04x02 - Talibani Treasure Trove

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

OFFICER: Open the trunk, please.

Okay. Thank you.

OFFICER: What were
you doing in Mexico?

MAN: I was visiting my dad.

OFFICER: You’re all good to go.
Have a good day.

MAN: Thank you.
OFFICER: You’re welcome.

OFFICER: Put your
hands out the window.

OFFICER 2: Lane 18.
Armed and dangerous vehicle.

OFFICER: Go, go!

[dog barking]

Oh my god.

We need cover.

OFFICER: We currently have an
active armed and dangerous situation.

OFFICER: Driver, open the door
slowly and put your hands out.

Step out of the vehicle.

OFFICER: You have a
traveler that has, possibly,

a warrant out for their arrest and

has potential to have a g*n and knife.

Even worse, they may
not want to go down easy.

OFFICER: Hands up!

[barks].

[theme music playing].

OFFICER: Walk backwards.

Walk backwards.

Walk to your left.

Left.

Left.

Get down.

[barking]

Passenger on the left.

Open the door.

Turn around.

Walk backwards.

Left.

Left. Keep going.

On your knees.
On your knees.

There’s one more, one more.

Back passenger.

Step out of the
vehicle with your hands up.

Close the vehicle.

The door.

Let it go. Let it go.

Hands up.

Keep moving back.

Stop there.

With your right hand,
grab the top of your jacket.

The top of your jacket.

Turn around for me.

Turn around. Turn around.

Now step to your right.

Keep going.

On your knees.
On your knees.

Clear.

BALLATORE: We were able to
secure all the individuals.

Nobody had firearms.

An 18-year-old male
was taken into custody.

He was wanted for robbery.

He’s been turned over
to local authorities,

awaiting charges.

Here at San Ysidro, we never
know anything about the subjects

in the vehicle, we
don’t know if they have arms,

we don’t know if it’s
loaded with narcotics,

nothing’s off the table.

OFFICER: Have your passports
out. Stay with your families.

[speaking in native language]

WOMAN: In Medellín.

VARGAS: How long
are you gonna stay here?

WOMAN: I will be
gone by the 23rd of May.

CONNER: Well, in
my five years as a,

a rover here at the
Miami International Airport,

we’ve encountered, uh, an array of, uh,

narcotics coming into the United States.

You flying alone, sir?

MAN: Yes.

CONNER: All right,
where’re you coming from?

MAN: Kingston.

CONNER: We’ve been dealing
mainly with, uh, cocaine.

What we’re seeing now is, uh,
the more uses of, uh, ketamine.

Welcome back home, sir.

MAN: Yes, sir.
CONNER: Have a good one.

VARGAS: All this is yours?

MAN: Everything.

VARGAS: And who packed it?

MAN: Me.

VARGAS: Okay.

RIMOLA: It’s a clear liquid,

so it’s easy to be concealed, all right?

So they’ll put it in lysine bottles,

or alcohol bottles, or shampoo.

And a lot of times they’ll
bring it in its powdered form.

VARGAS: The last time you were
here, how long were you here for?

MAN: I was here for five days.

VARGAS: Okay.

VARGAS: We specifically watch
out for the passenger’s behavior.

We’re looking at them
to see how they’re acting,

or interacting with the
other passengers around them.

This gentleman here is
focusing on what we’re doing,

who we’re stopping.

That’s just odd human behavior.

It just seems a
little bit out of place. Okay.

VARGAS: Thank you, sir.

MAN: Thanks a lot.

VARGAS: Do you
have your ticket?

MAN: The return ticket
or the boarding pass?

VARGAS: No, no. The, uh...

No, no, no.

[speaking in native language]

MAN: The boarding pass?

VARGAS: No, no, no, no.
The ticket for your bag.

The little receipt?

MAN: My passport!

VARGAS: Oh, it’s
in your passport?

MAN: Yeah.

VARGAS: All right,
right over here.

We’re gonna take a quick look.

So when was the last time you were here?

MAN: I was here...

...it was in November...

...2019.

