To Catch a Smuggler (2020) s01e07 Episode Script

1
They are in route.
MALE OFFICER: Let's see what we find.
We're looking for unusual passengers,
unusual activity.
Excuse me, sir? How you doing, man?
You got your passport with you?
Where you coming from today?
- Um, Lima.
- Lima. Okay.
LARA: Barbosa. On your left.
There's a gentleman in a jean jacket.
Walking around the carousel
looking suspicious,
so, I'm gonna get him right now.
Hi, got your passport?
(INDISTINCT AIRLINE ANNOUNCEMENT)
Where are you coming from today, sir?
Uh, I'm coming from, uh, Nigeria.
Nigeria.
What caught my attention was that
he was there waiting
and once he grabbed his bags
we saw him walk around
the whole carousel twice.
Then I saw him go through
the over sized luggage.
He was over there just waiting.
It didn't seem right.
Okay, sir, why do you
come to the United States?
I'm representing the
my ministry at the AACE conference 2019
- in Nevada.
- Okay.
And what do you
have in your bags today, sir?
- Just clothes, nothing.
- Just clothes? Nothing else?
MONTALVO: He wasn't acting
like a regular passenger.
He's looking around
if anyone's watching him,
looking if there's a quicker way
out of the situation.
All right, sir, I'm gonna have you
follow me really quick, okay?
- Okay.
- We're gonna do a quick baggage exam.
Barbosa, Montalvo,
be advised, I'm en route.
I want to see what was his real intention
coming into the United States.
I'm in a hurry, do you understand now?
I understand, sir,
but you need to understand right now,
I'm still gonna go ahead and take a look
at your bags and everything.
THOMAS: Customs and Border Protection
intercepted five kilos of MDMA
that was arriving in the mail.
By the dose it could be anywhere
from 10,000 to 30,000
or 40,000 doses of MDMA.
This box is international shipment
from Germany.
It's got five kilos of MDMA.
It's addressed to a storefront
right down the road on DeKalb.
We're going to deliver it.
Controlled delivery.
We're gonna leave it at the storefront.
We're gonna have
two units inside the store.
Your main focus is this box,
the rest of us will be the arrest team.
Don't lose focus, don't get, like,
tunnel vision on a female or a male.
The box is key, whoever's holding it
is the person we're gonna have to
interview and ask questions.
All right, we'll see you out there?
If you wanna affect change,
you can't just focus on the smuggler,
you have to get a dealer, a distributor,
right down to the individual
on the street.
(INDISTINCT AIRLINE ANNOUNCEMENT)
COVINGTON: Morning.
Do you have any food in this bag?
MAN: No, nothing like that.
COVINGTON: I'm just gonna take a look.
As an Ag Specialist, my main focus
is agriculture-related items.
Okay, so you just have bread?
- Yeah bread, and
- And what else?
Just bread and seeds.
- Bread and seeds? Okay.
- Yeah.
COVINGTON: So, in addition to passengers
who bring in food items
for their own personal consumptions,
we also have food couriers.
- You're a food courier, right?
- Food courier, do you have the paperwork?
Yes.
COVINGTON: Food couriers
are in the business of bringing
commercial shipments of food
from point A to point B.
OFFICER: Where are you coming from, sir?
Mexico?
MAN: Yes.
COVINGTON: So, each food courier
will bring in three to six bags
and they are filled to the gills.
This is a cheaper and faster way
to get commercial shipments
of food into the US.
- (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- (MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- It's cooked?
- Yeah.
Let's take a look at that one.
When commercial shipments
go through cargo, sometimes
it can take a day or more
before items are inspected.
Whereas when the couriers are bringing
those same kind of food items
through passenger baggage, they can be
inspected on the spot and released.
Okay, you're all set.
They'll drop off their products
to someone who's waiting outside for them.
Then they'll hop on another flight
and then we can see them again tonight
or see them the next morning.
You're gonna put
all your bags right here, okay?
There is something different
in the density.
(BEEPING)
You can see something round-shaped
and inside a roll.
So does this one look like a food?
