04x06 - Coke on the Water

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

[ship horn blows]

♪ ♪

UDDIN: We are at
the Miami seaport.

It's one of the largest transshipment hub

in the United States for cruise
as well as cargo.

OFFICER: We had a vessel
arriving from Dominican Republic,

which has been a very hot route
for us lately.

Very high risk for narcotics.

So we sent out a team of officers.

OFFICER: Alright, let's go.

CARDOUNEL: As you see,
this vessel's huge.

A lot of little areas that are vulnerable

for narcotics to be smuggled in.

OFFICER: We look at every
crevice on the ships.

We've found drugs everywhere
that you can imagine.

Any type of material that
they can use as adhesive,

stick 'em onto the, the hull of the ship,

to the interior of the ship,
on the containers themselves.

OFFICER: Got anybody
down the hatches?

It's all clear, no.

OFFICER: Aside from narcotics,
we also look into

anything that has to do with
human smuggling, stowaways,

or anything like that

that are trying to come
into the United States.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: There you go.

OFFICER: What is that?

OFFICER: It's right there.

It's a pretty big load.

♪ ♪

CARDOUNEL: I just got a phone
call from the team on the vessel.

They found what seems to be
bricks attached to the vessel.

We're gonna bring it back to our shed

and see exactly what we got going on.

♪ ♪

MARTIN: They uncovered
nine bricks.

Could be any number of narcotics,

cocaine, heroin, or meth.

The trend lately has been putting magnets

inside of the, the tape,

in order to allow them to attach
it somewhere on the vessel

where we normally wouldn't look.

They secure it to the underside
of a metallic structure,

making it much more difficult to find.

♪ ♪

Damn. That's what
we want to see.

Cocaine hydrochloride.

That sort of meets the trend
that we've been seeing.

Now we're gonna weigh it.

♪ ♪

We have nine kilos.

♪ ♪

Now that we've tested it,
we know what it is,

we're gonna notify HSI,

they're gonna start gathering information

and start an investigation.

Any day we find narcotics
is always a good day.

We're keeping up the fight.

[siren]

♪ ♪

ANNOUNCER: Please be advised,

all bags remaining on carousel number 8...

CHOUDARY: Keep your eyes open
for this one.

This has a lot stuff
from Paris and France.

It's a really high-end flight.

People have a lot of money on this flight.

Uh, you can get a lot of currency here.

You can get a lot of
merchandise, a lot of it.

So this flight is focusing on just merch.

VINCENTZ: Here on
the Customs side,

we focus heavily on
the merchandise, the currency,

and just making sure that,
you know, everybody's doing

the right thing as far as declaring goes.

♪ ♪

CHOUDARY: Whenever somebody buys
high-end merchandise abroad,

outside the U.S., and they
bring it back into the U.S.,

if they're residents here,

they're supposed to pay
something what's called duty

to the U.S. Government,

and that's basically
taxes in the U.S.

instead of the other country

that you purchased the item from.

Hello, sir. Passport.

A lot of bags, what's inside?

Coffee, tea, clothes.

CHOUDARY:
Any high-end merchandise?

MAN: No.
CHOUDARY: Nothing?

Nothing.

CHOUDARY: Appreciate it, guys.
WOMAN: Thank you.

OFFICER: Did you do any shopping
in Paris today, sir?

MAN: Yes, I bought one little
ceramic hand for five euros.

OFFICER: Okay.
Here you go, brother.

MAN: Thank you.
OFFICER: Take care, man.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: Did you do
any shopping?

I did.

OFFICER: Yeah?
Did you declare anything?

I didn't have to declare
anything. It wasn't over.

CHOUDARY: We have to abide
by the rules.

And a lot of people try to avoid it.

OFFICER: So how much did
you spend out there?



OFFICER:
You guys are exempt $800.



CHOUDARY: But, you know,
we're out there

to, you know, get them.

OFFICER: If you're walking
around with a Louis Vuitton box,

you're gonna get stopped.

Why? Because you
got to pay duty.

CHOUDARY: We have a person
of interest coming in today.

We have intel that they have purchased

very high-end merchandise in Paris.

Thanks, man.

Is that it?

CHOUDARY: That's it.

We're gonna see if they're
gonna tell us the truth

and declare the items, and if they don't,

they might run into a penalty

or even the government
seizing their items.

