02x09 - Cocaine Shoes

[bunniefuu]

How you doing? Are you bringing anything
back with you today?

All right. You have a good day.

What were you guys doing in Mexico?

Looking for [INAUDIBLE]

- Okay. Here you go.
- Thank you.

Since Corona hit,
I've seen actually a lot more

body carriers bringing drugs across.

All right. Let's go. Come on.

Because we're not
letting so much traffic come in.

[INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

- Yeah.
- [INAUDIBLE]

Right. That doesn't make any sense.

Two females were referred to me
in secondary.

They were referred because
of their story not adding up.

- Where do you live?
- I live in Ohio.

- You live in Ohio?
- Yeah, but I'm from England.

- So, what are you doing down here?
- Visiting her.

- All right.
- Yeah.

So you drove all the way down here
from Ohio?

- Yeah, it's a whole day drive.
- How long of a drive was that?

Whole day.

And what are you guys bringing from Mexico
to the United States?

- Nothing, ourselves.
- No drugs?

No, no, no. F no.

So there's nothing in your bags?

There's no drugs on your person
or inside of your person?

- No.
- Neither one of you?

No.

Okay. Cool.

Lately, there has been
a higher rise with people

between 20 and 35 smuggling narcotics.

When you guys are going through her bag
and everything.

They both starting whispering with each
other

and she kept reaching her hand under her
so there's probably a smaller bag.

COVID has sparked a lot of new trends.

People who would never do it
are doing it now,

simply because there's less jobs.

So they need the money.

We have been getting a lot of internal
or hidden on their body.

So how long were you guys in Mexico for?

[INAUDIBLE]

And you said you were visiting your...

- My daughter's daddy.
- Your daughter's father. Okay.

That's something like more of a weekend.

I came to see him for myself.

[INAUDIBLE]

Her baby father lives in Mexico now
because he got deported.

She only has one other crossing.

Normally, most people,
if their family gets deported,

they go see them every weekend,

or more often than four months ago.

Just doesn't make any sense.
Doesn't add up.

- Where do you live now?
- I live in Tucson.

You live in Tucson now?

When I was asking them questions,

they kept whispering back and forth
to each other.

Switching around in their seats.

Negative.

But they didn't find anything
on their bags.

At that point,
it's requested for a pat down,

just to make sure that they don't have
anything else on their person.

- Megan?
- What?

- We're gonna pat you down. Come on.
- Okay.

- Okay.
- Through here.

There's a bunch of packages in here
from the Netherlands.

So, we're looking for narcotics.

Anywhere in Europe are pretty
good packages to check.

So here we have Great Britain.

[INAUDIBLE]

This is a package from the UK. [INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

Until you get a package coming from
Netherlands, says it has documents in it.

That looks like a CD case,
but inside, there's no CD.

It doesn't look right.

So, we're gonna take a look at that one.

I don't see any documents in here.

If you're buying a video game,

it's not just gonna be blank like this
and this is puffy.

There's red flags all over this.

Something interesting.

There's a rocky substance.

We see a lot of MDMA from the Netherlands.

The person has put cards inside,

thanking them for being a good customer.

So they're not gonna get this order.

Now we're gonna test
what we thought was MDMA.

Just need a little sample,
we don't need much.

Positive for MDMA Ecstasy.

So this is Schedule I,
so it's gonna be seized,

and it'll be destroyed.

Do they do it everytime you come here?

Every time you cross the border,
you are subject to inspection.

Some people get more inspection
than other people.

Sometimes that inspection is just a simple
as a primary inspection of,

"Hey. What were you doing in Mexico?"

Other times when their story
isn't adding up or something like that,

then they're subject to
additional inspection.

Sometimes that goes
as far as a K-9 search,

a pat down search, and, you know,

that's all within our authorities
of working at the borders.

Right here.

- Negative.
- No?

All right, Ashley.

[INAUDIBLE]

I couldn't tell you if it were
or if it wouldn't.

All depends on what's going on,

and the inspection that
the officer is doing.

[INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

No, we're good. It just means we did
what we can, so I'm good with that.

We just have to do our due diligence,

and once we have it done,
then we have to let them go, you know.

There's only so much that we can do here.

All right. Take your ID's, take your bags.
Have a good day.

- Thanks. See ya never.
- Yeah.

...first time in Mexico, not again.

- Bye-bye.
- Bye.

We do have a lot of unhappy customers,
but at the end of the day,

everyone understands,
it's what our job is.