VARGAS: Oh, okay.
And you’re here for how long?

MAN: Until Friday.

VARGAS: Until Friday.

He’s walking a little bit funny.

If you look at the back of his shoes,

his step is a little strange.

He’s not flexing his foot properly.

Sneakers look like they’re
old enough to be worn in.

Get your bag out, I’ll be right over here.

See his feet?
Look at how he’s walking.

It was the way he was
stepping, like a Frankenstein.

And that’s a common occurrence
when shoes are loaded.

They put a solid package inside.

You know, it doesn’t
allow for room to flex.

This is yours, right?
How do you know this is yours?

MAN: Because I packed it.

VARGAS: Yeah we’re gonna
take him to a search area.

Take a look at the bag.

I’m gonna see where we go from there.

All right, right this way.

ACEVEDO: New York City’s
a big gateway for smuggled

ancient artifacts
coming into the United States.

We see everything from ancient Egyptian,

ancient Persian, Greco-Roman,
every major period of history

comes through JFK Airport.

I just need this side here
facing towards me so we can get

into the crate, ‘cause
that’s the part that opens up.

Sadly, it seems to be many more
of these artifacts are crossing, uh,

my desk on a daily basis.

All right, this one’s good.

This has got the piece we’re looking for.

This is a very large
Egyptian alabaster vase.

We didn’t like what
we saw in the paperwork,

so we’re gonna bring
this piece back to the office.

There was a time period stated
in the invoice but we never go

by the invoice at face
value ‘cause a lot of times

documents can be, uh, forged.

A lot of these shipments will
list the artifact as an antique,



It’s a little deceiving because
you can open up the crate and

it’s definitely something that
is way older than 100 years.

The title on this
piece that was invoiced is,

“The Monumental Vase,” so I
think that’s pretty fitting.

Pieces this large, don’t
survive antiquity very well.

The fact that this piece is
fairly intact is a rare specimen.

The most important thing we
need to do now is we need to get

photographs so a subject matter
expert can weigh in on the vase

to determine if it’s authentic.

So, one of the telltale
signs of alabaster is it has

a translucent quality.

As big as this piece is,

light will shine right
through the alabaster.

This vase is not glass, nor is it plastic.

It’s solid stone that was carved.

WOMAN: It’s beautiful.

ACEVEDO: Okay.

Let’s pack it up carefully, guys.

OFFICER: One, two, three.

ACEVEDO: If the alabaster vase
is determined to be authenticate,

the very next thing we’re
gonna have to ascertain is

whether that particular artifact left it’s

country of origin in good legal standing,

which means we have to
coordinate with a foreign government.

So we still have some more
pieces of the puzzle to put

together to determine
whether we’re seizing it or not.

[horns honking]

OFFICER: Where are you going?

OFFICER: Bringing anything?

WOMAN: No, nothing.

PLAMONDON: Our K9’s are trained
on concealed narcotics and with

enough time and experience,
these dogs are able to

understand the odors of these
narcotics within compartments

inside vehicles and even taped
on the travelers themselves.

MEZA: There’s a lot
of work, a lot of training.

So, when your dog goes out there
and actually catches dope and

you’re just a driver of it and
your dog’s doing all the work

it’s ten times better
than catching it on your own.

OFFICER: Good boy. Come on.

OFFICER: Morning, guys.
Is this your car?

MAN: It is a friend’s car.

OFFICER: Friend’s car. When
was the last time you crossed with it?

MAN: With this car?
I think yesterday.

OFFICER: You’re going to work?

MAN: I’m just
going to buy a car.

OFFICER: Oh, okay.
What kind of car are you buying?

MAN: I’m going to buy a Beetle.

OFFICER: You never know.

SCHIANO: Doesn’t look
like anything back here.

SCHIANO: The K9 wasn’t alerting
and there were two spare tires

in the trunk, both of
them were deflated and

I didn’t suspect that
there was anything in there.

All right, thanks, guys.
Have a good one.

MAN: Have a good day.
SCHIANO: Mm-hmm.

ELLSWORTH: Good morning.