Where are you guys coming from today?

Paris.

CHOUDARY: Vacation?



CHOUDARY: Congrats, guys.

You are residents
of the U.S., right?

Yes.

CHOUDARY: Alright. We're gonna
fill out these customs questions

and we'll get you out of here, alright?

Yeah, sure.

CHOUDARY: Important question.

Any purchases you made,
any gifts coming in,

you would declare right over here.

Yeah. I have a Rolex,
and for her...

I went and got some Louis Vuitton.

CHOUDARY: Nice. Alright.

Yeah, so, so, any high-end merchandise

you would declare there.

You have to pay duty on all this stuff.

We are law abiding citizens,
you know. So I have...

CHOUDARY: I hope, I hope.
That's good.

I am, you know. Trust me.

CHOUDARY: And that's it, right?

Yup.

CHOUDARY: Alright,
I just have to tell you,

if the government does find anything else,

we can seize it, okay?

Alright, bring your bags this way, guys.

Gotta see this watch.

It's yours? For you, sir?

Yes, sir.

CHOUDARY: Beautiful.
Is this gold?

Yes.

Thank you.

[zip]

That's the candle.

When they buy a Rolex,
they just give a candle,

you know, and I was like...

CHOUDARY: That's it?

That's it.

CHOUDARY: So you spent


and they give you a candle?

I don't know.

That's just a souvenir.

CHOUDARY: Souvenir?

Where are the Louis? In there?

The Louis are in there.
Glasses. Purse.

CHOUDARY: So all the Louis's
for you, ma'am?

Yeah, they're all...

CHOUDARY:
You didn't want a Rolex?

No.

CHOUDARY: I'll be honest
with you, sir,

very few people tell me the full
truth, and you did today.

I did the calculations,
the rates are so low,

that with your exemptions, it washes out.

But if you had lied to me, let's say,

it turns into a big penalty
worth thousands.

Why lie, you know?

You could get caught and it's not good.

CHOUDARY:
I get lied to every day.

And when I don't, I get happy.

So telling the truth goes a long way.

There's special formulas we have
to calculate the duty,

so a watch was 90% free.

The amount of duty was so minimal,

only about 30, 40 bucks,

that it's officer's discretion
to charge that duty.

So, he paid no duty, because I
think people who tell the truth

to that extent should be rewarded.

Take care, guys.
Thank you once again.

You made my day.

CHOUDARY: That's it.

[siren]

♪ ♪

MAXWELL: Right now, we're at the
location we call the intake.

It's the invisible line where
Mexico and the U.S. meets.

Documento. Gracias.

There's thousands of people

coming across throughout the day.

So we do the best we can to get them out.

♪ ♪

VEGA: My team is
gonna be sweeping

all the cars that are here.

We've been getting small quantities

of methamphetamine, cocaine.

So they might send two or three
loads, 10 kilos at a time,

hoping that if one load gets taken down,

the other two will make it through.

♪ ♪

MAXWELL: Another thing
we watch out for is spotters.

They work for the cartels.

Like there are people who are
watching us right now.

They're just on the phone.

That would be a grade-A spotter.

All he's doing is monitoring
our activities

and then relaying it to somebody else.

VEGA: If they have a good load,

they'll send two or three
spotter vehicles ahead of it,

and maybe two or three behind it.

The front team comes through,
"Hey, there's no dogs,

there's no rovers up here,
it's good to go."

They'll send their load through,

and then the people behind it assure,

"Hey, our vehicle got through,

nobody's following it,
we're good to go."

♪ ♪

This black SUV over here, he's got a saint

engraved on the back window of his car.

So a lot of the smugglers,
they pray to their saints

to protect their load of drugs from us.

We usually find them around the vehicle,

or a lot of times they're
hung around their neck.

It doesn't always mean that
they're up to no good,

but it's a good start.

So we're gonna check this guy out.

Where are you going, sir?

My house.

You're going to your house?
Going home?

Yes.

Alright. Can you roll down
the window for me, please?

VEGA: He's got another
little religious icon

on the dashboard of his vehicle.

What were you doing in Juarez?

Seeing my mom.

You went to see your mother?

Okay.

VEGA: The one that we're
always looking for

is the patron saint of
the narcos, which is Malverde.

