02x01 - Mama's Meth

[bunniefuu]

- MAN: Wanna lay them flat?
- MAN: Yeah, so this dog

can run through them.

DAVE: It's supposed to be candles

but some of them were broken in transit.

The package came from Mexico, ten candles.

That's kind of odd
to be sending to a residence.

So, CBP went ahead and contacted us

to see if we would look at the package

because it looks suspicious.

Kind of break open the wax.

This looks weird.

It's supposed to just be wax
but this is the inside of it.

It's wrapped with either a condom
or something.

And then you have saran wrap.

Let's cut this open.

I can smell it.

- CEBRERA: There you go, right there.
- DAVE: Yeah. Crystal.

DAVE: What we're gonna do now is

put a little piece in this NIK test kit.

Shake it up.

Let it mix in with the product
that's in there.

Then the middle one...

and then you'll see immediately...

how it pops blue.

MAN: Oh, yeah.

DAVE: Which gives a positive indicator
for methamphetamine.

It's approximately 8.2 kilograms.

STEVE: Meth production's changed a lot.

The super meth labs are down in Mexico.

They ship it here in liquid, powder,

sometimes it's actually
mixed in with diesel

and then they have to separate it out.

So, you'll still see conversion labs

but they're not actually producing
the methamphetamine.

They're just separating it out

and then making it into that crystal form

that they wanna see here.

DAVE: We're gonna repackage it.
Get it ready for the delivery.

We're doing a controlled delivery.

We have an undercover
that's gonna be delivering our package.

We're seeing a huge amount of meth

coming into the Atlanta area.

We've had large loads
come in tractor trailers.

We've had shipments
coming through the mail.

So when we work these
kinds of investigations,

we're not here to just take off
the small supplier,

our objective is to move up
the chain and ladder

hopefully get to that top level

maybe a drug trafficking organization
or a head of a cartel.

All right, let's roll out.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

PUPO: How are you?
Let me see your passport.

RIMOLA:
This is our bread and butter right here.

We nickname it the funnel.

Because you could see
everybody walking out.

You see all the flights that come through.

They have all their bags.

They see the exit right there.

They're almost home.

PUPO: I'm gonna check your bags.
Okay? Come this way.

I've been working with Officer Rimola
for about three years.

He usually is a hard charger
with the passengers

and then I come around
and I'm the good cop in a situation.

So most of the time, it works out.

Are you traveling by yourself
or with family?

JOYCE: I took this trip by myself.

PUPO: You only traveled with this bag?

JOYCE: Yes, ma'am.

PUPO: This is a person of interest
from a flight coming in from Lima, Peru.

[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

She's coming back
after four days over there

and I'm interested in knowing
what she did exactly

since she traveled by herself

and this is her first time
out of the United States.

You weren't scared to travel
to another country?

No, I wasn't scared.

PUPO: She's a little bit nervous.
She's shaking.

She was chewing gum very fast.

So, I'm gonna go ahead
and keep talking to her

and keep checking her bags.

During the time that you were in Peru,

what were you doing?

JOYCE: Me, Mr. Eli,

we went to a bar.

Now, I don't remember
the name of that bar, period.

And uh, you know.

We at the bar we sit down and

he was telling me things
and showing me around and stuff.

PUPO: Was it you, Eli, and anyone else?

JOYCE: Yes, another musician.

And Mr. Eli hired him
especially to play with me.

- PUPO: You were going to perform?
- JOYCE: Yes ma'am.

And I've been doing this
for over 35 years.

And this is a big opportunity.

PUPO: How many people
were at your performance

would you say approximately?

JOYCE: I had a packed house.

And, as I come down off the stage,

you know hold people
holding their hands out

and give you five for the runners?

They were pop, pop.

The people were popping me
and giving me five.

They made me feel good.

PUPO: There's one more
part to this inspection.

JOYCE: Okay.

PUPO: I'm gonna have
you sing a song for me.

JOYCE: Really? I sing real hard.

PUPO: We get a lot of performers
traveling through here,

so when they tell us
they're coming to perform,

et cetera, we ask them
to show me their talent

just to make sure they're legitimate.

- JOYCE: You really wanna hear it now?
- Yeah, of course.

- I'm loud.
- RIMOLA: Yup.

JOYCE: Okay, they gonna hear me.
Okay.

Hey, yo

I'm gonna tell you a story or two

You can believe it or not,
don't matter what

But that's the word,
every word I say is true

PUPO: This lady had no problem.

Obviously, she's a professional.

