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00:10Over 17 and a half billion tons of air cargo is sent from the U.S. around the world each
00:17year.
00:20At Newark International Airport, Customs and Border Protection officers lead targeted operations on shipments.
00:28Their main focus, smuggled narcotics.
00:35The trafficking organizations, they're pretty savvy.
00:39They know certain things that will assist them into better smuggling blicit items through.
00:48Every day, officers run spot checks on hundreds of airmail bags.
00:54Anything the canine unit alerts to is then scanned for irregularities.
01:10Go, girl. Go, girl. Go, girl. Go, girl.
01:13Guys, there's an alert on this container over here.
01:19Once we put it through the x-ray, we see it. There's no hiding it.
01:23It's a constant cat and mouse game going back and forth.
01:30The little one.
01:32A box heading for the U.K. is showing an anomaly.
01:36Officer Solardi investigates.
01:39I can already smell it when I open it. My knife cut through it pretty well.
01:44But here we go.
01:49Leafy green stuff.
01:57Anything in the bags that stick me, poke me, cut me, hurt me by any chance?
02:00We're up against a clock.
02:02We're looking for anybody that's not declaring, and there's going to be a lot.
02:26For security reasons, please keep your luggage with you at all times.
02:36With an average of 40,000 international flight connections, JFK Airport is one of the busiest on the planet.
02:46Are you coming back today with anything to declare?
02:48Any food products? Any alcohol or tobacco?
02:51It has 180 international destinations, connecting people from all walks of life.
02:59Any food, alcohol?
03:01I'm going to need my water.
03:03Protecting the U.S. from pests and diseases is an army of agriculture specialists
03:08who screen all organic material entering the country.
03:14Our job is to inspect and make sure whatever is entering the United States is not a biological weapon.
03:21It's not going to inflict any harm on our trade or our agriculture industry here in the United States.
03:28You come to work and you never know what you're going to see.
03:33Today, a Yale academic has been referred to agricultural specialist Ellis
03:38after he declared some unusual cargo from the Dominican Republic.
03:45So we're going to take a look at the first container, see what we have here.
03:52Okay.
03:53Looks like we have small lizards.
04:00Ah, these are much bigger.
04:03I definitely did not expect to wake up, come into work and find three bins of lizards today.
04:11These items are highly regulated by the Fish and Wildlife Agency.
04:17Bringing certain organic material into the country is allowed with the correct paperwork.
04:26It's tissue samples from the lizards.
04:29Okay.
04:30And you extracted them yourself and labeled and put everything together?
04:33Exactly.
04:33Yeah.
04:33Okay.
04:33Yeah, it's all the research that we were doing.
04:36Okay.
04:37All right.
04:38The man is expected to provide both a permit from Fish and Wildlife
04:42and a letter from his department head at Yale detailing the purpose of the specimens.
04:53You know what's off about this?
04:55How does he write a letter from himself?
05:02That's him.
05:04He shouldn't have those one out for himself.
05:07Yes, exactly my point.
05:10And this is his own number there.
05:13There's no one else.
05:15Not only is the Fish and Wildlife Permit still pending,
05:19he's written a letter vouching for the material himself.
05:24For now, he and his lizards are going nowhere.
05:28There's no one out there.
05:30There's no one out there.
05:31There's no one out there.
05:33There's no one out there.
05:35There's no one out there.
05:38There's no one out there.
05:41There's no one out there.
05:42There's no one out there.
05:44There's no one out there.
05:47There's no one out there.
05:47There's no one out there.
05:48There's no one out there.
05:48There's no one out there.
05:49There's no one out there.
05:50There's no one out there.
05:50There's no one out there.
05:50There's no one out there.
05:53There's no one out there.
05:54There's no one out there.
05:56There's no one out there.
