01x09 - Flock of Eagles

[bunniefuu]

Cartels use legal cargo shipments

to smuggle cocaine by sea.

Illicit loads have risen by more

than 150% in the last ten years.

With 5,000 container ships arriving

into Port Newark every year,

it's a major target for the

traffickers of ill*gal narcotics.

Today, Customs and Border Protection

officers John and Lee

have obtained some solid intel.

We received info from

our counterparts in the FBI

that we have a shipment

from Colombia of possible sugar

that might contain some narcotics.

The intelligence is that

there are 500 kilos of cocaine,

worth 25 million dollars

inside a container.

We're gonna get it offloaded and over

to our warehouse for inspections.

In 2019, officers at Port Newark

discovered 77 million dollars

worth of cocaine

in a container from South America.

And there are strong

indications this cocaine

is coming from the same cartel.

So, precautions have been taken.

And we wanna make sure there now ways

that they can get in

to access to the container.

As the six ton container is removed,

security is tight.

Because of the information,

we don't want anyone coming up

and trying to get inside,

so we have eyes all around it.

Because the cartel will be

determined to keep officers

from seizing their load again.

It is estimated that up to 40%

of all cocaine shipments

are intercepted by authorities.

So, South American cartels

have to constantly devise

new ways to get their contraband through.

Recently, they've been dropping

their narcotics by boat,

off the Florida coast

for local associates to pick up.

It's mid-morning in the Florida Keys

and Border Patrol Agent, Nick,

is responding to a an intriguing

report that came into headquarters.

So, what's happened this morning is,

station received a call

that some recreational boaters

had found a package,

approximately eight miles

off out in the Atlantic

and brought it ashore.

It's been packaged in a manner

in which we suspect it's narcotics.

One of my colleagues

has taken possession of it

and they're bringing it back

to the station now.

With only these limited details to go on,

agent Nick arrives at the station

to help process the load.

These bundles were originally

wrapped in plastic

before they were dropped into the ocean.

And they're in good company.

We are seeing a steadily increase

of wash ups and right now,

it's been a pretty steady flow of

about one to two wash ups per week.

To make sure it is narcotics,

the bricks are tested by agent Nick

and agent Otolio.

These are kinda shaped like a brick,

so I suspect it's cocaine,

so we're using one of

our cocaine test kits.

Mr. Otolio here is gonna be

helping out with that,

so he just put a small sample

in the bottom of our test kit

and then from there when it changes color,

that will indicate

what is specifically is.

So, we're actually gonna be looking

for a pink and blue combination.

That's gonna indicate cocaine.

And there we have pink and blue.

Pink over a blue, so this is gonna be

testing positive for cocaine.

Now that it's been confirmed as

cocaine, agents need to weigh it all

to know just how much

the cartel has lost this time.

So here we're gonna have

25 individual bricks

of the tested positive for cocaine

and as you can see here,

it's gonna come out

to a total weight of 65 pounds.

In Florida, a pound of cocaine

costs approximately $15,500.

This is gonna be just about reaching

that million dollar threshold

or maybe a little bit more, so

definitely got a lot of value here.

It's a major concern that many

of these recent wash ups

off the Florida coast

have been as large as this one.

Over the past couple of weeks

we've been getting with the cocaine.

It's been roughly ranging

between 20 to 30 bricks,

so this currently the average

of what we've seen

for the washes we have been dealing

with in the past month.

With cartels making astronomical profits

from the cocaine that does get through,

they can risk some not making it.

Even so, a million dollar load

gone missing will be noticed

and cartel operatives will be out

at sea, searching for it.

Agents need to find out exactly

where this was found, fast,

so they can hopefully

intercept the cartel members.

FAJARDO - PUERTO RICO

The waters around Puerto Rico

are designated as a high intensity

drug trafficking area

by America's Department of Justice.

In 2023, U.S. Customs

and Border Protection agents here

seized over 115 tons of cocaine.