This is how we safeguard America.

All right. Thanks for everybody,
coming out today,

I greatly appreciate it.

We were recently contacted by JFK Airport.

They found a parcel labeled

to an individual here in the Denver area,

that contained 123 grams
of ecstasy tablets,

that had the logo Chupa Chups on them.

About 2014-2015, they hit the dark market.

They're real popular with the
party scene, the rave scene,

specifically in the UK.

Instead of MDMA,

the key ingredient was PMA,

which acts like MDMA,

but it's stronger,
and it takes longer to hit.

'Dr. Death' pills using Chupa Chupa sweets
logo flood Britain

So that results in a bunch
of overdose deaths in the UK.

That, of course,
came quickly on our radar here

because this amount of tablets
coming into Denver

could potentially have
some horrible effects.

So today, we are doing a
search warrant operation.

The tablets, they're addressed to
a mid-twenties female.

Usually, PMA, it's related to dark net
and crypto currency,

so we're gonna be looking for
drug packaging,

paraphernalia, shipping parcels,

devices, phones, anything like that.

Just got to be safe today, guys.

We hope to encounter this person,

her residence where the package
was addressed.

Hopefully, we get her cooperation,

and be able to work this case
back from Denver

to the overseas vendor
that's potentially distributing,

you know, these types of tablets
all over the world.

This is one of those cases
where we're trying to stop

something before it happens.

Do we have any intel from surveillance
at the residence

if there's any movement?

I haven't heard anything from DPD.

All right, 10-4.

We're not sure what it's gonna look like
once we get inside.

So safety is the top priority today.

I'm positioned in the back alley.

All right, copy that, we're just pulling
in the side parking lot.

Watch the back door.

[INAUDIBLE]

Open the door!

We've got someone on that side.

Female. She's coming.

Let's go.

Watch the back door.

[INAUDIBLE]

Open the door!

Got someone on that side. Female.
She's coming.

Not our target, brown hair.

Ma'am.

So the team just entered the residence
with a search warrant.

What we found was a roommate's girlfriend
that was home,

our primary target wasn't home.

Mind if I just hang out right here? Okay.

We did find and identify the room
that she stays in inside the apartment.

We'll start our search,
and then see if we can find anything.

We're good.

Our search found some residue,

some small baggies of what looks like

white powdery substance, possibly cocaine.

As wells as a number of electronic items.

Target wasn't at the house.

We got some information that
she might be at the boyfriend's house.

Okay. All right. Let's all go over
at the next residence.

All right. We're gonna check
this level again, all right?

We are at the second largest seaport
in the country,

biggest seaport on the East Coast.

There's two in this row we didn't open.

This port has vessels
coming from all countries.

Ships carrying containers
with anything from chemicals

to scrap metal, you name it,
it comes into this port.

Right here.

We open containers,
we're looking for narcotics.

We're trying to make sure
everything's legitimate.

We have this backscatter X-ray,

which when you walk along,
you'll get a picture,

so you can see if something
is out of the ordinary.

Wow. Our mission is to keep bad guys
and bad things out of the country.

Now you guys want to start off? All right.

There's probably about 3,000 or 4,000

containers discharging
off this vessel today.

We're doing pop and taps,
meaning random inspections.

We have a limited time
before these containers are loaded up

on a train or tractor trailer for
distribution through the United States.

The more we check everything out,

the better the chances of us
finding some narcotics today.

- Right here.
- Okay. There we go.

When we open the container,

we verify that the commodity
matches the manifest.

And check for any contraband of any sorts.

More booze.

So this is good,
you guys are good with this one.

- Sugar?
- Yeah.

This is a probe, and what it has,
it has divots inside of it.

If we happen to break
into a kilo of cocaine,

there might be some white
powder in the actual divot.

- That should be all right.
- There we go.

This shipment here is good to go.

Honey?

We had a load of barrels of honey
just like this.

There's one barrel,
we may have to open it.

It sounds a little hollow.

It could just be less honey
in one of the barrels,

it could be narcotics,
that's probably the only options.

We're opening the top of this.

Probe?

There you go, don't eat that honey.

Probe came negative.

The reason why it sounded
a little different was

because there was less honey
in the container.

As you can see, it's very sticky.

Keep moving.

- What were you doing in Mexico?
- My grandparents is here.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

Hello. What were you doing in Mexico?

- You're visiting friends?
- Yeah.

- You say that like you don't know.
- No, no.

You don't know
what you were doing in Mexico?