She's been doing it for many years.

Oh, a piece of man

I said a piece of man, better man

- Oh, baby
- Here you go.

You hear people singing back here.

You hear people playing the guitar.

It's just part of what we do.

You know, proving that
their story is actually true.

All right, Ms. Joyce, take care.

Yeah, you're gonna go out that way.

You can sing as you go,
so everybody can hear you.

I think they heard me already.

MAN: Hey, I'm gonna be at the end.

I'm rolling in that way.

DAVE: That's our target location.

That's where UC
is gonna drop our package off.

So, all our guys
are getting set up in the area,

different roads so we can come in
from different angles if we need to.

MAN: All right,
surveillance van is at 100%.

Ready to rock and roll.

Copy.

MAN: Yeah, I think you could go ahead
and roll in if you're ready.

MAN: All right,
the UC is moving forward.

DAVE: All right, van's in the driveway.

We won't have visual at the door.

All right so UC's got the door.

Dog's barking.

MAN: Door's open.
Male individual at the door

accepting the package.

DAVE: All right, UC's away
walking towards the van

and the package is inside.

UC: He was speaking to
somebody else in the house

said, "It's Mama's package."

DAVE: Oh, okay. I'll relay that.

He signed for the package
and was talking to somebody else

in the house and said, "Hey,
this is your Mama's package."

MAN: Copy that.

DAVE: We believe that the man
that signed for the package

is not the intended recipient,
so we're gonna maintain

surveillance on the house
until someone that we believe

to be named "Mama"
arrives to pick up the package.

And then we have the authorization
through the search warrant

to go in the house
to retrieve the package.

But now, it's kinda just a waiting game.

We gotta keep an eye on the door.

PUPO: Sir. Sir. Passport.

RIMOLA:
How much money do you have?

- MAN: How much?
- How much money in cash.

We're doing Santiago, Dominican Republic.

We get all types of things
on these flights.

We get a lot of dope coming from Santiago,

overstays, sex trafficking.

We get a lot of different things
from Santiago.

SAAVEDRA: How you doing, sir?
Can I see your passport really quick?

Where are you heading to?

MAN: Shreveport, Louisiana.

- SAAVEDRA: It's home?
- MAN: Yeah.

SAAVEDRA: All right.
Reason for your trip?

MAN: Vacation.

- SAAVEDRA: Coming from where?
- MAN: Five days.

SAAVEDRA: No, I said
where are you coming from?

MAN: Right now?

Dominican Republic.

SAAVEDRA:
And your occupation is what?

MAN: I'm not...
I'm not working right now.

SAAVEDRA: How long
have you been unemployed?

MAN: Am I being detained?

SAAVEDRA: You're being questioned.

MAN: You ask, you ask
too many questions, bro.

All right, boss.
Hang out on the wall.

Hang by the wall.

We stopped an individual,
asked him basic questions.

He was a little bit bothered,
I guess, that he was stopped.

I don't really like to entertain
that type of attitude.

- MAN: Can I get your supervisor, man?
- Wall.

Yeah, you can get my supervisor,
you can get all you want.

MAN: You asking too many
personal questions.

SAAVEDRA: All right,
once he calms down,

we'll talk more
and we'll ask him more questions.

Señor, passport, please.

MAN: Here you go.

RIMOLA: Yo, can you not
creep up on me, bro?

Can you not creep up on me?
I'm doing an inspection.

You keep coming behind me every time.

Saavedra's passenger
was a little bit hostile.

- You're trying to get...
- MAN: That's behind you.

- Well, you're trying to creep over me.
- MAN: No, I'm not doing that.

RIMOLA: All right,
I had to tell him multiple times

to step back a little bit,
so I could have some room

because you don't know their intentions,
so you gotta always watch out.

- Okay, have a good day.
- MAN: All right.

What's his story?

RIMOLA: You going to take him down
just because of the attitude or...

SAAVEDRA:
No, he has a lot of trips, boss.

I tried to but he doesn't want to talk
to me, but if he doesn't...

- A lot of trips. Look at his trips.
- No, if he doesn't.

SAAVEDRA:
I asked him basic questions.

He told me he's unemployed.

So my follow up is, "How long
have you been unemployed?"

And he shut down from there.
He was like, "I don't want to answer."

RIMOLA: He felt singled out.

So, you know, when somebody
doesn't wanna answer questions,

we feel like they're trying
to hide something.

And I understand
some questions can be personal

but people have to realize
when it comes down to national security,

you know, sometimes we have to
ask some questions

a little bit more personal.