Go ahead and put it in park for me.

OFFICER: He’s
hitting right there.

ELLSWORTH: All right, go
ahead and open the trunk for me,

I’m going to look at the back.

The dog started to look
interested in their car.

OFFICER: Good boy.

ELLSWORTH: This
thing is pretty light.

I saw a battery charger, uh,
one of those battery packs that

charge your battery
on the car and this one

was fairly light, and
those are usually pretty heavy.

We referred the vehicle in and
from there the officer’s gonna

take a look at the battery pack and

he’ll actually do the
job of ripping it open.

ROCHA: So, I was told by the K9
handler that his dog alerted to this,

so I’m gonna go ahead and open
it up and see what’s inside.

[horns honking]

ROCHA: So, they connected this
battery to this charger to make

it seem like it’s still working properly.

As you can tell, the
little light turns on still.

It’s just a way to make
us think it still works and

that there’s nothing in there.

The package I took out...

I can’t tell right now what
it’s gonna be, but we’ll see.

Once I point this little
laser to the substance,

it’s gonna give us a reading.

Hopefully, a positive hit.

ROCHA: Mustard.

I guess they think that the
dogs are not gonna detect it

with the mustard, but
they still detect it.

They’ll use ketchup, hot sauce,

to try to get the dogs to not sniff it.

Okay, here we go.

Positive hit for meth.


of methamphetamine.

I mean, it’s a seizure,
we’re keeping drugs away from

the streets, but I’ve seen way more.

I’ve seen gas tanks full
of meth, quarter panels,

I’ve seen up to 80,


So, I already called HSI.

The agent in charge is on his way.

So now I’m gonna go ahead and
place the subject under arrest

and then the drugs will
be taken to get destroyed.

VARGAS: All right, go ahead and place
your bag up here on the table please.

You still got that security tag
on your sneaker. You steal ‘em?

MAN: Everyone
says to me the same.

It’s the brand. The style.

VARGAS: I haven’t
seen that before.

All right. Let’s see
what we’ve got here.

♪ ♪

Uh, the bagging examination is
negative for any type of contraband.

Do you have anything on
you I should know about?

MAN: No.
VARGAS: No?

I’m talking about packages, nothing?

MAN: No. Uh-huh.
VARGAS: All right.

What’s gonna happen next is I’m, I’m
gonna conduct a search of you, okay?

He’s walking funny.

That’s a common occurrence
when shoes are loaded.

So we’re gonna take him
to a private search area and

conduct a personal search
and just check the shoes out.

See if there’s anything in ‘em.

Place your bags up
there on top of the table and

as you do so, look around.

Make sure there’s no packages, no money.

No, nothing like that around, all right?

Do you see anything?

MAN: I don’t see anything.
VARGAS: All right, perfect.

That means when we leave if we
find anything on the floor, it’s yours.

MAN: Okay.

VARGAS: Take your shoes off,
take your belt off,

put ‘em up here on the, on the table.

Throughout my career
here so far, with CBP,

I’ve seen narcotics concealed
in many different ways.

It truly is a, a cat and mouse game now.

You know, out of probably


maybe one or two are loaded.

You gotta make sure you, you
get it right every single time.

Personal search is negative.

There’s no inconsistencies
in the soles of the shoes.

There’s nothing loaded on the inside.

That’s just the way the shoes are made,

they’re very thick and very rigid,

which doesn’t allow it to flex.

He was nervous, hands were shaking,

so just those things just start adding up,

thinking I had the right person.

Well, I guess that right
person beat us today and

they’re out the door.

All right, here goes your passport.

Exit the door here, turn left and
you’ll go out into the waiting area.

So, we’re onto our next flight.

Let’s see if this
time we can get it right.

ACEVEDO: I’m gonna need
that box that’s in the back.

We’re here to look at a box that, uh,

CBP’s National Targeting Center
targeted this particular shipment.

This shipper is an
entity that’s known to us.

They’re a previous offender
for smuggled artifacts coming

into the United States.

We’re gonna see if there’s
any more contraband in this

particular shipment that’s coming through.