Uh, it's not look like a food.
It's something else.
COVINGTON: Even though most food couriers
aren't up to anything illegal,
on occasion illicit products
such as narcotics are found.
SHAFIQUE: It's not exactly sausage.
It looks like a sausage.
But when you touch a sausage
usually it's just harder.
But when I squeeze the item, it's soft.
There was a powder inside the packet,
but they tied it up with ribbon.
And, uh, I do the field test.
(BEEPING)
If it's a food, it's gonna show us
whatever food items it is.
If it's narcotics, it's going to show us
what type of narcotics it is.
(BEEPING)
- Positive cocaine.
- OFFICER: Thank you.
THOMAS: We're heading out
to the storefront now.
The units are getting in position.
On a case like this,
we'll meet two or three people
before we finally find the person
who's ordered the drugs
or is expecting the delivery.
That's typical of what a smuggler will do.
They'll add layers between
themselves and us.
So, our task here is to wait it out
until someone picks it up.
And each person who picks it up
is a little bit closer
to the, the ultimate recipient.
AGENT: Are you on set?
Yeah, I'm on set.
AGENT: That's a copy.
THOMAS: Okay. The package
is in the storefront?
AGENT: We're set up.
FEMALE AGENT: 10-4.
All right, we'll let everybody
know what's going on.
THOMAS: When we set up a surveillance
like this one, we wanna be, uh, layered.
You want some people directly
in front of the shop,
but then there are also agents
who are, um, a little further off.
We have a, uh, pretty wide net.
The agents who are on scene,
there are about ten agents,
some on foot, but some in vehicles,
have all four corners
of the location under surveillance.
Who's this here?
THOMAS: Looks like a male.
Can you see him?
FEMALE AGENT: Slim, probably about 5'6".
Dry, no, um, no umbrella.
AGENT: Just went inside the store.
Okay. Good copy.
It's not a small consequence
to be arrested for drug smuggling.
It could be a 10-year sentence or more.
And that could really motivate someone
not to wanna come into custody.
It's a violent lifestyle, dealing drugs,
so they could very well be armed,
which is something
we consider while we're here.
FEMALE AGENT: All right. That individual
is now carrying a large box.
Just confirmed from the inside.
I think it's the target.
There's probably a vehicle
standing by outside waiting for him.
FEMALE AGENT: He's on foot.
FEMALE AGENT: All right. That individual
is now carrying a large box.
Just confirmed from the inside.
I think it's the target.
He's on foot.
All right, he does not have our box.
That is not our target.
AGENT: Just a regular customer.
All right, good copy.
We're here for someone to pick up
the box, that's the evidence.
That's what we are going to prosecute,
that's what you really need,
the possession of the drugs.
So, it's really just a waiting game.
LARA: Go ahead and place all
your belongings on top of the belt for me.
I'm gonna do a quick baggage exam.
All right, sir. So, how many days will you
be staying in the United States?
- Five days.
- Five days.
Any food in your bags today?
(CHUCKLES)
Really they are just, uh, snacks.
- Snacks. Okay.
- Yes.
So, tell me about this ministry.
My ministry is in charge of the
petroleum industry.
Petroleum industry, okay.
What's your position title?
Senior Petroleum Engineer.
- So you're an engineer? Yes, okay.
- Yes, of course.
- Is this your badge? Okay.
- That is my, that is my
office ID card.
I'm gonna have you step back
for me, please, okay?
Yeah.
LARA: It's been expired since last year.
How much you’re willing to bet money
this dude does not work there anymore?
When was the last day you went to work?
I worked the day before yesterday.
Do you have a, uh, employee ID
that's not expired?
They've not issued one
It doesn't take three months
to issue an ID, sir.
So, where is this conference at?
- Southern Lake Tahoe.
- LARA: Lake Tahoe.
ALBRITTON: Call and confirm.
LARA: I'll call them.
- Just take a seat, okay?
- Thank you.
One, two, three, 350, 390,
400, 404.
LARA: Hello? My name is Officer Lara,
I'm with US Customs and Border Protection.
