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Contraband: Seized at the Airport - Season 2 - Episode 01: Momma Said Knocka You Out
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00:07Newark Liberty International Airport is a major hub for transatlantic travelers we get a lot of
00:14flights pouring in from all over the world every single time of the day the passenger intelligence
00:19enforcement response team or peer is vigilant against international drug traffickers we're
00:27basically an intelligence gathering team as well as a narcotics enforcement team hey how are we doing
00:33today if we were all bunch of students in the school the peer team would probably be at the
00:38nerds and the jocks at the same time today officer Farrar has received information that a British
00:46woman is suspected of smuggling narcotics into the US she's got a child with her can you get
00:53to drop down here to sit with a kid while we're gonna go through the inspection she's probably
00:56gonna get a PD all right all right perfect brother thank you
01:04do you have any checked luggage today hi yeah how many bags do you have just one bag each year
01:11Customs and Border Protection officers arrest around 1,500 people attempting to bring drugs into the
01:17country you were randomly selected for a screening so it's just going to be basically a advanced
01:21customs inspection screening so questions about why you're here go through your bag quick and easy
01:26so we'll grab all this stuff don't forget your coat what we're gonna do is find out why she's here
01:32who
01:32she's visiting actually sit down talk to her questioner figure out what her intents are and
01:38we're gonna go this way and then we're gonna open up the bags on the bag tell the story
01:46anything in the bags that stick me poke me cut me hurt me by any chance we're up against a
01:51clock
01:51we're looking for anybody that's not declaring and there's gonna be a lot
02:07worldwide criminal enterprises launder up to two trillion dollars each year are you bringing
02:14out any currency with you today gangs regularly use airports to transport illegal currency across
02:21international borders yeah we're all customs yes thanks guys go go go go each day US customs
02:30officials seize around three hundred thousand dollars in illicit or undeclared money go go go in Newark
02:38departures go go officer hi Otis and his team are preparing to spot check travelers departing the US
02:46this is almost like a fishing expedition we're just randomly stopping people Sammy that's the car
02:50right perfect yeah it's a police Explorer you're allowed to take as much money as you want that out
02:55of the country there's no limit but if somebody's carrying more than ten thousand dollars it just
03:00must be reported C82 we said right yeah okay all right kids no fighting I'm turning this car around
03:07right now this morning they've identified two flights due to take off within the next hour each known as
03:16prominent cash smuggling routes by right now we're gonna be doing a flight that's destined to Lima but
03:22then you have people that can transit into the Ecuador or Colombia sometimes with South America you have
03:28elicit money that might be going down there could be drug money could be gambling money organized crime
03:34narco terrorism so this flight is a really good flight for us to to examine to avoid having their
03:44money seized travelers carrying more than ten thousand dollars must declare the amount to customs officers
03:50they complete a form called a FinCIN 105 the form was designed to combat narco trafficking organized
03:59crime because when you make somebody fill out a form that the carrying the cash it gives a tracking where
04:05it came from Peru is the world's second largest producer of cocaine its cartels launder around eight
04:13billion dollars each year it's a large flight so we have a lot of volume more chances of us getting
04:20FinCIN's or maybe even possibly a seizure or even looking for illicit activity
04:30how much cash are you taking out of the United States right now uh we'll say cash in nine
04:35thousand yes okay and how long are you going away for on this trip I'm going for four weeks taking
04:39care
04:39of my mother okay please write down how much money you haven't signed there for me okay you tell me
04:47ma'am are you carrying money for anybody else no okay just call me for a second please excuse us
04:54we're
04:54gonna get down here okay the woman's claim that she's carrying nine thousand dollars for her sick
05:00mother doesn't sit right with officer hiatus just take out your monies put it down on the ground in
05:05front of me in front of the cameras he decides to search her carry-on hey just put it down
05:11on the
05:11down for me okay yeah yes all right but the whole thing as is and uh let me just see
05:18your bag when
05:18you're done okay all right and just stand back and just watch me okay okay no problem if officer
05:25hiatus discovers the woman is lying she faces having her money confiscated and fined tens of thousands of
05:39dollars over in arrivals in terminal B how are you today I'm wonderful peer team officer Farrar is
05:48processing a British woman who has recently landed with her daughter she's suspected of trafficking
05:55narcotics it's not a good look for the kid to see their mom placed in coughs smugglers often travel with