- You wanna talk or no?
- MAN: Yeah, yeah.

- You sure?
- MAN: That's what I was gonna tell you.

- You sure you wanna talk?
- Sure.

All right, you gotta understand
what we do for real, bro.

- Yeah.
- You're in the border.

The laws here and the laws
on the streets are completely different.

We do warrantless searches,
we can check your body,

we can hold you for as long as we want

and I'm not saying
that that's what we're trying to do.

MAN: Yeah, yeah. I work cross country.
I'm a truck driver, you know.

And I deal with you guys a lot,
you know, all the time.

And, you know, you guys are checking,
you know, everything is legal, you know.

- So, what are we looking for?
- Man, I got proper documents, you know.

That's fine.
So, what are we looking for?

MAN: You're looking
for contraband for, you know, for.

RIMOLA: We look for narcotics,
we look for terrorism.

- All right?
- MAN: Yeah.

RIMOLA: We look for money laundering.
Just because you're a U.S. citizen

doesn't mean anything, all right?
He doesn't know what you were doing

in the Dominican Republic.
Making sense?

MAN: The question he asked me,
why I'm not employed, that's personal.

Hey, if you're broke,
you don't make money, right?

- MAN: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- According to United States,

- you don't make money, right?
- MAN: I'm not employed right now, yeah.

Come on. You're not employed,
so you shouldn't be traveling.

If you're not making money,
you can't travel.

- MAN: No, no, no, no.
- That's it, bro, it's very simple,

you don't answer the questions
then he thinks you're hiding something.

There's no privacy in national security.

Very simple, bro, very simple.
All right? Got to go.

MAN: Come on, man, if you think
I'm a criminal, man, you wrong.

You got people passing
through there right now.

RIMOLA: We've had incidents
where people create chaos

for us to not check them.
To us, that's a sign of deception

but when passengers get irate,

sometimes the nice political correct way

gets you a long way and sometimes

you have to be a little bit more strong.

You have to look at it
from our perspective.

- MAN: Come on, man!
- RIMOLA: No, no.

Let me, let me talk and then you can say
what you got to say, all right?

All of my inspections,
I ask people questions.

MAN: It's funny.
There's contraband coming in right now

- and you're wasting your time with me.
- RIMOLA: How do I know

you don't have it? No, no, no. When
you don't wanna answer questions.

Wait, wait, no, no, no.
I answered five questions.

- RIMOLA: Okay.
- Where I was coming from.

- RIMOLA: Okay.
- What was the purpose of my trip.

- I'm on vacation.
- RIMOLA: Okay.

MAN: "Where are you going?"
Shreveport, Louisiana.

If you look at my passport,
you can see how many times I traveled.

And if you wanna do a background check,

it's very simple, you could.

RIMOLA: So, let's go check your bags

and do a background check
like you're saying.

I told you respectfully, "Yo, bro,
can you go to the side?"

- That's it, respectfully, bro.
- MAN: All right, all right, okay.

- I don't know you.
- MAN: You know, you look dumb.

Stop calling us dumb,

first of all because I don't think
you know me.

MAN: You don't have to get
in my face, my man. Okay?

- You don't have to get in my face.
- RIMOLA: You're, you're gonna put

your hand down. No, no. To me,
you're gonna put your hand down.

You understand that?

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

MAN: If you think
I'm a criminal, you...

You know, you look dumb.

Stop calling us dumb, first of all
because I don't think you know me.

MAN: You don't have to
get in my face, my man.

You don't have to get in my face.

You're, you're gonna put your hand down.

MAN: You're getting right in my face,
in my, in my personal space.

RIMOLA: You're off-putting
actually calling us dumb.

Give me respect and I'm gonna
give you respect like a man.

- That's what Imma do, okay?
- MAN: Okay, okay,

somebody actually just passing
something through

- and you wasting your time with me.
- RIMOLA: Cool.

So, this is what we'll do, we'll pass by.
Help me, help me do our job.

Because I ain't wanna say
why I'm not employed?

- RIMOLA: I don't know, I don't.
- MAN: Really?

- MAN: What you want to be happy?
- Oh, man.

MAN: What kind of information
you need?

Just calm down, bro.
It's that simple. It's that simple.

MAN: It's hard to calm down
when you're having an attitude.

It's hard...

because I don't understand why.

WOMAN: Next stop is Station Three.

Passengers must cross.

MAN: You guys should check
my background.

I've got three kinds of jobs
that I've had extensive federal checks.