PUERTO RICO

FAJARDO

It's midnight on the east coast.

Mike 2802, this is Mike 814

radio check, over.

Yeah, you copy.

Marine agents have received intelligence

about a boat suspected

of carrying narcotics,

coming from the U.S. Virgin Islands

45 miles away.

Radio check is good. All lines clear.

Tonight's operation is under the

control of vessel commander, Victor.

We'll go north-east Puerto Rico.

There's information of a vessel

traveling from St. Thomas.

This is not a typical time

to be navigating

from U.S. Vis back to Puerto Rico.

The plan is to intercept the vessel at sea

and agent Justin

is ready for any eventuality.

And if we get a lights out vessel

that's not stopping,

I'll be the one initiating

our marine warning shots,

marine disabling fire protocol in

order to get the vessel to heave two.

He's my tactical boarding officer.

And then we have Pedro.

He will be assuming cover position

if we have to do any engagement.

The information is

that this could be a large shipment.

There's actually some intel on both ends.

I think something

might go down here tonight.

Agents are deploying two boats

to give them the best chance of

catching the smugglers red handed.

We had enough people for two vessels,

so one of them is gonna go north

and the other's gonna go south.

- Everyone good back there?

- All good.

All right.

To ensure they have

the element of surprise,

they're operating without lights.

Navigating through here

at night can be very challenging

if you have to engage in a pursuit

and some kind of vessel

that do not wanna stop.

Agent Pedro scans the radar

to identify any vessels

that could be the suspect boat.

He sees something, it could be

a potential boat moving here.

This time of night,

any vessel travellng in the area

could be the target.

Agent Victor brings the boat to

a stop in the shelter of an island,

near the suspected smuggling route.

It's legitimate intel, so we're

just standing by here right now.

After a half an hour, there are

no signs of anything suspicious.

And we're patrolling right now

and nothing is going on.

Romeo Tango, what's your position?

The news comes through on the radio.

I think I've found your vessel.

PORT NEWARK - NEW JERSEY

In Port Newark, Customs

and Border Protection officers

are following up on a piece of intel.

Allegedly, a Colombian cartel

has concealed

25 million dollars worth of cocaine

in a container carrying sugar.

Officers have removed the container

from the ship under tight security.

We're just looking

for any signs of tampering

or any, any different

weld marks on the container

to see if there's any anomalies

where they've opened up the rails.

So far, it looks like the container

is fairly decent shape

and it looks pretty new.

We haven't seen any anomalies yet.

While he waits for a truck

to move the container

to a safe place for inspection,

Officer John receives more details of

where the narcotics

are supposed to be hidden.

I just got a phone call from our TFOs

that works with the DEA and the FBI.

He just notified me

with some more information

about the consigning of this container.

They're claiming it could be

one of three places.

The container structure

or the commodity or the roof rails.

So, we're gonna check all three.

The container is going to be taken

to the X-ray area

and officers keep a close

watch every step of the way.

We don't know

who the possible recipient is

for the contraband that might be inside,

so we're trying to have security

on the front and the back end,

to keep eyes on all sides

of the container.

If the intel is correct,

it's essential nothing happens

to the 25 million dollar cargo of cocaine.

In case there is any internal conspiracy,

if there is, at least

we'll have eyes everywhere

to see if anyone tries to

come up to the container, so.

This is our NII yard, this is where

the X-ray is gonna come out.

The driver's gonna line up the

container over here by the X-ray

and they're just gonna drive right

through and try and get an image.

Once in position, the container is scanned

with a mobile X-ray truck.

And the preliminary results

come back quickly.

How does it look?

He's going to print out the image.

Check your front structure.

It's a little more dense

than everything else.

The full X-ray results should give

officers a clearer picture.

And when the container is open,

they immediately see red flags.

- That's like freshly re-done.

- It looks like it's overspray.