It's like the modern-day Robin Hood.

Can you open up the trunk for me?

VEGA: Anytime we see that icon
around their necks,

around their rearview mirror,
we look further,

and more times than none, we
find something in the vehicle.

He's nervous. He's very nervous.

So he's gonna be referred in
for a more intensive inspection.

Drive up to the officer.

♪ ♪

You've passed through here, right?

Yes.

Drive through at three miles per hour.

Straight ahead, slowly.

The officer will tend to you
on the other side.

Okay.

VEGA: So I gave him his
instructions on how to drive

through the X-ray machine.

He told me he already knew how to do it,

so that tells me he's been sent in before.

So, other people have thought
that he looked suspicious.

♪ ♪

X-ray didn't find anything, so
we'll do an immediate pat-down.

♪ ♪

Good.

VEGA: Now they're gonna do
what we call

a seven-point inspection.

We'll check some of the areas
that are common

to be loaded with contraband.

♪ ♪

If there had been bundles inside there,

it would have showed up
as a solid white mass.

♪ ♪

In these kind of vehicles,

we have a very large void in the firewall.

You can put six, seven kilos in there.

Once they close it up,
it looks like any other vehicle,

there's no tampering.

Good.

VEGA: It's good. We didn't find
anything, so we'll run a dog.

If there's nothing there,

then the gentleman will be good to go.

♪ ♪

He finished his inspection,
the dog didn't show anything,

but we'll keep him
in the back of our head.

- I can go?
- Have a good day.

VEGA: So that's it.
He's good to go.

See you later.

♪ ♪

HILL: Okay, you guys,
pop it open.

UDDIN: One of the advantages
of the seaport is

the opportunity for bulk smuggling.

Here, you can put
a large amount of contraband

in any number of these containers.

♪ ♪

My team here is designated
to check containers

coming from drug source countries.

HILL: Pop the container.

UDDIN: Making sure that
the commodity

that's in the container
is what was manifested.

OFFICER: Good?
HILL: Okay.

♪ ♪

OSORIO: Right now we're in
our federal inspection area,

and we're gonna be working this container.

Uh, it's coming in from a source country.

It has bananas in it, so we're
gonna be devanning 100%.

And we're gonna X-ray it
and do our inspection.

And we're gonna run each pallet

through our, through our X-ray machine.

The officer, the operator is
gonna be looking at the image,

just to make sure there's no
anomalies within the bananas.

♪ ♪

CORELLA: In the past we found

they put drugs in between the flaps.

So, basically what we do is
we probe all the boxes

to make sure there's nothing inside.

So we go through the whole box.

We go through the whole bananas,
make sure to feel 'em,

make sure you don't have any
plastic bananas, anything fake.

If you see anything that you don't like,

then we'll examine it more.

Like, good example,
this one feels a little weird.

♪ ♪

Get the knife.

♪ ♪

Well, everything feels,
you know, normal in this one.

It was probably a little hard
because it was green,

but it felt different than the rest.

So when we have something like that,

that's when we go ahead
and inspect it deeper.

♪ ♪

OSORIO: Alright,
so we just finished

our inspection of the bananas.

Everything looks good.

There was nothing found
within the shipment,

so we're gonna be releasing the bananas.

It could be out on the street later today.

♪ ♪

[siren]

♪ ♪

OFFICER: How you doing, ma'am?
Can I get your passport, please?

Where were you today?

Dubai.

- OFFICER: Dubai?
- Yeah.

OFFICER: Did you do
a little shopping out there?

Yeah. I told them
I got a necklace...

which is about $800.

OFFICER:
Alright, thank you, ma'am.

CHOUDARY: Alright, sir. Let me
take care of you, alright?

Come over here.

Where you coming from?

Cambodia.

- CHOUDARY: Cambodia?
- Yeah.

CHOUDARY: Nice. Vacation?

Yeah. I went to see my sister.
I hadn't seen her for a while.

CHOUDARY: What are you
declaring today?

I don't declare anything.

CHOUDARY: Alright. Fill out
the ones I circled here.

Try to get you out of here, alright?

Just sign here, right?

CHOUDARY: Alright.
What's in the boxes?

Some kind of pickle.

CHOUDARY: Pickle?

Yeah.