RIMOLA: I'm not saying
you have anything.

But we don't know you.
The only reason you here, bro,

because you don't wanna answer questions.

- And that's simple.
- I say that's some personal questions.

That's all I said. It's a personal
question if I'm not employed.

You're saying he can ask any question

- and I'm obligated to answer?
- No,

I never said you're obligated to answer

but if you don't wanna answer,

then we have to do
what we have to do for us to be satisfied.

MAN: Got you, got you.

Just place your bag here.

MAN: All right.

- You good to talk or what?
- MAN: Yeah, good.

Yeah, good.

All right, bro, so what was the purpose
of your trip down there?

MAN: Family and vacation.

RIMOLA: What family member
did you see down there

- while you were down there?
- MAN: I saw my cousin.

- Where did you stay?
- MAN: I stayed at a hotel.

RIMOLA: Why didn't you stay
at their house?

MAN: 'Cause I went
to see some chick.

RIMOLA:
Where did you meet the chick?

MAN: I met her on Instagram
awhile back on Facebook.

- Did you see her on this trip?
- MAN: Yeah.

RIMOLA: So you pretty much
went down there to see her?

- MAN: Yeah.
- You see how simple that is though?

MAN: And I also got a video of...
...this is my cousin.

All right. Nah, nah, listen,
you don't have to show me.

I believe you but you see
how simple that would have been.

- MAN: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- Had you just

- "Hey, good morning. How you doing?"
- MAN: Well, I answered like

five questions but when he said,
"Why you not employed?"

I felt like it was personal
but I wasn't...

but I wasn't thinking about look,

you know, "You're unemployed.
Where you getting money from?"

You know, okay. Now I see it.

RIMOLA: Maybe you took
it the wrong way, bro.

SAAVEDRA: I never asked
you that one by the way.

I asked you how long
you've been unemployed.

MAN: You asked me how
long I was unemployed?

- What did I say?
- SAAVEDRA: Am I being detained?

- MAN: I'm sorry about that, man.
- SAAVEDRA: All right, boss.

- MAN: You're good, right?
- SAAVEDRA: Done.

RIMOLA: Have a good one, bro.

As the inspection progressed,
his behavior definitely calmed down.

I guess he realized that the attitude
wasn't taking him anywhere.

We weren't gonna stop inspecting him

or stop going to the point where
we felt comfortable with the inspection.

We realized there wasn't narcotics
and his behavior changed

and he even was apologetic
about the whole thing, so.

TWAROWSKI:
We're headed to a warehouse.

This one has a lot of European shipments,

South American shipments, a lot
of source countries for us for narcotics.

So, we'll see what
we could find over here.

You know, take a look at this, Ecuador.

- MAN: What is that?
- I don't know, let's find out.

It's like blankets.

RAMIREZ: Ecuador is a big
transit point now for dope

coming out from South America.

RAMIREZ:
Heroin, cocaine.

We usually get stuff in the embroidery
of this inside the lining.

A lot of times, what they try to do
is nickel and dime.

So, they put little baggies
of coke inside little handicrafts.

You always got to check.
You gotta cut it open.

This one is what it is.

RAMIREZ:
All right, I'd seen enough.

Yeah.

RAMIREZ:
Coming from Mexico...

MAN: It's all food and breads.

TWAROWSKI:
Here you got peanuts, tamales.

Looks like a lot of shipments
coming from Mexico.

Mexico, big source country.

Cocaine. Heroin. Fentanyl.

Every, meth, you know, meth, everything.

So, what they like to do
is they like to conceal it inside

the food a lot of times.

They think it's gonna fool the X-rays

or they think it's gonna fool us.
You know,

we're not gonna take a look at it.

But we take a look at everything.

You know, we have to.

MAN: Almost looks like giant cherries.

WOMAN: Those are Chilean apples.

Those are bigger,
so it's a different fruit.

TWAROWSKI:
Nothing. Man, it's sticky.

GALANTINO: It's funny that
those are a different color.

MAN: We got powder.

TWAROWSKI: That's it.

GALANTINO:
There's another one.

TWAROWSKI: Now, we're separating
the actual contraband itself

from the fruit.

GALANTINO: I wish they'd chosen
something that was less syrupy.

They think we're not
gonna get our hands dirty.

- MAN: What you got there?
- TWAROWSKI: I have seven.

GALANTINO:
This one has, yup, seven.

TWAROWSKI: What we'll do now,
we're gonna use our Gemini

machine to just confirm.

There you go.

It's cocaine hydrochloride.