06:03at Newark's cargo facility officers have identified suspicious anomalies in a package
06:09heading for the UK I can already smell it when I open it my my knife cut through it pretty
06:16well
06:18but here we go leafy green stuff the smell is potent so this is a pretty high-grade stuff having
06:29found what appears to be cannabis they decide to scan every other item on the cargo shipments
06:35manifest so the suspected ones that we are going to be examining are going towards the table and the
06:46ones that are clear that we don't see really the inconsistencies that we're used to are gonna go
06:52back towards the container that is somewhat packed so that it can be released to be shipped outbound
07:03before long the x-ray identifies another stack of suspicious packages I'm examining some of the
07:12boxes that were pulled aside when we suspect something we have to inspect it all the way
07:23CBP is intercepted a second box of marijuana
07:32Europe don't really have weed and with the US kind of laying back on its walls we've become
07:38really good at growing it so you know you travel you want good pasta you travel to Italy you want
07:44good marijuana now it's looking like you come to the US it's beginning to look as if the officers
07:51have hit on a sizable shipment winner winner it's a chicken dinner and they're just getting started
08:02more marijuana
08:20at JFK
08:23you can see what we have here
08:27a Yale academic has been stopped from bringing reptilian research material into the US because
08:35he doesn't have the right paperwork it's a tissue samples from the lizards he should have presented a
08:43permit from fish and wildlife and a letter from his boss this is a letter that he's written for himself
08:51by
08:51himself but the permit still pending and he's endorsed himself what we can do is reach out to Yale
09:01University and verify with them that these items are actually coming in how are you doing today ma'am
09:08my name is officer Ellis I'm calling from customs and border protection are you familiar with research
09:16student he's trying to import specimens from Dominican Republic okay all right so the problem is he did
09:26the e-doc but he did not wait for it to be confirmed or approved it's pending right it has
09:33to be approved
09:34before he decides to enter the United States we are basically going to seize the items that he's bringing in
09:41today we have spoken to his director Yale University she approves is valid she approves he works for her so
09:48I basically let her
09:50know this is not a good look next time make sure she writes the letter for him even though Yale
09:56has vouched for its academic he still doesn't have sign off from fish and wildlife until he does his samples
10:04will be seized I spoke to your director okay this letter is no good at all
10:09if it if it's written by you next time have her write proper documentation and you're good to go okay
10:16they don't need to be refrigerated okay I'm just concerned that they are not going to be like left out
10:21under the sun or anything
10:22no no no no no it's not left out inside it's in it's in a in a secure location any
10:27more questions I don't think so
10:29all right good job thank you have a good day all right you're welcome
10:34now he must wait for his application to be approved if it's rejected his research material will be
10:42destroyed there's certain procedures that are put in place to protect our nations today is a prime
10:48example of that we have our passengers coming in with items are stated for research purposes but we do
10:55not know what type of research that is fish and wildlife would decide whether this item is allowed to enter
11:20the United States
11:21winner winner it's a chicken dinner more marijuana at Newark's cargo facility officers have intercepted
11:30several kilos of marijuana found for the UK just more marijuana some more green leafy stuff we have
11:40more leafy green stuff there you go good job and they try to conceal it with this scent that you
11:49know
11:49once I open up the package a little dryer sheets not going to do anything for you sometimes there's
11:56packages that have full styrofoam around the packages so it makes it one it makes it harder
12:00for us to get it to it's trying to hide the scent from the dog the organized crime groups behind
12:07this
12:07shipment have ways of trying to protect the recipients from being tracked down by the UK's border force for the
12:15most part they're using fictitious names the Incredible Hulk out in London receiving packages Bruce Banner they think
12:24they're they're funny or they're smart about it but you know we see them some more and they're all
12:32about kilo each some of these are the same shippers all the time and even though we're stopping the
12:39packages today it's not stopping them from shipping them out tomorrow or next week or going forward so
12:44it's kind of crazy as their search continues officers on earth what appears to be more cannabis this time in