- Who knows?

- Yeah.

But there's a couple of patches there.

Officers know that fresh paint

is often used to conceal

modifications to a container structure.

It's looking like the intel

could be right on the money.

FORT LAUDERDALE - FLORIDA

It's estimated that the U.S. cocaine

market is worth $36.5 billion a year

and 10 percent of that

is smuggled through Florida.

In Fort Lauderdale, agent Gary

of the Border Patrol K-9 unit

is out with his detector dog, Braff,

checking a beach where drugs

have washed up in the past.

What we do is that when he's out

and I'm in uniform,

he knows the odors of narcotics

can be anywhere and everywhere.

So, when we get out to the beach,

I've already imprinted on him that

there could be a productive area.

With more and more drug wash ups

happening along Florida's coastline,

regular patrols are needed.

Good boy. There's a good boy.

But before they manage to find anything,

agent Gary and Braff

are called away on another job.

They're needed at the port of Palm Beach,

to inspect a recently arrived shipment

suspected of carrying drugs.

Kennel. Good. Kennel, buddy.

Agent Gary has been a K-9 handler

with U.S. Border Patrol

for 17 years.

K-9 handling is my passion.

We see the K-9s

more than we do our families.

So, you get that really close bond.

Agent Gary has been with 2-year-old

Belgian Malinois, Braff, for a year.

Braff never gets a case of the

Mondays and never has a bad day.

And I have a little less

than a year before I retire

and I believe I'll definitely miss

a lot of the aspects of this job.

At the port of Palm Beach,

agent Gary checks out

the shipment of fruit

from the Dominican Republic,

before Braff will check for narcotics.

Today we have papaya

on one cargo container

and then we have avocados

on the other cargo container.

The port of Palm Beach

is the fourth busiest container port

of Florida's 14 deep water ports,

and they only request a K-9 unit

if they have intel of possible smuggling.

They do have some kind of indicator,

either the shipper has a previous

history or something to that effect.

Dogs like Braff are trained

to target specific scents

and find the highest concentrations

of the odor known as the source.

And when found are rewarded with a toy.

He has to find source, he can't just,

"Oh, I smell that, give me my toy."

He has to find source

and then he'll indicate by sitting,

staring at source and then what I'll

do is what we call "palm out"

meaning I will get my toy

and make it appear

that it's been pulled out of source.

Then I will give it to the dog.

With 40 times more of their brain

devoted to smell than humans

You ready, buddy?

these dogs can detect substances

at concentrations equivalent

to a single drop of liquid

in 20 Olympic swimming pools.

You ready? Good boy.

Gary fetches Braff

and they go straight to work.

Up. Good boy.

Where is it?

Good boy.

Within less than 10 minutes,

a palate has Braff's attention.

By sitting, Braff is indicating

he's found something,

and a thorough investigation

will soon get underway.

It's morning in Fort Lauderdale.

Before Customs and Border protection

agents Fritz, Mike and Alex,

set off on patrol,

they've been alerted

that a boat from Fargo

in North Dakota, is in the marina.

Fargo, North Dakota, just odd.

We normally have like, odd boats show up.

We haven't seen it around this area

before, so just piques our interest.

Landlocked, Fargo is approximately

1,500 miles form any sea or ocean.

We're gonna go talk to 'em,

see what he's up to today,

just do a quick inspection.

See what he's up to, where he's going.

As immigration agents

and as customs and enforcement,

we can check his documents for the vessel,

we can check his registration,

his hid number, we can do that.

That's what we're gonna do right now.

The agents approach the boat

and immediately begin their inquires.

- How you guys doing?

- Hi, guys.

- What's going on?

- Okay, sir.

We are heading to Bimini and then Nassau.

- He lives in Nassau.

- I live there.

Oh, nice.

- Are you Bohemian?

- I am.

- Who's the owner?

- He is.

You the owner?

And you have the documents,

- your registration, your ID?