- MAN: Get a weight on this.
- TWAROWSKI: All right.

.391 kilograms.

GALANTINO:
I mean, they were not greedy.

- Not greedy at all.
- MAN: Not at all.

GALANTINO: We have to dig
through all this food to get a small load.

RAMIREZ: We've definitely
been seeing more and more

smaller amounts.

I think they're testing out
different concealments

and see what they can get through.

They don't wanna lose a big shipment.

TWAROWSKI:
Now, we're gonna notify HSI,

they're ultimately gonna take possession
of the narcotics themselves.

GALANTINO: And they may do
a controlled delivery

to find who this was going to.

And then perhaps develop a case from this.

At the end of the day,
it's about disbanding these drug

trafficking organizations.

TWAROWSKI: This shipment here,
this is just one of those

three or 400 that come in
multiple times a day.

Let's see what else they got.

DAVE: We've been sitting outside
this residence for several hours now

waiting for somebody named Mama.

If Mama comes to pick up the package,

we plan to follow her vehicle
in hopes of seeing her either

pass the package off
to someone else or take it

directly to a residence.

MAN: I've got a car that just flew past
the house and then hit reverse

and backed up

and it stopped in the driveway
from what I can tell.

Driver getting out.

DAVE: Looks like a male.

All right, so possibly a heavyset male
got out of the Explorer

and is walking inside.

I thought it was gonna be a woman,
that's weird.

I mean, I don't know.
I guess maybe she's female.

That might be Mama.

MAN: The front door is open
but I can't really see

who it is or what they're doing.

DAVE: She's walking back out
right now with the box.

MAN: Box appears to be moving.

DAVE: It's go time.

DAVE: She's walking back out
right now with the box.

MAN: Box appears to be moving.

DAVE: It's go time.

[BLEEP] I can't see.

That might be Mama.

MAN: It's gonna be a dark
colored Ford Expedition

only one working back light.

DAVE: A dark-colored Ford
pulled into our target house

and I can see that he had
a box in his hand.

MAN: Alright, he pulled into
a gas station right there.

So, we are doing mobile
surveillance right now

following that vehicle.

Apparently, getting some gas.

We wanna keep that down.

Let me just get some gas.

Oh, it is a female.
That must be Mama.

- MAN: Mama, yes.
- DAVE: It is Mama.

DAVE: I'm in the gas station
at a gas pump.

So, I'll let you know when she pulls out.

A couple winners.

Firing up a joint right there.

That's another good part of the job.

I mean, they're smoking
weed right next to us.

We see exchanges at other locations.

We're sitting there watching
something else going on.

Can't really do anything with this.

All right, she's coming out.

DAVE: She's in the car.

All right, here we go.

Let's see where she's headed next.

PUPO: We're waiting
for a Georgetown, Guyana.

It's one of our countries of interest.

Specifically for cocaine.

Passport?

We have a person of interest
in this flight.

We have many questions for this person,

specifically travel history, profession,

whether they can afford the travel.

We're gonna speak to a few individuals.

Hopefully identify the person
we're looking for

and verify that he is
a legitimate traveler.

Sir, passport, please. Passport.

- How you doing?
- MAN: Good, how are you?

- PUPO: You live here, in Miami?
- WOMAN: Yes.

- Traveling by yourself?
- MAN: Yup.

All right, man.
Have a good one, take care.

PUPO: That's him?

Good morning, passport?
How are you?

You live here or you live in Guyana?

MAN: Guyana.

- You going to New York?
- MAN: Yes.

- For what purpose?
- MAN: Vacation.

- PUPO: Who lives in New York?
- MAN: My friend.

PUPO: Okay. And who bought
your ticket for this trip?

MAN: My friend.

My birthday is next week.

PUPO: Guyana, for us,
has a history of travelers

that come through Miami
and transit to New York

because cocaine is more expensive
in New York.

Who lives with you in Guyana in your home?

MAN: My wife.

PUPO: He has a wife,
he has his family back home,

yet he's traveling by himself
to visit a friend and usually,

we don't see that often
coming from other countries.

How much money are you bringing in?

MAN: I bring.

$9,800

PUPO: What's your profession?

- MAN: Mechanic.
- PUPO: Marketing?

- MAN: Mechanic.
- Mechanic.

Vehicle mechanic?

I'm gonna take a look at your bags, okay?

How many more bags do you have?

- MAN: One more.
- Okay. Bring your things.

It doesn't seem like
a legitimate traveler.

He stated that he's bringing
$9,000 for his trip

and his friend purchased his ticket.