CHOUDARY: Alright. Let me get
those boxes up here,

alright, sir?

♪ ♪

Why you got tape?

Oh, for this? Always prepared,
huh? One step ahead.

Yeah. See, I don't know.

CHOUDARY: Alright, alright.

What is this?

Cake.

CHOUDARY: Is it good?

I don't know.

You want to take it out?
I take it out.

CHOUDARY: No. Just look
while I search.

You bought some gold?

That's for my niece.

CHOUDARY: How come you
didn't declare this?

CHOUDARY: You bought some gold?

How come you didn't declare this?

I don't declare that because that...

CHOUDARY: How much is this?

That's a gift for the kids.
It's $2,500.

CHOUDARY: Dollars?

Yes.

CHOUDARY: So total together
is how much? You tell me.

MAN: That, uh...

$4,069.

CHOUDARY: That's a lot of money.

That's gold.
I thought it was okay.

CHOUDARY: No, no.
I mean, it's okay to bring in,

but you have to pay duty, alright?

It's not gonna be so much.
Gold is only 5.5%.



CHOUDARY: 5.5%.

There's food in here, right?

Let's see, it's tied up, so...
No, no, no. Don't cut it.

CHOUDARY: How do you want to
open it? You want to open it?

Then how are you going to put it back in?

MAN: This knot here...

CHOUDARY: I mean, you can tie it
again if you want.

Well, that's fine.

I've got to go to Atlanta,
Georgia. I'm not staying here.

CHOUDARY: Alright, sir.

You know what happened two days ago?

There's another passenger
coming from Cambodia, right?

So I opened his bag,
and he had crickets in here.

MAN: Oh, yeah, yeah.

CHOUDARY: And then he put it in
his mouth. Right in front of me.

MAN: Wow.
CHOUDARY: Do you eat crickets?

Yeah, why not? I mean, I don't
know what they sent in here,

they might do that, too.
I don't know.

CHOUDARY: I gotta open
some of these, alright?

Okay. You do your job.

CHOUDARY: Thank you.
Thank you, sir.

What's this? Seeds?

Let's see. What's that?

Oh, pepper. Black pepper.

CHOUDARY: Alright. I'm just
gonna ask Agriculture

if it's allowed in the U.S.,
alright?

Is this okay?
Black pepper, he said.

OFFICER: What is this? Yeah.

CHOUDARY: It's good?
OFFICER: Yup.

CHOUDARY: Alright, sir.
You're all good here.

I'm just gonna calculate the duty.

Until then, you pack up, alright?

So he bought some gold overseas.
It's about $4,000.

He's a U.S. citizen,
so he gets an $800 exemption.

The next thousand is an automatic 3% rate.

So we're left with $2,469
at gold rate, which is 5.5%.

That's 135 plus 30.

Alright, sir, your duty's
gonna be $165, okay?

Okay.

CHOUDARY: We'll go to the
cashier, get you out of here.

I think he was unaware that
you were supposed to declare

this stuff when you bring it
back into the U.S.

So he paid duty, 165 bucks,
and he was out the door.

So make sure you declare any
expensive stuff next time, okay?

Thank you, sir.

Alright, thank you.

♪ ♪

DOMINGUEZ: Here in CBP Maritime
Smuggling Disruption Unit,

we have been tasked with working
here at the seaport

to conduct walkthroughs
and search any and all

inbound and outbound vessels.

♪ ♪

We're getting ready to do
a boarding on a vessel

that's arriving from Dominican Republic.

We're gonna meet a few miles out,

get on board, do our inspection.

We target specifically based on
the country of origin.

Dominican Republic is considered
one of the hot spots

for narcotics trafficking.

Alright. This mission, we focus
on the actual structure

of the outside first, okay?

This is what we call a walkthrough.

We look for all small crevices,
anywhere that there's space,

or any area that's hard to access.

For every single ship, it's different,

and the bigger the ship,

the longer it takes for us
to be able to do it.

Oh, see, some of these things like this,

got to get underneath.

The drug trafficking organizations,

they always have the upper hand,

'cause they're the ones hiding it,

we're the ones trying to look for it.

It's always a cat and mouse game,

where we're always trying
to, you know, catch them.

But skills and knowing where
to look and how to look,

is a big deal when it comes to this.

♪ ♪

Hey, Marrero.