I'm just trying to see if this reservation
is still active.
He's here in regards for this workshop.
You don't have a reservation
for that number.
You guys canceled it? Okay.
Thank you so much
for your assistance, ma'am.
The workshop said that you have to pay
before getting in there.
He doesn't have any reservations
of him paying for the workshop.
So, something doesn't make sense.
ALBRITTON: His credit
card expires this month.
According to him he has 31,000 naira
on his credit card.
- MONTALVO: Twenty-one thousand.
- Which is about
- I don't know, 50, 60 bucks.
- MONTALVO: $58.
Registration is 600 bucks,
that's more than what he has.
LARA: How much did you pay
to attend this workshop?
- I have not paid. Not yet.
- LARA: You have not paid.
According to the workshop,
which I have called,
you actually had to pay before in order
to attend this workshop.
No.
Once I get there
You need to pay ahead of time
in order to attend
- this workshop is what I'm telling you.
- We are paying at the venue.
No, we are paying at the venue.
So you're telling me that the event
lied to me, to a federal officer,
they lied to me?
MAN: That is exactly what is happening.
Okay. Right now, brother, there's a lot
of holes in that story.
MAN: I'm not lying.
We are registering when we get there.
All I've told you now
is nothing but the truth.
Your conference, it's at a hotel.
Why didn't you get reservations?
I'm not the only one from my ministry
that come for this conference.
Okay. He's not answering my questions.
Right now you're gonna go speak
to another set of officers.
They're gonna give you
the opportunity to be honest.
The mistakes you made with me
by not being honest with me.
You get another chance.
And they're gonna decide whether
you can come in or not today, okay?
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Things do happen in life.
But the American people are counting on us
that we don't let possible terrorists,
someone that might be coming here to work,
someone that doesn't have
the right status,
to come into our country.
You're gonna walk that way.
Do me a favor, take your hand
out of your pocket, okay?
We just conduct the field test
and it came out as a positive for cocaine.
Put your hands behind your back.
SHAFIQUE: We placed
the subject under arrest.
He was pretty calm. He's not excited,
he's not upset, he's not nervous.
It looks like he probably knew,
or it looks like
he have a previous experience.
Call Homeland Security Investigation
and the special agents,
they will come and take over the case
to prosecute the subject.
We have a guy here, a food courier,
coming from Mexico.
And he has a sausage that appear anomaly.
I conducted a field test and it came out
as a positive for cocaine.
Right now we placed him under arrest,
and here we go, guys,
you take it from here, I guess.
- Thanks, boss. I'll talk to you.
- SHAFIQUE: All right.
We're actually seeing a little uptick
when it comes to food couriers
bringing in things that are illegal.
They may believe that they
weren't inspected as heavily as before,
so I think that's why
they're being used currently.
Concealment-wise, the external stuff,
we're just seeing
more and more creativity.
Pretty much if you pick it,
you know, any item in your head,
they're gonna try and fit some kind of
drugs into it and smuggle it into the US.
Inside there was powder cocaine,
some of it's starting to fall out,
some of it might be a little bit hardened
just from being packed together.
But for the most part it was definitely
made to look like a food item.
This only is about 200 grams
which, still, it's a lot of drugs,
but for federal and for what
the normal weight that we see,
it's not gonna be a whole lot.
But the intel we got on it is probably
just as important as getting
the drugs because this is gonna help us
be able to pre-empt
exactly how this stuff is coming in,
who's bringing it in,
what targets that we can garner from it.
That's gonna go over to the NYPD labs.
That small intel
can turn into the linchpin
that leads us to capturing
that's big in these drug trafficking
organizations down the road.
Every single seizure
is one more step that we get
to these drug trafficking organizations.
Okay. It looks like a female
entering the business.
FEMALE AGENT: Female wearing black pants,
long black hood.
10-4.
Here we go.
(MICROPHONE BEEPS)
AGENT: She has the package and
she's waiting in the store for the Uber.
So we'll wait till she comes outside,
and find out where she's going.
