills and he intended to take them and distribute them.

41:58 These particular drugs were previously seized during a separate law enforcement

42:02 operation and we're repurposing them for use to get more criminals.

42:08 We find that using real drugs with real markings,

42:11 real packaging, uh, saves us the, you know,

42:15 the need to doctor up something fake uh,

42:18 when we can use the bona fide thing during undercover operations.

42:25 This was the bag that was recovered from the vehicle.

42:28 We're gonna go ahead and remove the funds that were recovered.

42:34 Ultimately, money that's seized during the, the process

42:37 of a criminal investigation is held by Customs and Border Protection.

42:43 And then it goes through an administrative judicial process to determine

42:45 whether the money will ultimately be forfeited after the investigation is over.

42:54 I counted $13,040.

43:02 Through asset forfeiture, we were able to seize vehicles.

43:05 The value of the cars is still yet to be

43:08 determined but we're looking at over a six-figure seizure today alone.

43:22 Today, we were fortunate to be able to take significant drug traffickers off

43:25 the streets who traffic fentanyl pills in at least the tens of thousands.

43:31 Our unique location here on the southern border,

43:33 and one of the busiest drug trafficking corridors in the world,

43:36 means that some of the most significant players operate here.

43:41 Those significant offenders are really the reason

43:43 why fentanyl is as pervasive as it is.

43:46 So by taking out that critical link in the chain,

43:49 we're able to hopefully have an impact.

43:52 Not only just locally, but nationally on this crisis.

44:01 Captioned by Cotter Media Group.