12:53disguise okay what do we got here looks to be honey oh no definitely not honey what we got here
13:07seems to be
13:11either just straight up marijuana some type of oil that is like
13:19kind of solidified to look like a candle or resin it definitely smells like marijuana to me so good job
13:27trying to hide it but we got it there you go it's the same stuff we had in the jar
13:33nice
13:35yeah different the forms look I can already smell it this is like a paste that's a paste this is
13:43a
13:43little bit more solidified probably hash so let me it's collagen for hair and nail it's a THC baby
13:57two hours into the search officers have intercepted over 100 suspicious packages that could be worth
14:04hundreds of thousands of dollars and they aren't finished yet just ruined somebody's weekend I've done
14:14that a few times
14:15my career
14:40please check me for airline representative for information regarding additional
14:44in the United States there are nearly seven million people with outstanding criminal warrants
14:52quick picture thank you and you ma'am just look at the camera sir CVP officers work closely with law
15:01enforcement to ensure that any wanted travelers are stopped from leaving or entering the country
15:11today a man with a decade's old warrant out for his arrest has just disembarked from a flight from Mexico
15:22currently waiting for somebody apparently he has an active warrant out of Ohio we have a crew up there
15:31retrieving him to bring him back I'm waiting here to hear word from Lucas County so I'm going to wait
15:39for him to get here we're going to go from there see if they're going to extradite him or not
15:44as soon as the man and his wife clear customs officer Halliday brings them to secondary for questioning
15:53do you have any more luggage we've got two checked bags okay we're going to go down and get your
15:57luggage and come back up okay no you can come with me
16:04okay now we can get everything out of your pockets give me some gloves do we have oh yeah yeah
16:10they'll do almost a doll size
16:17who's the young lady that's with you she's my wife okay and where are you coming from today
16:26uh oh he's traveling with his wife uh I don't know if she has any idea that he has a
16:31warrant that's this old or not either
16:33I won't talk to them together this way here if she doesn't know he can let her know later
16:40any type of narcotics marijuana LSD anything like that
16:43nope
16:46have you been arrested in the past
16:47yes sir what were you arrested for I've been arrested for drugs
16:57fake narcotics
17:02well not fake fake marijuana actually okay
17:07any marijuana products in here today no THC products no
17:16okay ma'am you can go over there for a minute I'm going to talk to this I'm going to
17:19talk to him over
17:19here you kind of switch over here I'm going to talk to you down here on this end
17:28okay are you aware that you have warrants for your arrest out of Ohio
17:31I am okay so uh how long have those been in place
17:3530 years okay the warrant is still active
17:40officer Halliday has no choice but to keep the man at the airport
17:44until he has word from police in Ohio
17:48if they decide to enforce the warrant
17:51it's only an hour's drive to Detroit
18:09are you aware that you have warrants for your arrest out of Ohio
18:11I am okay the warrant is still active
18:15in Detroit
18:17officer Halliday has stopped a traveler
18:19with a decades-old warrant out for his arrest
18:26why have you not taken care of them because they wanted a lot of money to do it
18:30mm-hmm well you're crossing the international border right now
18:33all right so where now we could arrest you
18:37and wait till Ohio comes up and extradite you down there
18:42as I understand it it's not extraditable
18:45every time I call them they can change their mind
18:49as the traveler is questioned
18:51hi this is officer Lamore with U.S. Customs and Border Protection
18:54how are you
18:56the officers contact law enforcement in Ohio
19:00copy
19:03they're gonna go ahead and release him
19:06we contacted Lucas County Ohio
19:08the holders of the warrant
19:10and they did not want to extradite them today
19:15that could change they may not today but they might tomorrow
19:21who would I talk to
19:22the county that it was issued from
19:24Lucas County
19:26okay just called them up
19:28what can I do to get this resolved
19:30because as much as you travel internationally
19:33this could become a bigger problem later on
19:36you're driving home you get pulled over
19:38but they'll change the mind
19:39thank you for that
19:40no problem
19:41all right
19:42okay
19:43well thank you for cooperating
19:44I know it's been years decades
19:45but I still want to get it taken care of
19:48yeah
19:49okay
19:50I would like to
19:51yeah
19:51well you should play the lottery
19:55because you haven't got stopped yet
19:58this time as lucky he gets to walk away