It appears the box contains stone beads.

There's some gold artifacts on the bottom.

But I’m not gonna pull it out here, uh,

just because we can’t afford to
lose any of these small beads.

We’re gonna go ahead and
transport this shipment down to

the diamond district of Manhattan.

And we’re gonna have a
gold specialist take a look at

the gold and determine
exactly what we have.

Because of the nature of
what exactly the artifact is,

we suspect it might be Bactrian in origin.

The Bactrian culture
was an ancient civilization

that partially overlapped what

is now present day
Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Geographically situated
at the nexus of a major

east-west trade route,

it’s a perfect blending of
Greek and Southwest Asian art.

In 1978 and '79, archeologists excavated

the tombs of six wealthy Bactrian traders.

Known as the Bactrian gold, the
collection became a prized part

of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.

Then in 2021, following the
collapse of the Afghan government,

the treasure mysteriously went missing.

And anti-smuggling authorities
around the world have been on

the lookout for it ever since.

ANGELO: How many
pieces are we testing?

ACEVEDO: There’s a
lot of little pieces,

but if you could just do a
sampling that would probably be

the way to go.

ANGELO: Okay.

ACEVEDO: We do run into a lot
of counterfeit ancient artifacts

that are meant to look ancient,
they’re selling them off as

ancient but they’re, they’re modern made,

so we just want to make
sure that that artifact is

the genuine artifact.

ANGELO: All right, so we’re
gonna start with this piece.

ACEVEDO: Yep.
ANGELO: Okay.

ACEVEDO: This one seems to
have, like, a semi-precious stone in it.

ANGELO: Mm-hmm.

ACEVEDO: Looks like a
part of a Maltese cross.

DONALD: That’s interesting.

I mean, this was going back, you
were saying, 1,000, 2,000 years?

ACEVEDO: Yeah.

DONALD: So this is a
piece of rhodolite garnet...

...and that would have
been indicative of the time...

...but...

...they look too
close to precision cut.

DONALD: Oh, this
doesn’t look like it’s real.

DONALD: I could be wrong,
but they didn’t use glue

in those days.

ACEVEDO: And you can see glue?
DONALD: Mm-hmm.

It could be the real thing,
in terms of the gold and maybe

the stones were damaged or fell out and...

ACEVEDO: Mm-hmm.
But then someone tried to...

Mm-hmm. Someone tried
to replace it and maybe...

DONALD: Put something else in.

That’s just a gut reaction.
It’s not...

ACEVEDO: Right. It’s possible.

We’ve seen artifacts that were
damaged and then they try to

replace a missing piece to
something a little bit more

modern because they can command
more money when selling it and

then who knows?

ANGELO: I’m gonna test it here.
This is the live metal analysis.

So this analyzer, it’s
bombarding the piece with X-rays

and each element is going
to react in a different way to

this X-ray excitation.

ACEVEDO: Gotcha. Good thing I
stayed awake during my science classes.

[laughter].

ANGELO: All right, so,
as you’re seeing, Au is gold.

It is indicating 72% plus gold
and then it has silver, iron,

and copper traced.

ACEVEDO: Okay.

ANGELO: We typically
wouldn’t see iron...

ACEVEDO: In modern gold.
You wouldn’t see it.

ANGELO: Yeah, yeah.

ACEVEDO: So, it was
legitimate artifacts?

ANGELO: Ancient gold
is not something that we see all the time.

ACEVEDO: Okay.
ANGELO: It’s definitely special.

So, we’re gonna go one by one.
We’re gonna take this piece.

ACEVEDO: Yep. Okay.

ANGELO: And we have a
reading here of 68% gold.

ACEVEDO: With this ancient gold
we’re probably gonna see numbers

all over the place, right?

ANGELO: Yeah.

ACEVEDO: Since
they didn’t have a,

a modern controlled
setting for producing gold.

ANGELO: Uh, next one
is a large coiled ring.



ACEVEDO: If we can test this one
because it’s kind of unique and

it stands out.

ANGELO: Okay.
ACEVEDO: Wow. 97.8.