We checked this area here, too?

Hatches were opened.

We're gonna go inside.

We have a couple of areas
that need to be checked

that's got a hatch.

Usually, they're locked,
and they're not locked.

Crew coming down.

If we can get in it, anybody can
get in it, so we got to verify,

make sure there's no contraband,
narcotics, or whatnot.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: Good?

DOMINGUEZ: Good?

OFFICER: Yeah, we're good.
OFFICER: Yeah, we're good.

DOMINGUEZ: Today, unfortunately,
we didn't find anything.

We'll make our way back
and we're pretty much done.

Alright. Come on, let's go.
Alright.

We do this often.

It's hard work, but it's fun,

and it's rewarding when you
actually find something.

You know? It's a good feeling.

[siren]

♪ ♪

Hello.

Anything to declare?

Plants, fruits, vegetables?

- No.
- Nothing?

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

♪ ♪

NEVAREZ: Good morning.
Anything to declare today?

Oh, where you headed?

I'm going to work.

NEVAREZ: Okay.

Thanks a lot.

Alright, have a good one.

Good afternoon.

Where are you coming from?

SOLIZ: Looked like there was
some modifications done

to the undercarriage of the car.

How long have you had the car?

Have there been any repairs
done to the vehicle?

SOLIZ: So we're gonna go ahead
and do an inspection

on the vehicle right now and
see if there's any tampering

done to the vehicle that
would show signs of having

some type of ill*gal narcotics
in the vehicle.

Can you do me a favor?

Get out of the vehicle.

Unlatch the hood.

Unlock the doors.

Take a seat at this table

looking the other way, okay?

♪ ♪

OFFICER: Bingo!

Packages.

ERIHK: About an hour ago,
CBP intercepted a vehicle.

The driver, she was very scared,
very hesitant to talk to us.

Looks like it's laden with 7 to 10 keys

of what we think is cocaine.

One tool we do use is what
we call a controlled delivery.

What we do is when we can
gain the cooperation

of one of our violators,

we'll use them in attempt
to deliver those narcotics

to another individual
in hopes to further identify

the narcotics organization

and further the investigation as a whole.

♪ ♪

Uh, what's the 20 of the target vehicle?

The agents were able to build
a rapport with her

and gain her cooperation.

And we were able to get the
driver to deliver the vehicle

to its destination.

And we're waiting to see
who comes and picks it up,

at which time we'll
arrest that individual,

and if he cooperates,

we'll try to deliver it
to the next person.

The whole idea is to move up the chain.

Take down the initial driver,
take up the pickup individual,

hopefully, that'll lead to a stash house

where more narcotics are stored.

The higher you go up in the network,

the more key players we'll identify,

and that paints a bigger picture
of the network

and which cartel they're associated with.

[phone chimes]

They're sending us screenshots
of the text messages

with the cartel.

Ah, man.

They're telling her to go back to Juarez.

Right now, it looks like
we're being tested

by the organization or the cartel.

We believe that they have
countersurveillance

setting up, watching the vehicle.

They're telling the driver
to go back to Mexico.

Of course, we can't let that happen,

so we'll come up with a reason
why the driver can't.

So what we're gonna do is inform them

that the vehicle won't start.

We have their product;
that is their money.

They're gonna do whatever
they can to come get it,

so we'll try to work that to our
advantage and push the envelope

till someone does come to get it.

[siren]

♪ ♪

CHOUDARY: Hi. How you doing?
Can I see your passport, Miss?

Sure.

CHOUDARY: Where you
coming from today?

Brazil.

CHOUDARY: Oh, nice.

Girls, no luggage?

What? Can you speak in Spanish?

Luggage.

No, I have no luggage.

How many days are you visiting?

Ten days.

- Have a good day.
- Bye, thank you.

CHOUDARY: Sir. Hold on.
Are you alone?

Yeah.

CHOUDARY: Where you
coming from, ma'am?

I'm coming from India.

CHOUDARY: Why so many bags?

It's because I went to a wedding.

My two nieces' weddings.

CHOUDARY: Alright. It's a lot
of bags, so I have to check.

Come with me.

How long were you there?

I was there for three weeks.

CHOUDARY: Okay. So you're
declaring 6,000, right?

Yeah.

CHOUDARY: In clothes.