20:01he's gonna have a good night
20:02next time
20:04we could be handcuffing him
20:06we'll see
20:07wait for the next time
20:09on to the next one
20:11all right
20:12goodbye
20:35that's a paste
20:36this is a little bit more solidified
20:38probably hash
20:39at Newark's cargo facility
20:42looks to be
20:44honey
20:47oh
20:48no
20:48definitely not honey
20:51officer Salardi and his team
20:53have intercepted
20:55129
20:56UK bound boxes
20:58loaded with what appears to be
21:00marijuana leaf
21:01vapes
21:02and resin
21:09unbelievable
21:10unbelievable
21:10there's a door there
21:11unbelievable
21:12unbelievable
21:14now
21:15officers must accurately identify
21:17what they found
21:18we're gonna test these
21:21items out right now
21:23and make sure
21:23they are what we believe they are
21:25the scent of marijuana
21:29you probably smell it down the hall
21:33use my handy dandy probe
21:35never leave home without it
21:42these are our narcotics test kits
21:45now as I break the vials in here
21:49it should have a chemical reaction
21:52there's three of them so I'm gonna break all three
21:54I'm gonna have to agitate them
21:57a little bit
21:57for the chemicals to do their thing
22:04you can see it's starting to turn purple
22:08as it should
22:13voila
22:15that is positive for
22:18THC marijuana
22:22finally
22:23they test the leafy green substance
22:25which initially caught officers attention
22:30all right
22:31now we're gonna open
22:32the more common form
22:34pretty typical of what
22:36you would expect
22:41and bam
22:42right away
22:43all of the 129 packages seized
22:47test positive
22:48now
22:50officers need to determine
22:52the weight
22:52and value
22:5513.05
22:58kilograms
22:59all right
23:01box 3
23:0210.30
23:04kilograms
23:05box 4
23:1111.15
23:13kilograms
23:16box 5
23:18we got 9.40 kilograms
23:22the estimated value
23:30from our research
23:34out in the UK
23:36this could haul in about
23:38a million dollars
23:39worth of product
23:40that we got today
23:41so
23:42you know I think all in all
23:43we did a good job
23:44and
23:46you know we did our part
23:47in getting this stuff
23:48off the streets
23:49these shipments go out again
23:51which
23:52it's not a matter of if
23:53but a matter of when
23:55we'll be here
23:56we'll be here
23:57we'll be here and
23:57wait for it
23:58we'll be here
24:21we'll be here and waiting for it
24:38what do you got in here did you put it in here so it doesn't like explode or something
24:43when you stuff stuff in socks like that man it's a little weird
24:48every day hundreds of counterfeit items are smuggled or unwittingly brought into the u.s
24:55costing the american economy billions of dollars in lost revenue each year counterfeit goods are a
25:03trillion dollar global industry and represent a large portion of profits for organized crime
25:11no major purchases over eight hundred dollars fake items people buy them as souvenirs they don't
25:19necessarily realize that they're doing anything wrong or violating any laws it's down to officers
25:26to spot the difference between a fake and the real deal this came over from agriculture you want me to
25:35just bring them over to baggage okay today a couple has been referred for a search after an x-ray
25:44revealed something in their bags they've been on vacation in malaysia's capital famous for its flea
25:52market selling imitation designer goods coming in from malaysia it's common to see a number of fake
26:00items at this point we're going to pull the bags over here we're going to take a look and we're
26:05going to see what we have i'll take this one over there for you
26:10man it's just these two bags that you have correct as far as big suitcases yes understood okay
26:18all right ma'am i'm going to have you fill out a form you can just fill it out top
26:21to bottom
26:23despite officers suspecting that there may be items hidden in the passenger's luggage
26:29neither have declared any goods so officer white gives the couple a second opportunity to do so
26:37we'll have her filling out a declaration form we'll see if she declares the property of interest how you
26:44doing sir you look like you're ready to get out of here i am yeah i'm gonna make this as
26:49quick and
26:50as painless for you as i can okay all right the passengers fail to declare so the officers begin an
26:58inspection of the luggage do you want to change or amend anything that you've written on the declaration or told
27:06me no
27:06no okay i'm gonna take a quick look while i do i'm gonna have you take a couple of steps
27:11back
27:18how much do you pay for these watches about a hundred dollars
27:23hidden under clothing in the suitcase the officers find several luxury watches
27:30oh look another one there's concealed watches in here
27:37we have several more yeah all right uh we're gonna have to be better there's three more that
27:43were concealed sir in this bag right here there are about 10 watches here do you have receipts for