- He doesn't have registration,

he hasn't registered the boat yet in

the Bahamas. We've a bill of sale.

You have the documents on your vessel?

- Yes sir.

- All right, gonna go.

Although the boat says

it's from Fargo on the stern,

the owner is from the Bahamas.

Needing to know more,

agent Alex follows him into the cabin.

- Any weapons on board, sir? No?

- Negative.

So, it's not registered yet?

I think the registration here

has just expired.

Where was it registered before?

Which state? It was registered

recent in the Bahama.

- No.

- Registered in Florida.

Okay, so you should have a record there.

When you bought it?

Oh, you just recently bought it.

- I bought it.

- Okay.

Agent Alex quickly ascertains

that it may say Fargo,

North Dakota on the boat,

but it was actually purchased

recently in Florida.

- Okay, you have your ID?

- Yeah.

Okay, you got your passport.

Well, this is a good deal,

you only paid 14,000?

It's not as good a deal as it looks.

- Yeah, you got a lot of maintenance?

- A lot of work.

Lot of maintenance, yeah. If you

want, we go back outside, it's hot.

Since the boat's documents seem in order,

agent Alex moves on to checking

if any customs violations

have been committed.

Do you have any merchandise up to

$10,000 that you wanna declare?

- Negative.

- Nothing?

- Have you ever been arrested?

- No sir.

Nothing at all, okay.

I'm retired law enforcement,

not that that makes any difference.

- In Bahamas?

- Yes.

Agent Alex returns the man's documents,

satisfied nothing ill*gal is going on

and the team leaves the men to make

the 50 mile journey to the Bahamas.

- You have a great day. Bye, Cap.

- Bye, gentlemen.

- You guys be safe out there, okay?

- Thank you.

- Thanks a lot for what you guys do.

- Thank you very much, Cap.

We appreciate it.

While the boat's history

remains a mystery,

all its documentation was fine.

The owner is an

ex-Bohemian cop. Retire.

He said he's just going for fishing

and enjoy his retirement about.

And everything checked up pretty good.

Now the team sets off to go out

and patrol the waters

off the coast of Florida.

FAJARDO - PUERTO RICO

850 nautical miles away,

on Puerto Rico's east coast,

marine agents have been waiting

to intercept a boat

smuggling narcotics

from St. Thomas

in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

I think I've found your vessel.

When they received information

that a boat seen coming

from St. Thomas has been

stopped by the second team.

Another vessel was able to stop

a vessel traveling from St. Thomas.

We would go check it out.

Since it matches the description

of the one from their intel,

the crew immediately heads to where

the suspect boat has been taken.

When they arrive,

the vessel has already docked

and its 5 passengers disembarked.

Did you take a picture of the PR numbers?

Agent Pedro joins the team

searching the vessel.

- Were you by the island?

- St. Thomas?

No.

Right away, the boat captain

lies about their journey.

So, he stated he came from Culebra.

The second time they asked

he answered he came from Culebra.

And the third time they stated they

were coming from St. Thomas.

By initially claiming he came

from the Puerto Rican island of Culebra,

just east of the mainland, the

captain has made a major mistake.

Lying to an agent is a big red flag

and now they are convinced

they have the right boat.

One by one, they will be

interviewed by other agents.

The operator of the vessel looks nervous.

We will see how these end up.

The five men's IDs are checked

and every nook and cranny of the boat

is searched for any narcotics

that may be hidden.

In the Florida Keys, U.S. Customs

and Border Protection agent Nick

has just processed

a million dollars of cocaine

found by two fishermen in the sea.

So, right now, I'm going to

meet with the individuals

that did discover the package

that was out there on the water.

I wanna go meet with them, we'll see

what information they have to share

from when they found it,

and maybe anything that would

be of any useful information.

Agent Nick knows

that time is of the essence

because this much cocaine

will definitely be missed

by the cartel that dropped it off.