One of our units
has gone into the business
and posed as a customer
and relayed to the outside units
that the woman is waiting
for a car service inside.
So, she's waiting
out of the rain inside the business now.
(MICROPHONE BEEPS)
Okay. I have a TLC car pulling up.
AGENT: Vehicle.
A Honda Accord Sport.
Looks like it's gonna be our vehicle.
It's, uh, it's a for-hire vehicle.
So, stand by.
MALE AGENT:
Ready to block, when you're ready.
THOMAS: Go ahead with the block
'cause we're not clear
on who's behind us on Broadway.
So just keep the block,
uh, when you get the arrest signal.
AGENT: There's somebody.
She's right in front right now.
FEMALE AGENT:
All right, we're gonna get out.
Walking out now.
(SIREN WAILING)
Go, go, go, go!
AGENT: Ready to block, when you're ready.
All right, we're gonna get out.
Walking out now.
Go, go, go, go!
THOMAS: 10-4.10-4,
you got it? You guys got it?
It was a fluid situation,
but it went safely.
She was arrested.
Do you have your driver's license?
THOMAS: She had a for-hire
vehicle waiting for her.
DRIVER: Can I take this one?
You're not taking her,
she's not gonna make the ride today.
- No, we're gonna give her a ride, okay?
- DRIVER: Okay.
- All right.
- All right.
THOMAS: Now we have a person
we could expand our investigation on,
we could determine
who they communicate with,
who is responsible
for the manufacturing of these pills,
or whether they are,
uh, a prior narcotics trafficker.
We'll explain to you
when we get back, all right?
THOMAS: And evidence gathered
from the interview
and the investigation
surrounding this young woman
will lead us to answering those questions.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello.
AGENT PATRICK: I've been trying
to get a hold of you.
We need you back at JFK ASAP.
What are you guys looking at?
AGENT PATRICK: We just found narcotics
on another food courier.
All right. No interview has started yet?
AGENT PATRICK: No, should we wait
for you or start now?
THOMAS: Just, uh, the, the bare minimum
and I'll, and I'll give you,
give me a callback.
- Let me know how you're doing.
- AGENT PATRICK: Copy. See you soon.
Thanks, bud.
Just received a call from Customs
and Border Protection, Terminal 4.
There was an anomaly picked up on an X-ray
on the passenger's luggage.
The, uh, inspectors probed the luggage
and found, uh, heroin and cocaine.
So, we're kind of in a rush,
we're expediting a little bit
because, um, it is time-sensitive.
PATRICK: We've already had
one narcotics seizure
concerning a food courier today and now
we've been called
right back for another one.
It's raining outside today and, like
they say, when it rains it pours.
The individual that we have
was found to be a food courier
coming in from Mexico.
We just want to weigh the actual drugs,
to get a truer weight.
That's almost
two and a half kilos of heroin.
They don't work.
You got it? Seven PVC pipes in total
filled with, uh, cocaine.
THOMAS: Two and half kilos of heroin
and, um, four to five kilos of cocaine.
Yeah, it's a substantial amount
of, uh, narcotics.
And, uh, this courier is likely
not the ultimate recipient of the drugs.
He's not the street dealer.
But the courier might lead us
to the street-level dealer
or to additional narcotics
that are here in the States.
(INDISTINCT AIRLINE ANNOUNCEMENT)
Apparently, he's attending this workshop.
So we called this place and we asked them
if he was registered,
and they told us
that he was not registered
and he hasn't paid the dues.
All right, sir.
MONTALVO: At this moment,
he has to realize that we got him lying.
But, I mean, I'll give him
the benefit of the doubt.
It's always good to give people
that opportunity to come clean.
RIM: I'm gonna take a statement from you.
We're just gonna talk about your purpose
of travel, what are you doing here.
Okay.
Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm
that all statements you're about to make
are true and complete
to the best of your knowledge?
- Yes, I do.
- Okay. Put your hand down
What country are you a citizen of?
- (SPEAKING)
- RIM: Okay.
And the purpose of travel
to the United States was?