Normally, if you're bringing $9,000,

you're gonna purchase your own ticket,

you're gonna cover your own stay.

So, I'm gonna go ahead and check his bags

to see if his purpose to visit
the United States

is exactly what he's telling me.

TWAROWSKI: My father
was customs here, 32 years.

So from the get-go,
it's all I wanted to do.

You know, find drugs,
find this, find that.

I can't stop looking.

RYAN: I'm looking for items
that are dense.



It's gifts from home.

Sometimes it's a case
of grandma's cooking tastes better

than any other cooking,

but you still have to check it.

I'm wondering what that is.

Everything's too dense.

I do not wanna clear the shipment

without actually doing
a visual inspection,

and seeing what it is.

- MAN: This one here?
- RYAN: Yeah, this is it.

Crack it open.

DORTA: We're just going through food,
opening containers

and hopefully we, we get lucky.

Boss!

I think I got something here.

DORTA: Boss!
I think I got something here.

I don't think it looks like a tamale.

CAMPOS: That's definitely suspect.

I'll grab everything, I'll give you guys
some test kits in there

and we'll take a good look.

DORTA: They put contraband
inside these large Tupperwares.

If you take a look at it
without opening it and inspecting it,

it would just look like tamales.

Maybe the person inspecting it
will just let it go thinking it's food.

CAMPOS: Okay, go start off with those.
We'll test them.

DORTA: We're at the brown tape
on them,

you know you got something.

I don't think these are the tamales
I ordered.

We get a test kit and we'll see
what type of drug it is.

DORTA: So, when I pop it,
it should turn to this

almost like a beige color.

As you can see.

CAMPOS: We're looking at
a good amount of heroin.

I would say at least four pounds.

Maybe more upwards of five pounds.

When we get back to the office,
we have other equipment

that we're gonna utilize to test it.

Uh, we're also gonna go
through each package individually

because there are times
when you get mixed loads.

You'll get heroin and cocaine
in the same packages,

but we won't know until we get back
to the office and process it.

RIMOLA: Officer Pupo stopped
a passenger coming from Guyana.

He said he's a mechanic
traveling with $9,800

going to New York.

Guyana to New York
is a really trendy route

for narcotic traffickers.

Put your bags over there.

Do me a favor, take off the jacket.

Until when are you gonna stay
in the U.S.?

MAN: I'm going home New Year's Day.

New Year's Day?
What's the purpose of the trip?

I have a body shop.

- RIMOLA: You have a body shop?
- Body shop.

RIMOLA: Okay, and...

MAN: I really came to buy
a chassis machine.

RIMOLA: Where are you buying
the chassis machine at?

MAN: Well, I have to look around.

RIMOLA Okay. And how are you
gonna take it back?

MAN: I put them on crates.

RIMOLA: He initially told Officer Pupo

he was coming to visit his friend
for his birthday, I believe.

And now, he's saying
that he's coming to buy auto parts

for his shop back home.

That's a pretty expensive trip

just for some materials for his job.

What's your name?

- MAN: Christian.
- RIMOLA: Huh?

- MAN: Christian.
- RIMOLA: Who's Shaheed?

MAN: That is a friend.

- It's a friend?
- MAN: Yeah, yeah.

RIMOLA: That's the person
who bought your ticket?

MAN: Yeah.

RIMOLA: All right, so why are you
bringing him the money?

I know that money belongs to him.

- It's my money.
- RIMOLA: If you have $9,800,

there's no reason why another man
should pay for your ticket.

PUPO: Sir, who's phones are these?

MAN: This phone go to Guyana.

PUPO: Which phone?
There's like eight phones.

MAN: A friend asked me
to drop it back there.

PUPO: A friend?
These are all your friends?

- MAN: Yeah, yeah.
- PUPO: Okay.

Why doesn't he bring it himself?

He's bringing ten phones

and majority of the phones are brand new.

We see that they're not his.

He doesn't have a receipt of purchase.
He has nothing.

He's just bringing them
into the United States.

RIMOLA: When was the last time
you're here?

- MAN: Two years back.
- RIMOLA: Two years back

and how long
were you here in the U.S.?

- MAN: Five months.
- RIMOLA: Five months exactly?

He's bringing a lot of money.

He's a mechanic.
He's all over the place.

A lot of behavior, so we're trying
to figure out if the money's his,

what's up with the phones.

The last time he was here,
he was working here, living here.

Trying to figure it out.

PUPO: Let me explain something to you.