It was a big package that they did find.

The sheer value being over a million

dollars, it is a lot of money.

Money causes a lot of greed to people

and do a lot of violence,

so the individuals that were

involved with that bundle,

they are out there, looking for it.

The sooner the agents get more details,

the sooner they can send

a patrol boat out to the location

to try and catch the cartel

operatives looking for their load.

Gentlemen, I appreciate you coming down.

- No probs.

- What kinda stuck out

when you guys were on the water?

We were about, 7-8 miles out of Islamorada

and we were actually fishing,

trawling and as we were riding by,

Kevin says, "I think there's

a suitcase floating there."

Was there any other boaters out there?

There was one that we passed,

but they were leaving as we came around,

and by the time we got it out

of the water, there's nobody, really.

- Where'd you guys launch from?

- Harry Harris.

We came out, straight out of Harry Harris

and then came south across the drop off.

Agent Nick goes back to base

with the information of exactly

where the drugs were found.

With ever increasing amounts

of drugs dumped at sea,

the chances are more will be spotted.

In the meantime, agents start patrolling

the vicinity of the drop off,

hoping they'll find the cartel members

looking for their missing

million dollar package.

1,200 miles due north in Port Newark,

Customs and Border Protection officers

are acting on intel that 25 million

dollars worth of cocaine

is hidden in a container from Colombia,

allegedly carrying sugar.

Officers believe they have found evidence

that the container

may have been tampered with

so they immediately to check to see

if it has any false walls.

So, right now we have a range finder,

so we'll just sh**t it from end to end

to see what the length

of the container is.

The range finder allows the officers

to accurately measure the dimensions

of the interior of the container.

Anything different

from factory specifications

means it's been altered.

- 40 feet.

- So no wall, no false walls.

It looks like the length of the

container is correct, it's 40 feet.

It's nothing like shoved inside,

like, the gaps and stuff, right?

- There's nothing on the ground.

- You going in?

Office Lee moves into the interior

of the container for a closer look.

We're just checking

the fame of the container,

we're checking the walls, the roof

to see if there's any markings

or any different sounds, like

something could be inside the wall.

We're just going around tapping.

Everything seems to be

checking out so far.

So, but we're gonna continue

to hop on the roof in a little bit

and see if we can see any markings

from the outside.

Shipping container walls

are made of two sheets of maritime

grade corrugated steel,

which results in hollow spaces

that can be exploited by cartels.

So, right down in this area,

this little rail here,

they'll cut out a square here

and then they'll take the narcotics

and push it down in a tube and then

once all the narcotics are in,

they'll take that piece of the cut

out, they'll put it back in.

They'll re-tack weld it and then

take Bondo, smooth it over,

sand it and repaint it

to make it look like it was factory.

But it doesn't look like that method

has been utilized this time.

No, it looks like the container

and the structure is pretty intact.

We checked both sides of the rails,

we don't see any Bondo

or anything out of the ordinary.

Looks like for now,

the structure on top is good to go.

After a visual inspection

of the container has found nothing,

now it's K-9 Siri's job,

to try and find the contraband.

Siri uses his 300 million scent receptors

to sniff the whole container.

If he detects anything,

he'll signal by sitting.

But, there's no signal,

meaning the contraband

must be incredibly well hidden.

The full X-ray image

of the container comes back

and it's frustrating news.

So, we got the image up.

I don't really see any concerns

about the frame or anything.

Commodity looks dark.

So, I mean, it could be in there.

As far as I'm concerned,

the frame and stuff,

I don't really see anything.

With the container's rails

and structure cleared,

the third and final place

the intel mentioned

is the Colombian sugar itself.

Now, the 1,000 bags need to be

X-rayed, one by one.

The Bahama's 700 islands and keys

and its proximity to the U.S.

make it an ideal conduit for smuggling.

And traffickers regularly try to blend in

with pleasure craft around Florida.