So, that’s the purest piece
of everything we’ve tested.

We can pay for lunch with that one.

Thank you for your
time an, and your expertise.

I really learned a lot.

Thank you.

Well, the good news is
the gold is, in fact, bonafide,

it’s authentic.

It’s actually a composite of
gold that is ancient in origin,

but we also need to get
a subject matter expert,

an archeologist, to take a
look and determine if it is,

in fact, Bactrian in
origin or possibly tied to

the Bactrian gold hoard.

OFFICER: Beep-boop.

NADONGA: Morning.
Where are you going, sir?

MAN: To work.

NADONGA: And where do
you live right now, sir?

MAN: Right now, I’m
transitioning over here.

NADONGA: Okay. So how long
have you been staying in Mexico?

MAN: Like two months.

NADONGA: Two months? Okay.

Have you ever been to
secondary inspection, sir?

MAN: Yeah, but
it’s been a long time.

NADONGA: Okay, sir.

So, I’m gonna stop the traffic, sir,

and then I’m gonna have
you go straight ahead, sir.

MAN: All right.

GREENBERG: How you doing, sir?

I'm gonna have you
open up the hood, the back,

step behind the car, okay?

I’m gonna take a look at the vehicle.

Okay, so you live in Mexico?

MAN: I’m about
to live over there.

GREENBERG: Okay, and
where do you live now?

MAN: Well, I was
living in Ontario.

I’m going through a divorce.

GREENBERG: So
you moved to Mexico?

MAN: I’m moving into it, yeah.

Little by little.

GREENBERG: So you’re going
back to Ontario right now?

MAN: Right now, I’m going
to work right here in San Diego.

GREENBERG: What kind of work?

MAN: A handyman kind of thing.

I’m remodeling a house.

GREENBERG: What’s the
name of your company?

MAN: I don’t know the name.
I just started last week.

GREENBERG: So how’d he find you?

MAN: Through a friend
who lives in San Diego.

GREENBERG: And it’s your truck?

MAN: Yes.

GREENBERG: All right, cool.
I’m gonna inspect the vehicle.

Just step behind the table right here.

The subject’s story is a little murky.

So, right now we’re gonna
conduct a seven point inspection.

Sometimes, you can look at the
speaker underneath the car and

you can see if the
actual speaker was removed to put in dope.

Can see if the screws were tampered with.

Your speakers work in the car?

Do me a favor.

Just turn on the speakers for me.

[music starts]

GREENBERG: Okay.

We didn’t find any inconsistencies,

no anomalies.

I’m actually good with it.

The story was a little murky,

but he was saying he
moved from Ontario to Mexico.

When you look further into the
vehicle and the documentation in

the vehicle it actually does check out.

This vehicle seems okay.

It’s good.

OFFICER: Go ahead.
Pass, pass, pass, pass.

[speaking in native language].

OFFICER: Let me
see your passport.

CONNER: Have a good one.

OFFICER: The bags are
gonna start coming down.

HERNANDEZ: The van is a
great tool that we have, uh,

it’s used to X-ray all the
luggage coming off the aircraft.

OFFICER: He’s gonna be looking
for any kind of anomalies that

are gonna be coming down inside the bags.

HERNANDEZ: The more assets
that we are able to deploy on

any aircraft or any bag, the
greater chance of us finding

and intercepting anything that
shouldn't be coming into the country.

OFFICER: I’ll take that.

The reason I pulled
this bag is it’s small,

really easy to get and go real fast.

It’s kind of dense.

Could be a known concealment.

The bag had a few anomalies in it.

GONZALEZ: We’ll call
upstairs and be like,

“Hey, we found something,
pull the passenger aside.”

They’ll continue with
whatever we started here.

I mean, it could be legit
but that’s just something

that you want to look at.

CONNER: I just got
a phone call that, uh,

we possibly could have some
narcotics coming in from Cali, Colombia.

So, uh, we immediately moved
the individual to the back so

we can further the inspection.

And we're gonna head over
here and see, uh, what it is.

What do we have?