When you bring something
to the United States

in this quantity and the items are new,

that's considered commercial merchandise.

You're supposed to bring this
with a formal entry.

You're supposed to have
a broker representing you

when you come in.

RIMOLA: We have the authority to check

every traveling passenger's electronics

and that's gonna give you the truth
of a passenger's story.

Usually it's our make or break.

Let me ask you a question.

Where was this at?

That was in New York.

- MAN: Yeah.
- RIMOLA: Yeah.

If a passenger is telling us something
and we check the phone

and the phone says otherwise,

well, the story is not the truth,
the phone is.

So what kind of work were you doing there?

- MAN: No me work.
- I have pictures of you working.

So if you wanna...
I mean, you wanna...

if you wanna play this game,
we can play it all day.

All right? I'm telling you
that I see it on the phone.

So, now, I'm giving you an opportunity
to be honest with us.

You've been lying the whole time.

I'm giving you the opportunity
to be honest.

MAN: Well, on the weekend
I just go and help a friend.

No. You worked here last time.

You're coming to do the same thing again.

The phones don't belong to you.
The money doesn't belong to you.

So either you start squaring
everything away for us

or I'm gonna take the money.
I'll take the phones.

And you're probably not gonna come
into the United States.

MAN: Where's she at?

STEVE: She's turning
into the apartments.

She's continuing to the
back of the complex.

Building 15.

Female getting out, nothing in her hands,
going into the apartment.

DAVE: All right, Steve.
We're in position.

STEVE: Okay, we'll be in there shortly.

DAVE: Yeah, so that building
straight out in front of us.

- That's Mama's Expedition.
- MAN: Right in front of it.

So, we followed the female
from the target location

and she pulled into an apartment complex.

But right now,
she still has the package in her car.

So, it looks like our guys are gonna
actually approach the apartment...

and see if they can
make contact with the female

that picked up the package.

DAVE: Oh! Door's open.

DAVE: Four of our agents
made contact

with the female at the door
and pretty quickly,

she allowed them to come inside,

so it looks like maybe she's cooperating.

I'm sure they're talking to her
to see if the package was hers

or if the package belonged
to somebody else.

All right, they're coming out.

STEVE: The lady in the apartment,

she stated that she did not know
what was in the box

but she knows this Hispanic male

that's supposed to come pick up the box.

She's agreed to work with us

and hand off the box to this next person.

We need to be set up on her car

and once he comes and picks up the box,

then we'll get him.

All right, let's hit it.

DORTA: This is just our seizure room.

Where any time we get any type of seizure,

we bring it down here, do our processing.

I'm gonna test it again

and we're gonna use our machine
called the Gemini

to verify that it is heroin.

CAMPOS: The Gemini Thermo
scientific unit is basically

what the scientists call
a spectrum analyzer.

It gives a read on of exactly
what the chemical compound is

and what percentage.

DORTA: This package
is testing positive for fentanyl.

- CAMPOS: Fentanyl?
- DORTA: 7%.

CAMPOS: 7% fentanyl.

CAMPOS: There's been a change
to what we found.

There's an additional discovery
of fentanyl in the product.

Basically, the heroin
has been mixed or cut

and fentanyl is basically a drug

that could be 50, 100 times,

or more potent than heroin.

So that is added to the mix
to give it an extra kick.

If it's the same kind of mix
with the fentanyl in it,

- separate those and...
- DORTA: Oh, they're already separated.

CAMPOS: All right.

We thought we started
with a couple $100,000 of heroin.

We're now looking at $800,000
with that fentanyl in it.

Someone is definitely gonna be very upset

that we've seized this.

It's a combination of a lot
of hard work and dedication

on a part of these officers and agents

because this doesn't just stop here.

It's gonna continue on with HSI

and they're gonna move forward
with this, hopefully turn this

into a very good investigation.

DAVE: We're waiting on a male
to come and pick up the package.

Mama explained that he's going to arrive

and just retrieve the package
from her trunk.

Anticipated time
was about 8:00 PM tonight

to pick this package up.

We've got undercover agents
scattered around the complex.

We have uniform patrol standing by.

That's where we're at right now.

Just kinda sitting and waiting.

Blue passenger car coming down your way.

I couldn't tell what brand
but it's dark blue.

Yeah, cut its lights off
when it got right to her car.

I think it's backing in now.

Yeah, it's backing right up
next to her vehicle.

Then I've also got
a white Charger coming in.

MAN: So, it looks like it may be a Kia.

It backed up on the driver's side.