Yeah, clothes only.

CHOUDARY: No jewelry, right?

I have my old jewelry.
I went to the wedding, so.

CHOUDARY: How was the wedding?

Two weddings.

CHOUDARY: How were they? Good?

You know how Indian weddings are, right?

CHOUDARY: Long, right?

It's a long one, yeah.

I enjoyed it.

CHOUDARY: Is this gold?

My granddaughter gave me this.

CHOUDARY: Nice.

It's a lot of gold jewelry that
I'm gonna have to look into

if it's really coming back with her,

that she took out as she says,

or is it really purchased
from outside the U.S.

and she's trying to smuggle it in.

♪ ♪

So I'm gonna ask you...

WOMAN: Mm-hmm.

CHOUDARY: Why do you have this
receipt for one emerald ring?

Yeah. So, what happened is,
I wanted to clean it.

So my jeweler does cleanings.

CHOUDARY: Over there?

Yeah. In India,
you have family jewelers.

I cannot perfectly have it cleaned here.

I took them to wash it
and clean it and make sure.

CHOUDARY: If I find receipts,

we're gonna have a problem here, alright?

Yeah. No. Please, go ahead.

It's good you are checking.

CHOUDARY:
I just have to verify, okay?

I know. I have nothing to hide.

You can open up my wallet, too.

♪ ♪

CHOUDARY:
So you did buy some gold.

This is I, I bought it for my niece.

Her wedding anniversary is...

CHOUDARY:
But you still bought it?

I bought it.

CHOUDARY: How come you
didn't declare this?

Sorry, I forgot.

CHOUDARY: What other gold
did you buy?

That's, this is the only thing I bought.

CHOUDARY: You sure?

Yeah. You can take a look at it.

CHOUDARY: Don't touch that.
Hold on.

No, no, no. I won't touch it.

CHOUDARY: Only I can,
at this point.

Yes.

CHOUDARY: What is this?

I don't know.

CHOUDARY: Jewelry receipts,
so you purchased this.

Just on this page, we have a lot.

You see this? 6,000, right?

That's a lot of money.

We have to add this up.

♪ ♪

UDDIN: This team right here will
come out and check the container

to see if the commodity in the container

matches what was manifested.

And then we will physically
do the inspection

to make sure that they match.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: The manifest
for this container,

it's showing as styrofoam packaging.

♪ ♪

HILL: I see, like,
some brown boxes

that looks like a different commodity,

so let's just go ahead and
send it back to the shed

so we can take a better look at it.

OFFICER: Alright, sounds good.

HILL: Alright.

[truck beeping]

We have an anomaly,

so it's probably good that we run the dog.

OFFICER: Alright.
[commands dog]

♪ ♪

It's a positive.

Woo-ha-ha!

Good boy! Good boy!

HILL: There's something
in there.

Alright, let's take...

OFFICER: Let's get this whole
front side...

HILL: Yeah. Let's take
the whole front side off.

Six brown boxes that do not belong.

They're not showing up
on the manifest at all.

OFFICER: Alright.
You can bring us in.

That's good. Bring us in.

HILL: Let's bring this one down.
Let's see what we got.

OFFICER: Careful.
It's kind of heavy.

HILL: Yeah, I see.

OFFICER: It's not styrofoam.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

HILL: Yeah, go ahead
and take it off.

OFFICER: Oh, yeah.
We got something.

HILL: Alright.

See what we got, I'm gonna
probe a couple of these.

♪ ♪

OFFICER: Oh, yeah.
HILL: Yeah.

OFFICER: We got white powder.

HILL: Yeah, we have
white powder.

OFFICER: Just by looking,
from a specific cartel,

probably coming out of Dominican Republic.

May have originated
from somewhere else also.

HILL: We have six boxes,
so we're gonna take it back

and test it to see exactly what
type of substance that it is,

and then we'll take it from
that point going forward.

Ready? One, two, three.

This box is heavy.

OFFICER: Get this one out.

HILL: Yeah. Let's take
this one out.

OFFICER: They're all taped
together here.

♪ ♪

We're gonna use a knife

and see if we can get
some more of this out.

Alright, so we'll go ahead
and place some of this on there.

♪ ♪

HILL: Positive. Cocaine.