OFFICER: A bag that
came in through checked bag,

is normally a carry-on bag.

So they just wanted to inquire,

why would they check a
small bag underneath the plane?

OFFICER: When the bags came
upstairs to the carousel...

...we saw the
passenger selected his bag.

That’s when the officer encountered him...

...and the inspection started.

OFFICER: Upon checking
the bag, we found two bottles.

It appears to be a shampoo bottle and, uh,

another one they said is a soap bottle.

CONNER: Okay.

OFFICER: And they felt
very hard, like a rock.

OFFICER: You can see
clear liquid at the top.

It’s started to crystallize.

Right on the, uh, outside of the bottle.

CONNER: And that’s
an indicator of what?

What do you think?

OFFICER: Uh, most of the
time it’s liquid cocaine.

RIMOLA: But it doesn’t have an
odor so it could be ketamine.

It doesn’t have a strong smell.

Usually, you smell it.

CONNER: What’re you doing now?
OFFICER: Uh...

OFFICER: Testing it
utilizing the Gemini.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: There’s green.

Ketamine.

OFFICER: Gemini says ketamine.

CONNER: So what
are we looking at?

How much we got?

♪ ♪

Hey, sir. How are you doing?

How are you?

My name is Officer Conner.

Do you need water?

CONNER: I’ll get you some
water, okay? I’m here for you, okay?

If you need me, have any questions...

CONNER: If you
have any questions...

...ask me, okay?

CONNER: All right.
It’s okay, man.

Relax. [inaudible].

It's gonna be all right, bro.

He’s a young guy, you know,
probably early 20’s and,

you know, we’ve all been there.

We’ve made mistakes when we were
young or whatnot and I’m not,

I’m not here, nobody’s here to judge him,

or anybody in that position.

But we also are here to, uh,
hold persons accountable, uh,

for breaking the law and
unfortunately for him today

he broke the law and he
will be held accountable.

OFFICER: Okay.
CONNER: All right.

Hey, good job.

OFFICER: Yes, sir.

CONNER: We’re looking to
get HSI on the phone and

we’ll just go forward from there.

OFFICER: All right.
CONNER: All right.

OFFICER: All right.

ACEVEDO: Hey, guys. Good news.

I got the report back from
the subject matter expert.

OFFICER: Oh, great.

OFFICER 2: So what’s happening
with this alabaster vase?

ACEVEDO: So the subject matter
expert said that it’s real, right?

So that’s the good news.

But we still need to get additional
documentation from the Egyptian government

to determine if it
left the country legally.

So we’re still pending on
documents from Egypt and this is

gonna stay detained in our detention room.

The beads are actually authentic
Bactrian beads from Afghanistan,

or Pakistan, and smuggled
essentially into the country,

that’s enough for us to seize it.

OFFICER: So do
you think this is, uh,

any part of the Bactrian hoard?

ACEVEDO: I don’t think anybody
can tell us at this point in time.

But the good thing is, you know,

we’re seizing it if we
can later determine, uh,

that it is a part of the Bactrian hoard.

We’ll cross that bridge when
it’s time to cross that bridge.

But right now, it's a solid seizure.

OFFICER: Okay.

ACEVEDO: Once we make a seizure,
usually what happens afterward

is a very complex process;

you know, the country
of origin, Afghanistan,

the Taliban, would have to put
in a request of repatriation for

the artifacts to go back to them.

They would have to declare,
“Hey, we want our stuff back,”

and then they would have
to go through a process of

coordinating what
U.S. Department of State to

do a repatriation of the Bactrian gold

back to Afghanistan.

All right, guys.

Let’s get this stuff put together
and let’s get this put to bed.

Hopefully, word gets out, you know,

we put out a message that, uh,
were not gonna tolerate cultural

property getting
smuggled into the country.

With t*rror1st organizations
digging this stuff up and

profiting from it, you know,
we have an obligation to try to

deter that and, and incur that
type of criminality as best as we can.

OFFICER: Good boy. Heel.

PLAMONDON: Working with the dog,
it is like having a child.