Now it's backing up on the
passenger side of the target vehicle.

DAVE: Male got out
of the blue vehicle.

Red ball cap, dark jacket.

MAN: Yeah, that should be out target
from the pictures we have.

He's going right to the door...

leaning in to get the package.

DAVE: Now he's got the package
in his hands,

walking back to his car.

And now he's pulling out.

All right, the vehicle is passing us,

headed towards the exit.

All right, here we go.

So, he's headed straight, correct?

- MAN: Confirmed. Straight.
- MAN: Ramp to get on 75 South.

DAVE: He may be going
to a stash house.

MAN: Passing Exit 233. Still following.

Alright, so he's getting off
at Mt. Zion exit.

DAVE: So, he's just making a loop.

Basically, he's trying to see
if anybody's following him,

which we are.

MAN: Alright, go ahead and put
the blue lights on him.

DAVE: It's go time.

[SIREN BLARING]

DAVE: So, he's just probably
making a loop.

Basically, he's trying to see
if anybody's following him,

which we are.

MAN: Alright. Go ahead
and put the blue lights on him.

DAVE: It's go time.

[SIRENS]

MAN: They stopped him.

DAVE: With taking this one person
into custody,

we were able to seize approximately

eight kilograms of methamphetamine.

It's a huge epidemic
so for us to take one kilo off

or 300 kilos off is huge to us

because we feel like we're saving lives

but there's still a train
or a plane or a bus

that's bringing more and more across.

So, from here,
we just move on to the next one.

RIMOLA: If you wanna play this game,
we can play it all day. All right?

I don't need to prove to you.
You need to prove it to me.

When we checked his phone,
we saw some pictures

while on his previous trip
in the United States

depicting that he was engaging
in unauthorized employment.

So as of right now,
we don't think it's narcotics related.

We're headed more towards
possible ill*gal immigration.

You worked here last time.

You're coming to do the same thing again.

That money doesn't belong to you.

Somebody else bought you a ticket.

It's very simple, bro.
It's very easy.

MAN: I buy the ticket here
because the ticket's cheaper here.

Okay. That's what you wanna say?

You sure you wanna go with that?

Let's do a pat down on him
and go from there.

I gave you an opportunity, brother.

So, pack your stuff. All right.

Let's go to this other room.

He looked like a courier.

The phones probably belong to the guy

who bought his ticket
as well as the money.

It's probably the same person
that is offering him a job here.

So, we're gonna do a more
in depth inspection in the room

to see what his true intent
in the United States is.

All right, sit down.
Take a seat, take a seat, take a seat.

Do me a favor, let me get your shoes.

PUPO: He's getting searched
right now in his body

just to make sure that he's not bringing
more currency on him

or any type of commercial
merchandise on him.

RIMOLA: That's all the money, right?

Keep that in your pocket.

PUPO: If you're bringing money
for somebody else

into the United States,

we want to know who the person is

and why they're not
bringing it in themselves.

RIMOLA: You can pack this up.
You can put it all away.

Yo, my suggestion is, you be honest.

We see you stay here
a week shy within six months.

I know you were working.

What were you doing?

Look, you could lie to us
or you could take a risk

and be honest with us and then we decide

what we're gonna do.

Were you working?

MAN: Yes.

RIMOLA: Okay.

I asked him a few routine questions
and he admitted

that last time he was here, he worked.

He worked at a body shop.

In New York, yeah.



- He's making $500 a week.
- PUPO: Huh?

RIMOLA: $500 a week.

- Wow.
- RIMOLA: Yup. sl*ve work.



I mean, you look at it,
somebody in that kind of field

probably should be making anywhere between

$20, $25 but the guy's making $8 an hour,

working hard labor,
no insurance, no benefits.

It's a lose-lose
for the citizens here and for him.

You know, working hard for pennies.

PUPO: Okay, bring your things.

Since he admitted to us
that he did work on his previous trip,

unfortunately, we're not gonna allow him
to enter the United States.

He's gonna get sent back
to his home country

and his visa is gonna get canceled.

RIMOLA: All right, put your bags
in the corner over there.

PUPO: We see this all the time.

We got passengers
who come here to the United States

to look for more opportunity

to make money
to take back to their families

but at the end of the day,
if we allow these people to come

in and take the jobs and opportunities
from our own citizens,

then we're not really doing our job.

RIMOLA: Our personal opinions
have no bearing on passengers

being allowed in or out of the country.

My job isn't to judge people.

It's making sure that anything ill*gal

is not coming into the United States.