(ABDULLAH SPEAKING)
RIM: Sir, immigration officers
contacted this convention.
They don't know who your team is.
You are not registered.
(SPEAKING)
- RIM: No. It's not the procedure.
- (SPEAKING)
- (SPEAKING)
- RIM: No, it's not, sir.
Why would somebody at this convention
state to an immigration officer
that the registration's closed?
So who's lying?
(SPEAKING)
Okay.
So you're saying this letter you presented
- to Customs and Border Protection is true?
- (SPEAKING)
So you're saying
this person made a mistake?
- (SPEAKING)
- RIM: Yes.
Okay.
I don't believe him 100%,
but if he's telling the truth,
I can't just jump to a conclusions
after a few questions.
And you are currently employed, correct?
(SPEAKING)
- RIM: Chemical engineer?
- (SPEAKING)
Who hired you? What is that person's name?
Dr (BLEEP)
- (SPEAKING)
- RIM: So if we call
the embassy to verify that person,
he will vouch for you?
- Uh (SPEAKING)
- Yes, you think so?
- Okay.
- (SPEAKING)
RIM: Okay. All right.
With passenger, Abdullah, 80% he's lying,
20% he could be telling the truth.
To verify his employment,
we do a little bit more research
on that passenger.
I don't waste time because
we just wanna know the truth.
Just think about all the things you said.
Just think, okay?
RIM: You state that everything
you presented is true
- and what you're saying is true?
- ABDULLAH: Very, very true.
Very, very true.
I don't have any reason to lie.
- RIM: Okay. So then
- Because it is not in my intention.
to work either in North America
or anywhere.
I want to remain in my country.
RIM: When did I say that you were coming
to work? I never said that.
MAN: No, no, no. No. Uh, I'm just telling
you.
I can verify from the
RIM: Sir, the officers have already
verified as much as they can,
and your story doesn't match.
- Mr. Abdullah.
- Yes, sir.
- RIM: Can I say something to you?
- Yes.
RIM: You had no idea that we were actually
gonna call the Nigerian government
to verify
if you are a government official.
- ABDULLAH: Yes?
- And they stated that they don't know
anything about you
or your officers coming.
Do you understand?
So how did you obtain this letter?
You know what I think and believe?
I think that
you do not work for this company.
Mr. Abdullah, honestly,
I'm sorry. I don't believe you.
It's not funny.
We find you inadmissible because
this letter you're presenting is not real.
And the visa that you presented
will be canceled today.
The job we do, it is challenging
because people who are desperate
to come into the US,
they will continue to lie.
But basically our job is catching liars
and having them tell the truth.
And that's what we do.
All right, Mr. Abdullah.
We know he's inadmissible
and there's a flight
that's leaving that evening,
so we want him
on that flight to go back home.
(SPEAKING)
MONTALVO:
This is one of those common scenarios
in which someone comes here,
they'll provide documentation
that is not accurate,
that is not 100% real,
just in the hopes of deceiving the officer
so they can come here and work.
He thought he was gonna show up and,
"Hey, I'm here.
Let me into your country."
"Well, unfortunately,
that's not the way things work.
(MACHINE WHIRRING)
(BEEPING)
(QUEVEDO SPEAKING)
We have some prohibited chicken
from Honduras.
And as you can see, it's completely raw.
Full of blood. The whole thing,
it seems to be contaminated.
POWELL: As an Agricultural Specialist,
my main job really is to make sure
that no plant,
pests, or diseases get through
these ports of entry.
Anything agriculture related,
we make sure that it's safe
to enter the country.
We definitely wanna check
and see if there's any, uh,
pests in here that could wreak havoc
on our agricultural industry.
It's also for public health.
Let's go this way.
These shipments are from Africa.
Wow. These are all fully formed
mounted trophies.
WOMAN: There's a, a few different species
of antelopes.
We have a water buffalo over there.
We have a hawk of some sort right here.
POWELL: A poorly finished trophy
is very problematic because rotting flesh,
it could carry a lot of diseases.