- No.
- No?

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

Huh?

So when I was asking her
very simple questions

that we usually ask,

she was avoiding those,
and that is very strange.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

I checked her bags,

and there was nothing inside of her bags.

However, it's like 107 degrees,
she's wearing a jacket.

She's wearing leggings,
so there's possibly something on her.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

With the body carriers
that I have encountered,

they usually are not involved
with the cartel,

initially, but they are in like
a struggling spot.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

You can follow us, we're going that way.

'Cause we're going to search you,
like we said.

Another red flag is when people object
to a pat down, which she did.

We do need to have supervisor approval.

So once we get approval,
they can't necessarily deny that pat down,

so from there,
we would take that step further.

UCS.

Is the supervisor in there?

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

Do you have anything on your jacket
we need to search?

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

You understand me?

This border, there's a lot of smuggling
that goes on through here.

You know, we can't tell,
just by you telling us.

All right? We have to do this search,

everybody is subject to search.

All right?

Usually, everyone is pretty compliant,

just 'cause if they don't have anything,
they don't have anything.

All right. Now, we're gonna go here.

- Here?
- Yup.

But there's possibly something on her,

that's why she's acting so suspicious,
so nervous.

So that's where I took that,
the step further.

So she didn't have anything.
I really thought she did.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

She had the behaviors of somebody that
actually had something like the whole,

"I don't have anything,
I don't have anything in there,"

"Why are you doing this?"
And then, she started crying.

She made it very difficult
to where it's like

it made it seem like she had something.

So, like, she just followed
our whole, like,

what we're looking for.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

- Her behavior was just...
- Her behavior was horrible.

Today, we were out on the target that was

attempting to receive ecstasy.

If these tablets are tied
to overdose deaths in the UK,

we certainly don't want
that chemical, those tablets,

here in our community.

Our target hadn't been at the house
for maybe two, three days.

She does have a boyfriend,
lives about a mile from there.

So we're going down to the
boyfriend's house to knock

and see if our target may be there.

Then we'll see what happens.

So we can go and see if
anyone answers the door.

- [INAUDIBLE]
- Yeah, was.

Can I sit here?

Yeah, you can sit in there. [INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

You know where we can find her?

- Would she be okay?
- Yes.

Our primary target wasn't here.

Although we did a brief interview
with the boyfriend of the target,

he says that he has no
knowledge of her into that,

buying any ecstasy.

Although he recalls about a month ago
someone asking her to use the address.

In a lot of these cases,
what we see is people using

other individuals' addresses

to distance themselves

from the criminal activity.

So we're headed to review
that electronic evidence from,

you know, the search warrant
to determine who is the end person

in this chain
that actually ordered this package.

Looks like bags of chia seeds.

Just seeing if there's any possible bricks
inside of them.

Currently, there's nothing in them.

We take a look inside.

So we have a container here
of about 1,300 kilos,

I believe, of tea manifested in there.

All right. Up.

Heads up. All right.

Nah, it looks just like bags, huh?

Just looks like rolls of burlaps.

Yeah, you can smell that... from here.

All right. Doesn't smell good.

Go ahead.

We really can't get into that
whole container,

it's too much stuff in there.

If anything, it'll be in the back,
I guess.

So, we'll seal it up,
we'll get it out to the warehouse.

There we go, Mike.

So we didn't see any tea, so, at all.

So it's in the back somewhere.

So we'll get it to the warehouse,
we'll check it out,

we'll have everything taken out,

and that's when we'll get
a better look at it.

All right. Let's see.

You got a knife I can borrow?
I got no blade in here.

Check it out.

It does look like a tea,

but it doesn't smell very good.

Check it out.

It does look like a tea,
but it doesn't smell very good.

Khat.

It does smell like Khat.

Khat leaves contain amphetamines,
and are ill*gal in the United States,

and most of European countries.

However, in the Middle East
and the horn of Africa,

there are no restrictions on its use
or distribution.

And in Israel,
Khat has become a party drug.

They usually go to areas that
have large Muslim populations.

The Muslim people use this, not only
for its hallucinogenic properties,

but also has an appetite suppressant.

There are certain times of
the year when they have to fast.

Should be good with this one.

This is a consolidated shipment,

which means you have two shipments
in one container.

We have all the pallets are labeled
which one belongs to which.

First, how many pound? Want to make sure
it matches up with the paperwork.

It has the same shipper.

One is going to Boulder, Colorado,

the other shipment is going
somewhere in New Jersey.