You train them from the
first day you get them just

on the smallest amount of any odor.

OFFICER: Can you
put your car in park?

PLAMONDON: And
as the years go by,

you watch the dog get better
and better and your bond gets

stronger and stronger and it
just shows in the items that

we discover while we’re here on duty.

OFFICER: Negative.

MENDEZ: When he alerts, uh,

his tail wags, he’ll start salivating, uh,

and then he’ll indicate
by sitting after the alert.

Good boy.

MENDEZ: Good boy.

MENDEZ: Alert was positive.

Good boy. Ooh!

MENDEZ: As I was walking down...

...the wind was blowing...

...so he caught an
odor and alerted to it.

MENDEZ: Good boy.

BALLATORE: Subject was
coming in from Tijuana, Mexico.

We pulled her out, escorted
into the security office.

We’re gonna go ahead and
run this through the X-ray.

OFFICER: Yeah, it’s positive.

MCDONALD: I observed some kind
of anomaly in the quarter panel

and glove compartment.

Packages. There you go.

MCDONALD: We’re not
sure what it is yet,

but we’re gonna take it to
our seized contraband facility,

take it apart, and see where
else there might be packages.

OFFICER [over radio]: Lane 18.

GUZMAN: They try and
look as normal as possible,

so they just declare something
as normal as Coca-Cola.

Trying to distract the
officer and making them not

want to check the trunk.

MAN: Yeah, there’s
some more right here.

More contraband.

MCDONALD: So far, we just found
packages in the quarter panel

and the glove box.

But, presumably, when it’s one spot,

they’ll load it as many places
just to get their narcotics across.

GUZMAN: Sometimes some of the
packages are concealed very deep

within the vehicle.

So we have a private
contractor helping us out.

MAN: You want to bring in the
camera so we can look inside the dash?

GUZMAN: Okay. Sounds good.

He has this camera that
allows him to see further in

the vehicle than the normal
eye would be able to see.

MAN: Way behind
the center console.

GUZMAN: There’s more
packages in the dash.

MAN: There’s some
behind the fuse box.

There’s packages directly
above the gas pedal.

GUZMAN: Oh, jackpot.
OFFICER: I told you.

GUZMAN: This is what we call,
“A Never Ending Seizure,”

because every new place you
look, you get more and more.

MAN: The seats look loaded too.
Oh, yeah.

This is the gift that keeps on giving.

GUZMAN: You wanna make sure
we double check the vehicle

multiple times ‘cause
officer’s worst nightmare is to

find out later on that
they left packages behind.

GARTH: I'm doing a controlled delivery
of two and a half keys of ketamine.

Flight came in six hours ago, uh,

from, uh, Columbia.

Passenger carry, he had it in his bags,

he had it in, uh, two shampoo bottles.

During the initial
interview of the smuggler,

we took control of his cellphone
and we established communication

with the co-conspirator.

We will utilize an undercover
agent to make contact with

the recipient and make the drop-off.

Soon as he comes in,
soon as he has the bag,

I’ll give the, uh, go signal,
we’ll just take him,

we’ll bring him back here,
and then, uh, we’ll debrief.

Any questions?

Let’s just make sure we get on top
of it and isolate as soon as possible.

We’re good to go.

CHRISTIAN: There’s a number of
factors that we have to look out for.

Obviously, we’re
operating in a public area,

so we have to be concerned about
the safety for the general public.

We have to ensure their
safety while at the same time

making sure that we can, uh,
further the investigation.

Are we gonna be setting up
on a parking lot to the north?

AGENT: North side, north side.

CHRISTIAN: So right now we’re
kind of in the general area

where we’re gonna be operating.

I’m gonna take a, uh, stationary
position just for a little bit.

If we need to, uh,
relocate further then we will.

AGENT: Be advised,
the target is...

...parked next to a blue SUV.

Possibly a Range Rover in play.

CHRISTIAN: We
sometimes will have, uh,

vehicle information descriptions
and everything, but, you know,

often times, uh, uh,

suspects will, will change up things.