Since it tested positive,
what we're gonna do is weigh it,

and then we'll also contact HSI

to see what steps they want to take next.

♪ ♪

[siren]

♪ ♪

CHOUDARY: You purchased this.
We have to add this up.

Alright, so how much is this adding up to?

Do you understand?

This is adding up to $5,000.

CHOUDARY: Well, that's one side.
You got to go on the other side.

There's exact prices of how much she paid.

She has 10,000, 15,000
dollars' worth of gold.

Are you aware you have
to pay duty on gold?

I already paid the taxes on this.

CHOUDARY: No. You pay tax,
uh, "duty" here.

I mean, I already paid for the taxes,

and I have to pay the duty here?

CHOUDARY: So when, when you come
into the U.S., right?

Yeah.

CHOUDARY: All purchases,
you have to pay duty

on these items, alright?

But I already paid taxes in India.

CHOUDARY: But that's
irrelevant to us.

You have to pay duty
to the U.S. Government

when you purchase anything.

Yeah, but I mean. You know what?
Tell me what I have.

I have receipts from all over the place.

CHOUDARY: Yup.

Some are American receipts also.

So make sure you don't take those.

CHOUDARY: Ma'am,
I do this every day.

I know exactly what I'm looking for.

I want to make sure.
I want it to be fair.

CHOUDARY: We'll make sure
before you leave...

I want it to be fair.

CHOUDARY: It's always
gonna be fair, ma'am.

Okay.

CHOUDARY: Alright.
We're gonna move on to the bags.

So you did declare 6,000 in clothes.

And the new clothes that you are
declaring are in there, right?

Yeah.

Can I put these back, please?

CHOUDARY: Yeah.

Did you take anything out?

CHOUDARY: No.

I want to make sure I have
all of my jewelry.

Otherwise I have to complain.

CHOUDARY: Well,
everything's recorded,

so you can file a complaint if
you think something is missing.

Yeah, yeah.
I have to check it out.

CHOUDARY: Yeah.

Because how do I know?
I've got all my jewelry out.

CHOUDARY: So you're declaring


$6,000, because I bought saris
for my daughter and my niece

because of the wedding.

CHOUDARY: Yeah.
And then we have more here.



CHOUDARY: Okay, but you have to
declare things the right way.

If there is a failure to declare,

the government can seize these items.

I know. I know that.

I am very familiar with,
I've been, I'm a U.S. citizen.

CHOUDARY: Okay, but you didn't
declare everything.

Because I go back and forth
every six months.

CHOUDARY: Okay, but did you
ever pay duty?

I pay taxes.

Like this, I declare it.
I pay taxes on this.

CHOUDARY: Okay. Where?

Here. When I pay
my overall taxes.

CHOUDARY: Okay, no.
That's irrelevant.

This is U.S. Customs, and you
have to pay duty here, okay?

Okay, that's fine.

CHOUDARY: So I'm gonna make
the calculations.

So the clothes you did declare,
you were doing good,

but then we have a lot of items missing.

So on those items, you're gonna
have to pay a penalty.

The items you did declare
is gonna be $506.

The penalty on the other items is $5,600.

So I have to ask,
are you gonna pay it or...?

Yes, I am.
But this is ridiculous.

I go there every year.

You're telling us not to go
to our own country?

CHOUDARY: Her penalty
was pretty hefty,

but people who want to bring in


of gold are gonna get penalized.

And she decided to pay,

and she walked out of here with her stuff.

Whew. Tough cookie.

[siren]

♪ ♪

[phone ringing]

ERIHK: Hey, brother.

Mexico's insisting on her
bringing back to Juarez.

Okay. Alright. Sounds good.

Alright, bye.

The cartel keeps asking her questions,

keeps telling her to take
the vehicle back to Mexico.

We've gone with the ruse that
the vehicle won't start,

so what we'll do is have
two undercover agents,

posing as shoppers,

stop to make it look like
we're trying to fix the vehicle,

with the anticipation of any
countersurveillance seeing that,

and they will relay that
information back to the cartel

to give legitimacy to the,
the claim we had her make.

Approaching the driver's side now.

♪ ♪

ERIHK: Friendlies making
contact with her.

Our agents are going through the motions

of inspecting the vehicle
to see what's wrong with it.

And then she'll make contact
with the cartel in Juarez

and tell them, "Hey, we just had
someone look at it.