One example, uh, if the, the antlers,
antlers could have anthrax still on them
which is why they have to be sanitized.
Now, if it doesn't smell,
it looks very clean, then,
uh, it's usually good to go.
Everything matches up.
The documents look good. We're good. Okay.
This is a giraffe skull.
When they wrap it up like this,
it doesn't matter
if they have documents stating
it's treated. That's meaningless.
We have to look.
We don't wanna see
any blood, any tissue on here.
We found many times blood and tissue,
we had to refuse it and send it back.
Yeah, it looks clean.
I don't see any tissue.
They did a really good job sanitizing.
This is good to go.
This is the back skin
of some type of animal.
AUGIER: Oh. Right here.
Right here. Right here. Oh.
- POWELL: What is that?
- AUGIER: Insect.
Oh, there's another one there.
POWELL:
There are insects crawling around here.
Uh, it is very dangerous.
You don't wanna get bit by a flea
that's been sitting on one of these.
There's no telling what's been
sitting over there in the jungle.
They're They're They're crawling.
There's one here too.
- (AUGIER SPEAKING)
- POWELL: Yeah.
They're all over.
They're infested.
- AUGIER: Oh.
- POWELL: What is that?
(AUGIER SPEAKING)
There's one there too. Yup. Yeah.
POWELL: There are insects crawling
around here.
Uh, here in Florida,
you have to be particularly careful.
It's a tropical environment
so anything in here
can live here and reproduce.
So we're gonna have to leave this on hold.
CDC's already been contacted
and they'll have to fumigate
this entire shipment.
It'll kill whatever this is,
and we'll go from there.
Whether they'd release
this or not, I don't know.
(AGENT SPEAKING)
THOMAS: All right.
He's going to have key evidence
in identifying the ultimate recipient,
and that will lead us
to the street-level dealer
or to additional narcotics
that are here in the States.
Is it a big place or is it, um
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TRANSLATOR: Uh, it's a big company.
- Big company?
- TRANSLATOR: Big company. Yeah.
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(TRANSLATOR SPEAKING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(TRANSLATOR SPEAKING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
PATRICK: We're getting people that
may have just be used as pawns
in the game.
A lot of them are from poorer nations.
These drug trafficking organizations,
they do not care about these people.
So at least we can step in,
um, so that they know
that at least
someone is looking out for them.
(TRANSLATOR SPEAKING
FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- MAN: Uh-huh.
- (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(MAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- TRANSLATOR: Thank you. Gracias.
- THOMAS: Thank you.
The courier is still detained
at the airport, but we broke the team off
and sent some agents to take care
of this while the iron's hot.
You know, we wouldn't wanna come tomorrow
and knock on the door and
And the business claim no knowledge
of what's going on.
They could possibly be taken back.
They are not expecting six or seven
law enforcement officers to show up,
and it, um,
could potentially be dangerous.
The recipient of the narcotics
could be here,
so it's It's something
to be mindful of.
- Anyone on the radio?
- (AGENT SPEAKING)
THOMAS: Yeah, we're on scene now.
Tonight I had decided
to cover my HSI uniform
because it just draws attention.
If after we leave, it's perceived
that he cooperated with law enforcement,
it could possibly
put this business owner in danger.
All right. So let's go.
Hello.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
THOMAS: We understand you're providing
a service of goods, uh, into the US.
Do you mind if we look around?
POWELL: Look at this.
No markings anywhere.
MAN: No. No markings on that
on the outside.
POWELL: When a shipment comes through,
we have to work really hard
to find new things smuggled.
We do have intel sometimes
to help us pick those samples.
But, for the most part, my experience
and intuition is my best tool.
This looks interesting.
- Yeah. What's this one?
- Yeah. I see one, two, three, four, five,
- six.
- OFFICER: We've got several.
I'm gonna go ahead and open one
and see what it looks like.
Oh it's got an An odor
inside it. Smell it?
(POWELL SPEAKING)
Yeah.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
OFFICER: It looks like something
I've never actually seen.
It's kind of like clay-looking,
very fine powder, but very well packed.