They’ll come in a different vehicle, uh,

they’ll come in a different
mode of trans, transportation.

Um, so we have to kind of
be open-minded and consider

possibly that anything can happen.

AGENT: Gray Mazda CX-5,
gray Mazda CX-5...

...is target vehicle.

He’s parking next to the
U.C. [undercover] vehicle.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

AGENT: Target is on site,
target is on site.

AGENT [over radio]: Stand by.

AGENT: There’s at
least two in the vehicle.

Two in the vehicle.

Target is out of the vehicle.

Target is out of the vehicle right now.

Take it, take it, take it.

Take him, take him, take him.

[sirens blaring]

AGENT: Alright,
we’re on it. Commit.

CHRISTIAN: Police. Hands up.

Over here.

AGENT: Turn around. Turn around.

AGENT 2: Got him?

[overlapping chatter]

GARTH: How many, how
many guys you got in there?

AGENT: No.
To this knee, to this knee.

There you go. Come on. Yep.

Okay, go ahead and stand up on your feet.

Stand up.

GARTH: Okay, I
have their cell phones.

CHRISTIAN: As of right now, we
have three that are detained,

along with some currency
and some narcotics evidence.

[overlapping chatter]

GARTH: Everybody safe?
No injuries?

AGENT: We’re good.

GARTH: Head back to
the, uh, the S.A.C. office.

CHRISTIAN: So
overall, so far, uh,

things are going well.

We’re, for the moment, finished here.

We’re gonna transport our
suspects over to our S.A.C. office

where we’ll conduct some interviews and

try to further the investigation.

GARTH: Today was a good day.

We got some players of the street,

but our end goal is to, uh,
disrupt the cartels.

We’re going to talk to them and
get a further story and try and

build this case to a, uh,
larger level and get to more

higher level players.

MAN: Can I have water, please.

AGENT: Yeah, come here.

Don't worry.

Come over here.

♪ ♪

GUZMAN: Do you wanna
start gathering the ones from

the quarter panels now?

They’re different than the ones we
removed from the glove box compartment.

This seems like it may be a
Tupperware container ‘cause

it’s really, really hard.

Seems like they put some type of
detergent to hide or mask the smell.

So, all these three packages
one kind of narcotic and

this one will be another one.

Any other areas that we
we’re thinking or that was it?

OFFICER: That’s it.

GUZMAN: We’re gonna go ahead
and take it over to our testing site.

This feels like a pretty crunchy,

crystallized consistency.

In the past, it’s
indicative of methamphetamine.

And we got a green scan.

Positive for the
properties of methamphetamine.

We’ve been apprehending so much
methamphetamine lately that it’s

become the new marijuana.

Before, it was, “Wow,
you have 50 keys of meth.”

Now, it’s like, “Oh, that's it?”
So, it’s kind of crazy to say

that 50 keys of meth is not
impressive anymore, but, unfortunately,

it’s kind of become the norm around here.

We’re gonna put all the
methamphetamine on the scale and

get a total weight.

14.64 kilograms.

Test these three packages
‘cause I feel like it’s

gonna be something different.

Does it look like a powder or?

OFFICER: Yeah.

GUZMAN: Okay.

So, we’re gonna go
ahead and test for fentanyl.

But we have to be very careful.

We’ve seen officers be
exposed to fentanyl in the past.

It was actually where they just
got a little whiff of residue in

the vehicle and they actually passed out.

So, you know, we wanna make
sure we’re being as careful as we can.

We don’t want any of
our officers to be exposed.

I mean, it could be deadly.

So, red line closest to
where you hold the testing strip

indicates that is positive
for the properties of fentanyl.

There we go.
You have a positive.

So it is fentanyl.

So now we have three packages of fentanyl.

3.46 kilograms.

It feels great to
be able to keep all of these

narcotics off the streets, but
I've seen a lot bigger loads.

Maybe it’s a first timer, who knows?

Sometimes they don’t trust them
with that much narcotics all at

once when they’re first starting off.

Now, we’re gonna turn it over
to HSI for further investigation

and let them take over from there.

[sirens blaring]