It's early in the morning and off

the coast of Fort Lauderdale,

marine agents Fritz, Alex and Mike

are now out on patrol.

They notice a boat speeding

towards the mainland

from the direction of the Bahamas.

- Check it out now.

- Yeah.

At this time of the morning,

most pleasure craft

are heading out, not in,

so the agents decide to investigate.

I'll do the talking.

You stay at the helm.

It's potentially suspicious behavior.

Yo, gentlemen, United States Customs,

how we doing today?

- How're you doing?

- Good, where are you coming from?

Off shore, 600 feet.

- Okay. Where are you going now?

- Heading home, Fort Lauderdale.

- You catch anything out there?

- Two dolphin.

All right, man. How big?

I wish we had more, they bit early,

they didn't bite late.

Sometimes known as dolphin,

the mahi-mahi is relatively common

in the Atlantic waters off Florida.

- Any heavy traffic out there today?

- Nothing, almost nobody.

Nobody?

All right, you have a good day, all right?

- Yeah you guys too, be safe.

- Hey, you too.

Satisfied,

the agents let the fishermen go.

The reason we stopped it,

it was the first we saw coming in.

Most are going out right now.

If not, they'd be staying out

there for a little bit,

it's early in the morning.

It's rare to see somebody come back

with fishing lines that early.

But he seems to be a local, he went

out super early, didn't go too far.

So, he said he caught

his catch for the day,

and it was a pretty quick day,

so he's heading in.

The team continues patrolling

the waters around Florida.

At the port of Palm Beach in Florida,

Border Patrol K-9, Braff, was brought in

to inspect this shipment of fruit

from the Dominican Republic,

suspected of hiding narcotics.

Within minutes, he indicated

he'd found something of interest.

Oh, that's a good boy, he catch it now.

That's a good boy.

Oh, what a good boy.

Handler, agent Gary immediately

rewards Braff with his toy

and then looks to see

what he's sniffed out.

I believe that is one kilo of cocaine.

Considering the cocaine was hidden

in four tons of boxed fruit,

it's an impressive find.

The dog's ability

to sniff stuff out is amazing.

They have technology that they want

to make the dog obsolete,

but they can't get better than a dog.

So, that's another reason

why I love doing this.

Smuggling single packages is rare

and the chances are high

that more is hidden.

So agent Gary and Braff

continue their inspection.

Good boy.

After and hour, Braff finishes

checking all the cargo

with no further finds.

He did not alert on anything

or indicate, no.

The case is handed over for investigation

and the package

stored securely pending testing.

Without Braff, those narcotics

would have ended up on American streets.

These dogs, it's very unique.

They say the selection test

for picking these dogs,

that only one percent of the whole

canine population in the whole world

would be able to pass this test.

It's 3:00 a.m. on the east coast

of Puerto Rico.

After receiving intel about

a boat smuggling narcotics

from the U.S. Virgin Islands,

a suspect vessel has been stopped.

When interviewed, the captain lied

about where they came from.

- Were you by the island St. Thomas?

- No.

Leading agents to believe this

is the boat they're looking for.

We have to make a complete search

to make sure there's nothing on the boat.

We want the picture of the

Picture them and then run it.

Since boats have lots of

hard to access places

where contraband can be hidden,

a cavity inspecting endoscope is used.

We are using the scope

because sometimes we cannot

see through small holes,

for example, we're just speakers

where the cables come out

and you can see inside of the speaker box.

Shine up with your flashlight.

Speaker boxes are a favorite hiding

place of smugglers.

Point it down at the back.

But this one is empty.

The agents finish their search,

having found nothing

and the travelers are free to go.

So, the result were negative,

so we release them

and they are on their way home.

But if this wasn't the boat

agents received intel on,

then the smuggling vessel

is still out there.

In Port Newark,

officers have been searching

for 25 million dollars worth of cocaine.