MUNOZ: So it is manifested as leaf powder.
- POWELL: Leaf powder?
- MUNOZ: Yes.
And, like about a weight
of 5,000 kilograms in total.
So I'm pretty sure
all these packages that we see here
- (OFFICER SPEAKING)
- MUNOZ: Yeah.
POWELL: It looks like it could be
(SPEAKING)
Kratom is in the coffee family.
- (MUNOZ SPEAKING)
- OFFICER: Yeah.
POWELL: It's a natural plant,
which is only grown in Southeast Asia.
But it's a lot stronger than coffee.
It's getting really popular here
in the States.
People take it to get,
I guess they get a high off of it.
Okay.
POWELL: And people who are trying
to come off an opioid addiction,
instead of taking morphine,
they'll take this.
We're gonna have to take a sample of this,
but we're also gonna have
to refer this to the FDA.
The FDA has found numerous
samples of kratom
that's had high levels
of salmonella and E. coli.
And a lot of people have overdosed
and have gone to the emergency rooms.
It's manifested as leaf powder.
We've seen that before.
But it doesn't say it's actually kratom.
They're not telling it's kratom
because the FDA has been regulating this
and they don't allow kratom in.
Importers are making a fortune on kratom.
The street value, we're looking
at about two million dollars.
At the moment, it's completely legal.
It's just not legal to import.
The FDA is pushing to schedule it now,
so we'll see what happens in about a year.
So we'll seal it up
- and, uh, have them check it out. Okay.
- Seal it up.
This shipment here, if it is kratom,
is either gonna be re-exported
to the country of origin
because they manifested it
as something else or it's going
to be seized and incinerated.
THOMAS: We understand you're providing
a service of moving goods into the US?
No one suspicious, right?
No one, no new customers? No suspicious.
- (MALE OWNER SPEAKING)
- THOMAS: No?
(MALE OWNER SPEAKING)
We check everything.
I don't know what happened this time.
THOMAS: Key is just knowing your customer.
That's what's most important right now.
(MALE OWNER SPEAKING)
- THOMAS: All right.
- All right. Again, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
THOMAS: This is a business that receives
packages from Mexico.
The, uh, business owner kept good records.
(SPEAKING)
THOMAS: So everything from today's
still here?
Yes.
THOMAS:
In fact, there are no other shipments
similar to the one we intercepted
and the level of cooperation we received,
it doesn't appear that
the business was involved.
At this stage of the investigation,
we believe that somebody likely
put the heroin and cocaine
into the luggage using an established,
legitimate business
to move drugs over the border
(SPEAKING)
- Exactly.
- AGENT: See you back soon.
THOMAS: All right.
We'll see you back there. Thank you.
This is the end of today.
This is the end of tonight.
But not the end of the case.
Finding the responsible parties
is not a one-night, uh, operation.
But our minimum this evening is a success
because the heroin and cocaine
have been seized.
The public's safe.
We have information
and evidence to pursue.
It was definitely, uh, a great day.
MAURO: Make sure we call
our checkpoints out, all right?
When we go in, Victor Two,
make sure you do that, okay?
Today we're gonna be doing
a narcotics transfer.
We're gonna be moving
all of the narcotics and property
that's been seized at JFK and brought
to, uh, a facility to be, uh, destroyed.
- All right. Let's go.
- OFFICER: Sergeant.
MAURO: This is a secret operation because
the drug dealers and the cartels
and things like that,
they may want it back.
Wait for me to give the all clear.
So we're out there with M4s, Kevlar vests,
and what we need to match
any firepower that comes at us.
(SIREN WAILING)
ROSSINI: It's very significant.
I mean, you're talking about
thousands of pounds of contraband.
It's a dirty job,
but someone's got to do it.
There he goes.
Look at that, in one scoop. Awesome.
Crane operator will pick it all up,
drop into the boiler, thousand degrees,
where it's incinerated.
(MECHANICAL WHIRRING)
ROSSINI: It's a matter of saving lives,
which is what we do every day.
Getting this stuff off the streets,
it's gonna make a difference.