So they're gonna take samples
from different parts of the container,

and we're gonna take all those
samples to the CBP laboratory,

and let the chemists and scientists
let us know

if it does have the alkaloids
to prove that it is narcotics.

- How's everything going?
- Good. Good.

You get anywhere
with any of the electronics?

Yeah. I finished the extraction
on her iPhone.

What'd you find?

Here is the report. Let me show you.

So we had a search warrant on
our initial target's phone.

We imaged it,

we're able to pull a logical extraction,

which is the files, the chats.

Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff
between her and her boyfriend about,

you know, his roommate being involved.

We have iMessages and texts
between her and her boyfriend's roommate.

So really, we're talking about
another individual.

Yeah. Here's the first conversation
with her boyfriend's roommate.

And she's asking for some stuff,
some Molly.

She's asking, "Do you have Molly?"

Yeah. I mean, and he says,
"I have lots of it."

But then, it gets pretty quickly into

him asking her about a package.

Talking about the package coming,

he sends the tracking number, receipt.

So he's ordering it, he's tracking it,
and then he's telling her...

- ...when it's coming.
- He's telling her when it's coming.

It's looking then like the roommate.

- Oh, yeah.
- Of the boyfriend...

- ...had something to do with it.
- Oh, yeah. Definitely.

We have a new target,

which is the roommate of the boyfriend.

Based on the chats, it's clear that
he was communicating with

the first female target
to receive the parcels.

They never really talk about it again.

I think that's because
of the interception because we have it.

All right. So clearly, there's a pattern
of her receiving packages for him.

Yeah.

She seems to be unwitting
as of the contents.

She's just a drop for him.

What we're kind of seeing here today is

an individual taking advantage of
someone else for the receipt of, you know,

controlled substances,
so they can get in trouble.

- So we need to talk to this fella.
- Oh, yeah.

With an eye looking towards
a potential search warrant.

[INAUDIBLE]

You guys ready? Yeah? Let's do it.

How do you know each other?

- What were you guys doing in Mexico?
- We're here with some friends.

Take care.

Can you put your backpack right here?
What are you bringing back with you?

How long were you there in Mexico?

I think the fact that a lot of people
are unemployed,

depressed from the pandemic
is increasing the demand for narcotics.

Good boy. Oh, good boy.

So we are definitely on a high alert
here in the pedestrian area.

I'm gonna search you with my dog.

We're gonna run a lot more
operations with K-9s,

trying to find those drug loads
coming on people, or in people.

I don’t see any.

Follow me this way.

The trends are for sure picking up.

We had a body carrier come through
our pedestrian port earlier,

internally carrying what
we suspect to be narcotics.

We're going to be testing it
to see what it is.

This subject here was referred
by the primary officers.

She basically said that she
had a short trip all the way

from Washington down to Nogales
for one day.

Which, for us, that doesn't,
that doesn't make sense.

During our inspection we found
that she was a internal carrier

for some type of pills.

We're gonna be testing it here today.

[INAUDIBLE]

Oh, okay.

Let's put this on scale
and see how much we have.



That's pretty good seizure
for pure fentanyl.

Each of those pills are very,
very, very dangerous.

Any time we find a load like this,
it's a great day.

[INAUDIBLE]

But it reminds us to stay vigilant.

Go into the left right here.

Dog's gonna search you, okay?

The cartels use any means necessary
to get their drugs through the border.

Do not move.

Anybody could be smuggling narcotics.

So we have to keep looking.

Do not worry.

Pat her down.

He's on her. Look, sir.

- Do not move, okay?
- Okay.

[INAUDIBLE]

- No.
- No?

[INAUDIBLE] No?

K-9 alerted to you so...
Stand-by we're gonna do a pat down.

The breed, the Belgian Malinois,
is just phenomenal.

Their nose is so much more stronger
than what we pick up on.

Yeah, all they know is work, work, work.

So this one right here?

Clear.

Okay, walk that way.

Do you smoke marijuana?

Okay. You do?

She said she smoke so that might be that.

Sometimes if they, like, smoke weed
or something like that,

there's still residual odor,

and it gets stuck to their clothes.

Thanks everyone for coming out today.

This is a continuation
of the search warrant.

She was receiving pills,
which was involved with

some overdose deaths
over in the United Kingdom,

which made this a, you know,
a huge Public Safety issue

for us here in Denver
to try to figure out, you know,

where these are coming from.

Found a lot of great digital evidence
that led us

to the house that we're going to today.