They're working off intel

that it's hidden somewhere

in a container of sugar from Colombia.

So far, they've come up empty handed.

We checked in the container,

we checked on top of the roof,

down below, inside, on the floor.

I'm very happy with like,

the container overall.

We're gonna take a deeper look into

the commodity of the container.

It means officers will need to put

all 1,000 bags through the X-ray.

Still hopeful.

I think it can literally be anywhere,

so we're gonna go through

every single bag,

send every one through the X-ray

and hopefully find something.

But yeah, it's gonna be a big job,

it's gonna be a long time

and it's gonna be a lot of muscle,

putting some elbow grease into it

trying to dig down, getting a little

dirty trying to find something.

They believe the odds

are stacked in their favor

because Colombia is ranked 16th

in the world for producing sugar,

but number one for cocaine.

We're throwing each bag individually

on, going through each image,

seeing if we can find any

discrepancies among the image.

When hunting for contraband,

Customs and Border Protection

takes every precaution possible.

- Super dark.

- Yeah?

After an hour and almost 200 bags,

the offices are struggling.

We're gonna change

inspection method up a bit.

We're not getting

clear images with the X-ray,

everything's so condensed, so thick.

Everything just looks like a big blob.

The next method is probing every bag

for any hidden foreign bodies.

A lot of times they'll take the contraband

and put it inside the sugar

and then they'll wrap it around.

So, we take these little probes,

we probe the sugar.

If the probe doesn't go through,

it hits something,

you know something's inside.

Every single bag will need to be checked

to ensure nothing is missed.

Intel was like, 500 kilos,

there's a lot in here,

so you can literally put one pallet,

we'll put a couple of narcotics

in each pallet,

so, if we don't probe

all of them you can miss it.

Very simple.

Brown sugar? Smells good.

There's like, eight more.

It's painstaking work, made harder

by the searing summer heat.

Trying to say positive,

trying to stay positive.

Trying. Trying to say positive.

It's so hot, it's brutal right now.

Six left.

After another hour,

officers are still coming up empty.

So far, nothing. Hopefully in the

next five we'll find something.

We'll see.

- Still got hopes.

- Yeah.

- Still got hopes.

- Keep working away.

They feel different, right?

No, they all feel

exactly the same. Heavy.

Last two.

Almost done.

It's been three long hours

and they finally finished

probing all 1,000 bags.

That's it, we just went through

about 40,000 pounds of sugar.

We literally probed every single one,

100 percent on the container.

Unfortunately as of right now

it's still negative,

but we're gonna take a couple of bags

and bring 'em over to our Gemini and

test some sugar, just in case.

This is the last trick

they have up their sleeves.

The officers will test

the contents of the bags

in case it is cocaine disguised as sugar.

So, this machine helps

us identify narcotics.

We're gonna run a quick test

on the commodity

just to see if there's any narcotics

laced in the commodity.

Cartels have been known to modify cocaine,

to disguise it as common substances,

which is then extracted using

a chemical process.

If there is cocaine within the

sugar, this detector will find it.

It uses laser beams and the

wavelengths of the different material

to identify such narcotics.

So, hopefully we'll get a result.

It just takes some time

to see if it has any recognition

of the item in its catalog.

And comes up as sugar.

Unfortunately negative

or results on the narcotics.

Despite an exhaustive inspection,

this time the intel didn't get a result.

It's a little frustrating but you

know, every day we get new intel,

from all of our counterparts,

so you know, they say,

"There's always tomorrow," you know?

It's like fishing.

You don't have your best days

when you're out on the lake.

It's the thrill and when you

do catch something.

We wanna catch something and

you know, make a difference.

It may not have happened this time,

but with millions of tons

of cargo arriving

into Port Newark on a daily basis,

it's only a matter of time

before officers strike it lucky.

I wanna go home and

take a shower first, to cool off.

Absolutely.

Maybe have a pint, if I can say that.