27:52items the watches anything like that i don't have for the watches no okay all right no worries
28:01it was like at a flea market thing
28:06i'm assuming these are counterfeits what are these counterfeits
28:12you won't be able to buy a hundred dollars they're weird well they're probably not real then
28:17okay for attempting to smuggle in counterfeit goods this couple could now have the item seized
28:24and be heavily fined
28:50do you have receipts for items the watches anything like that i don't have for the watches
28:57no it was like at a flea market thing san francisco international airport officers are searching a couple
29:06who failed to declare 10 so-called luxury watches purchased on their vacation to malaysia
29:14are these counterfeit you won't be able to buy a hundred dollars if they're real well they're probably
29:21not real then okay all but one bears the name of a luxury brand with a retail value far higher
29:29than
29:30what the travelers paid so unfortunately you can't have this kind of the item okay that one isn't
29:36no correct we can have this one this is no correct yeah counterfeit goods are known to fund
29:43criminal gangs around the world including drug smuggling cartels how would you feel if you
29:51have a legal company you won't make any money at all right i understand that even for the personal
29:59you can't have that so all of them some brand names so we have to take them the one without
30:07that brand name are with honey tea so you can have that
30:12for failing to declare and attempting to bring in counterfeit items there can only be one outcome for
30:19the watches the watches are going to be destroyed on the spot you ready yep
30:29they won't be able to be resold damage you get that one
30:41any question for us no okay
30:48all right sir with most of their vacation purchases in the trash the couple clears customs
30:56thinking based on the passengers behavior that they weren't looking to sell them it didn't seem to
31:03be about the loss of money it more so seemed that they had these cool souvenirs that they were going
31:10to be able to give out to friends and family part of our job as customs officers is looking out
31:17for the
31:17interests of u.s commerce and protecting that if we have a number of fake items flooding the
31:25market it's going to be harmful to our economy here at home
31:55and what do you do for work
31:56health studies oh wonderful do you work for a company i am an employee for like a salon
32:01yeah for a salon okay in newark customs and border protection is involved in new jersey state's
32:08crackdown on illicit massage parlors take your glasses off for me
32:16some establishments have been involved in illegal activity including sex trafficking
32:24today officer hernandez is on the lookout for a u.s citizen re-entering the country from a vacation
32:31we're waiting on an individual a female subject she's suspected of uh running an illicit massage
32:37parlor in new jersey engaging in human trafficking and human smuggling out of the massage parlor
32:44the line of work that she does that may be hurtful to this country is uh bringing in people that
32:50may
32:50be chasing the american dream and they may be getting themselves involved in the type of work that
32:56they didn't sign up to do and they have no way out if she's going to be coming up on
33:00this lines i think
33:00she's like third in line with her husband as soon as the woman clears passport control
33:07officer hernandez moves in hello how are you doing sir just follow me guys so i'm just going to go
33:16back
33:16to uh our secondary area and i'm going to interview any of you over there all right here come there's
33:22no
33:22problem no for you sir you can go downstairs and collect the luggage okay all right you know where
33:29to go i'm gonna stick with her you're not allowed to go back there with her all right she's an
33:35american
33:35citizen correct okay yeah she's an adult as well when am i going to find her when she's done with
33:41me interviewing her she's going to exit right over here to the center i can't tell you that i don't
33:45know okay yeah you can come over here hello how are you all right you have any electronic devices on
33:57you
33:58your cell phone laptop ipad anything like that the cell phone just place it right there on top of the
34:03table it's gonna ask a couple of questions and then we get you on your way i'm not good english
34:09not not
34:10not good english i'll keep it as simple as possible okay what do you do for work
34:18you're a housewife now okay a little bit work sometimes what kind of work do you do part-time
34:25uh sometimes use spa something are you the owner of the spa yes i'm the owner it's under your name
34:33yes okay massage spas are often used as a front for selling commercial sex using trafficked people
34:42there are believed to be more than 9 000 of these illicit businesses operating across the u.s