So we have a warrant today.

The target is the roommate
of the boyfriend of our previous target.

We're going to see if he'll talk to us,

but we're definitely there looking
for electronics or anything like that.

So, everyone be safe,
you guys know what to do.

Roger, air and radio check.

All clear.

[INAUDIBLE]

What's particularly
important about this case

again is the potential for, you know,

these pills to cause overdose deaths
here in our community.

So we're out more in our public safety

and investigatory roles
to try and stop, you know,

the flow of these counterfeit type tablets

getting into the community.

We'll go to the door, knock
and announce, you know,

police with a search warrant.

We'll wait to give a chance for the
residents to come down and open the door,

and then, if that does not happen,

we will access the residence
the best way we can.

- Is this all in the front?
- The front.

All right. So let's make sure
we separate the two of them.

Today we're going to be processing
two seizures of Khat.

We had to send it to the lab
for the laboratory

to tell us that it does have
the hallucinogenic properties.

And the lab analyzed this,
and told us, it is dried Khat.

It's a significant amount of Khat
that's come into the country.

This is... ridiculous.

Yeah, it is.

Or maybe put this on top of
one of the other ones over there.

So right now they're
unloading the container,

pallet by pallet.

Taking it over to our pallet jack
that also gives us a weight.

So, kilos, 429.5,



All right, that's that one.

Hey, Pac, can you separate these?

So is this the second seizure now?

- This is gonna be the second one.
- Okay.

With a consolidated load,

which came out to a total
of almost 7,000 kilos.

It's just something that started recently,

that was our third significant seizure.

And again, that's all
in the last few months.

It usually comes in smaller amounts,

Express consignment, through the airport.


as far as I'm concerned.

- [INAUDIBLE]
- That's what they said.

Onto the next one.

Hey, stop.

In secondary right now,
we have a gentleman

who came down here at 4:00 am
to look for a dentist.

Right in the middle, have a seat, okay?

The dentists here are open later,
but they're not open that late,

so the story just didn't make sense
to the primary officer.

Do you have anything on your person? No?

Dog's gonna search you, okay?

Arms straight up.

Right.

Do not move.

[INAUDIBLE]

All right. [INAUDIBLE]

- Particularly?
- Fentanyl.

He went into secondary,

they ask him if he had
anything on him, he said no.

The dog alerted, uh, to his groin area,

and he immediately said, yes, that he has
some fentanyl pills down there.

Stay there for me.

Good boy. Good boy.

He had about 176 grams of fentanyl pills

inside of him that were double wrapped
with condoms.

That's a lot of pills
to be inside somebody.

Perfect.

So we seized the drugs,

and he'll be sent to the local authorities

where they will continue on
with the prosecution.

[INAUDIBLE]

Okay. Go ahead.

[INAUDIBLE]

Take little tiny, baby steps.

Got a rough start day.

Good boy, attaboy. Yes, good boy.

I think the dog is probably one
of the best tools to have, honestly.

Good boy.

They always, always seems to just
amaze me, you know.

Ready?

- Okay, knocking now.
- Go ahead knock the door.

Some good ones.

Police, we have a search warrant,
open the door!

This is a search warrant!

Coming in!

After we made entry into the residence,

we found the target of the investigation.

The agents are talking to the individual
who we believe

is the actual recipient of this package,

or who ordered the package online.

Okay, one more thing for the search
warrant is written there for bio-metrics.

We're gonna see your finger.

Of course, when a warrant talks
about biometrics

and using, you know,

face or fingerprint to open up a phone,

we're just completing that step right now.

I'm not asking for your permission.

In the court, you are required of using.

He's very confident,
almost c*ck in some sense.

He does kind of know
obviously why we are here.

[INAUDIBLE]

Yeah, it's just like,
like, I was wondering

if you would be selling more with,
like, with, you know, COVID.

- [INAUDIBLE]
- Yeah.

People looking for stress relief
and everything.

We found a numerous electronic items
in the house

that we're gonna be taking back
to our forensic lab to be analyzed.

Our next steps are
to conduct forensic analysis,

see if we can determine where
this package just came from,

the source of the drugs,
the overseas vendor on the dark web.

This is definitely the key to it.

What's important about this
particular case is to try and stop,

you know, the flow of these tablets,

from potentially,
you know, causing injury,

and/or death to people
in the community that may find

themselves taking them.

Okay. Great.

Today we did exactly that.

And I consider what we've accomplish are
true success.