It's not working.
What do you want me to do?"

In hopes that they send someone
to come pick up the vehicle.

The hood has been closed.

Two friendlies and subject
are now walking.

ERIHK: When it comes to these
types of operations,

patience is the key.

A controlled delivery,

it could take 20 minutes,
could take hours.

The longest I've ever been
on one is seven days.

I'm not ready to give up on it yet.

♪ ♪

Be cognizant of a Mercedes
stationed right now

with a male subject inside,
not exiting the vehicle.

ERIHK: Looks like they have
a view of the target vehicle.

♪ ♪

I just had a gray,
looks like a Nissan SUV,

pull up right next to the Mercedes.

New Mexico tags.

Both subjects exited and are
having a discussion outside.

♪ ♪

They are walking towards
the target vehicle.

ERIHK: Both occupants
left the vehicle.

They're headed towards the target vehicle.

♪ ♪

Actually, they're going to
a GMC pickup truck

to talk to the occupants there.

And this looks like it's a
legitimate business discussion

they're having.

They're not paying attention
to our target vehicle,

so it doesn't look like they're associated

with this smuggling attempt at all.

You just got to be cognizant of
everything going on around you,

you know, to determine whether

it's part of the smuggling operation

or if it's just, like I said,
actual, legitimate work.

[phone ringing]

Hey, brother.
What's the status?

Okay.

We gave it the shot

to see if the counter
would change their mind,

but apparently that didn't happen.

The cartel is still
communicating with the driver,

however they're being insistent
on the vehicle and the driver

going back to Mexico.

Subject walking towards the target vehicle

getting ready to follow out.

ERIHK: So at this point, we're
going to throw in another ruse

that we got the vehicle running

and she is going to take
the vehicle back to Mexico.

However, she will be stopped and inspected

at an outbound inspection.

They'll magically find
the narcotics in the vehicle.

Vehicle's gonna be on the move.

ERIHK: The target vehicle is
going back to the port of entry.

At that point, we will start
processing the evidence,

the narcotics, and seeing

what kind of intelligence we can obtain.

[siren]

♪ ♪

CONTRERAS:
I think there was a spotter.

Once we got there and she made comms,

and they said, "No, return to Juarez,"

I think we were burned from here.

Right now, they're doing
an inspection of the vehicle.

OFFICER: There you go. Packages.

CONTRERAS: To make sure that
we don't miss any bundles

that might be hidden with inside the car.

♪ ♪

That's it.

CONTRERAS: We have found a total
of eight black, taped bundles,

and we're gonna go ahead and test it

to confirm that it is cocaine.

♪ ♪

They had a lot of wrappings.

Epoxy foil and a lot of plastic.

♪ ♪

CONTRERAS: Positive for cocaine.

♪ ♪

ERIHK: 8.97 kilos of cocaine.

♪ ♪

We attempted to conduct
this controlled delivery,

however, sometimes these operations,

as well planned as they are,
they just don't work out.

But it's not a failure in any way,

'cause we were able to collect
a lot of intelligence,

a lot of information,

which led us to be able to
target other individuals,

other co-conspirators.

The case was presented to the
United States Attorney's Office,

who did accept federal
prosecution of the driver.

So at this point,
the driver will be booked

into the El Paso County Jail
to await her initial appearance

or arraignment the following day.

And we're still communicating with her

and doing everything we can

to ensure her safety as much as possible.

♪ ♪

RAFAEL: What do you got?

OFFICER: It's covered
in some type of oil.

What kind of oil, right now we don't know.

It looks like it's got a copy paper

and layers and layers of Saran Wrap,

and vacuum-sealed packages,
all to throw off the dog.

RAFAEL: Alright.

♪ ♪

HILL: See how many pounds
we have.

♪ ♪

RAFAEL:


♪ ♪

HILL: Feel pretty good!
[chuckles]

It's a good day at Miami seaport.

RAFAEL: This is not
completely uncommon.

We do see seizures of this size
and this amount

several times a year.

The officers out here do
a great job of inspecting cargo

that's coming in,
and these types of seizures

really create havoc for the organizations.

We are going to attempt
to identify the folks

who introduced this contraband
into the shipment.

Hopefully, we can take action
to get them into custody.

♪ ♪