34:49how many employees do you have working in the spa you have their names i don't know you know i
34:56go there
34:57i hide the people they say one day two days ago they don't want to do this i ask somebody
35:04coming
35:04so you hire you hire employees but you don't know their name because i'm leaving now since i i don't
35:10know now how long how long have they been working there who the girls just a couple days seven one
35:17weeks maybe the woman eventually admits that as well as several casual workers she has one full-time
35:25employee it's a one girl okay one girl and she's a permanent resident yes but you don't know her name
35:35no i know i have to see my paperwork but you know i don't know myself so that this one
35:40girl how long
35:42has she been working for you she she's working to maybe two years two years two years i just imagine
35:51though if i ran a business and i and i hired somebody and they've been working for me for two
35:55years i would know their their name you know unable to get a satisfactory answer about the staff on the
36:02massage parlor payroll officer hernandez changes his strategy for every u.s citizen resident visitor that
36:10enters the u.s everybody is subject to inspection that includes any electronic devices i'm going to
36:17take a look inside these bags the cell phone right here is this yours too this works it's not too
36:35much
36:35or not not not too much or because i asked you if you have any other electronic devices you said
36:40no
36:41so you do yes and what is this cell phone for sometimes i have to answer the phone so it's
36:48a
36:48business phone transfer here can do that so this is personal is this personal cell phone this is business
36:55yeah it's for business but not much failing to declare the device only fuels officer hernandez's growing
37:03suspicions he will now search for answers
37:25what kind of work do you do part-time uh sometimes use spa something at newark officer hernandez is
37:34questioning the owner of a new jersey spa suspected to be a front for sex trafficking
37:42the cell phone right here is this yours too because i asked you if you have any other electronic
37:46devices you said no so you do yes not only does the woman claim not to know the name of
37:52her only
37:53full-time employee she failed to declare a second phone
38:00i'm just looking for any illegal activity okay and when i say illegal activity is any evidence
38:07of narcotics any evidence of i don't understand can you transfer for me i don't understand you
38:13okay i'm trying to explain to you as best as i can yeah you know because it's just a little
38:19bit
38:19i can't talk to not too much with each other talk to the opposition is okay okay so something
38:25is deep you know i don't understand you so this is your personal phone yes okay you can grab your
38:31bags and just go outside and have a seat and give me about 20 minutes and i'll get you out
38:36of here
38:36okay i can't talk to my husband or not not right now i do believe she's involved in some type
38:43of
38:43activity i try to get the name for the one girl that works out of the spa but she doesn't
38:48have that
38:48information which is a little hard to believe since she has this girl employed for her for the last two
38:54years for me if i own a business and i have somebody employed for the last two years i'm going
39:01to
39:01probably know their name while the woman waits officer hernandez runs further checks and confers
39:07with colleagues eventually he decides that today she's to be released so from my i guess curiosity
39:16or my inspection i'm satisfied and we never know you know with these individuals um that may be
39:22conducting this illicit activity but as far as anything that we may be looking for now i didn't
39:29find anything so i'm gonna cut her loose because there's nothing else that we can do we can keep
39:33her on so here's your cell phones your passport you have your backpack right there thank you thank
39:42you i'm gonna i'm gonna escort you out there right because i know your husband is waiting for you still
39:46i am gonna keep doing more research on her massage parlor we wouldn't really know until we put the full
39:54piece of the puzzle together a nice person never do wrong things is he there
40:00okay there goes your husband okay thank you i hope you got a good case because my manhattan lawyer's on
40:08it
40:11for the woman's husband their reunion hasn't come a moment too soon it's just a horrible situation to be separated
40:19from your wife
40:21you know this is america it shouldn't happen this way for officer hernandez the work continues one of
40:31the things that we will not tolerate is individuals engaging in sex trafficking human trafficking with
40:36every one person that may be a suspect or subject of interest you multiply that by the victims out there
40:43and that's the people that we want to focus on more and offer our resources to a system
41:15so
41:20you
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