06:02children believing it makes them less likely to be stopped right here all right so all of your
06:08luggage anything that you may have in your pockets your bags everything right here you got to come
06:13around honey I'm sorry all right do me a favor bring your bag up here for me real quick while
06:20a
06:20colleague takes care of the woman's daughter officer Farrar digs deeper into her travel plans all right
06:27fantastic what brings you to the United States today trick-or-treating with my friends I
06:31went to high school my mom immigrated when we was um 13 me and my brother we immigrated to the
06:37States and we started um I started middle school um and then I went to high school and then we
06:42come
06:43back two and a half years later and I've been back for 19 years and where are you going to
06:46be
06:46staying at while you're here I'm at Tom's River and how long do you plan on being here five days
06:50okay
06:50now do you have a return ticket I know you're flying on S though what's your return ticket for yeah
06:55yeah
06:55this is my boarding pass all right and this is uh the booking reference the woman claims she's due to
07:02return to London in five days but a passenger with an almost identical name is booked on a flight to
07:09Frankfurt today it's a coincidence that officer Farrar needs to investigate yeah I don't know
07:19my mom booked it can we call her no we're not going to call anybody that's that's that's the
07:23reason for the question is yeah honey no thank you okay smugglers often dump their contraband
07:30and then jump on the first available flight out of the country it's a tactic known as a turn and
07:37burn
08:01the woman's claim that she is supported by her parents could be a smokescreen to hide a second
08:07income smuggling narcotics so I'm gonna do I'm gonna open up your back to be fair take a step
08:12back just keep your hands where I can see him outstanding oh I like it her suitcases are clean but
08:34there's still a mystery around why two people with similar names are booked on two return flights
08:39to Europe I want you to show me where you're flying out from I want to look that up real
08:43quick
08:49so this is your outbound flight I think yeah all right perfect you want to do me a favor and
08:54just
08:54go have a seat right over there with your daughter yeah I want to look this up real quick officer
08:58Farrar and
08:59his colleagues double-check the woman's return booking and confirm it's genuine for what she
09:06has listed she's flying out on November 3rd on another flight back to London they did see that
09:12she does have a return ticket on the second however there just might have been an administrative clerical
09:16error but officer Farrar isn't finished yet we'll try to make this as quick as painless as possible the
09:23woman could be carrying drugs on her person so he explains that she needs to be searched
09:33and her mood suddenly changes
09:48so what I'm gonna do I'm gonna open up your bags do me favor take a step back just keep
09:51your hands
09:51where I can see him outstanding in Newark officer Farrar is investigating a woman as part of an anti-smuggling
09:59operation her bags are clean but he's also authorized a full body search
10:13these officers are gonna take you they're gonna do a quick pat down on you and then
10:21I didn't understand about 90% of what she was saying yeah I understood swear words outside of that
10:32concealing drugs internally is known as body packing it is normally used by traffickers to carry high-value
10:39narcotics such as heroin and cocaine when she came off the plane she was extremely jittery very energetic
10:46usually that's an indication of some sort of upper be it you know cocaine something along those lines so
10:52we'll see where this carries us
11:00officers don't find any narcotics during the pat down but then the woman requests to use the bathroom
11:09she's gonna dump it officer Farrar moves quickly to prevent her from using the bathroom trip to get
11:15rid of any drugs we went and shut off the water in the bathroom so if she does pass any
11:20foreign objects
11:21then she wouldn't be able to flush and we could retrieve the item and she'd be handcuffed immediately
11:33five minutes later the woman emerges she's not in cough so it looks like she didn't
11:38pass anything foreign we're gonna move on with the investigation and figure out what's going on
11:44now officers want to dig deeper into her background and make sure that there's no suspicious aspects to
11:50her visit are you dating anyone you have no issues back at home or anything like that no okay no
11:59one wishes you will will they're not looking for you
12:04i love you i love you you're so nice
12:05thank you
12:08her story checks out
12:11so i appreciate your time
12:13i appreciate it
12:15you just want to do entertainment
12:21we just don't don't mess up the halloween costume that's all that matters
12:26and despite the long delay she has no hard feelings
12:30you're stocky aren't you
12:31oh yeah it's just good genetics i think
12:38what is that
12:41oh i said i said i got you i got you i was like what are you stepping on my
12:44face i was confused
12:47once officer farrar repacks the woman's backs
12:50good enough for government work she's reunited with her daughter you have a really good mom you know that
12:59pretty much did the interview went through the bags figured out her travel coming in going out
13:04looked at all the intel at this point she's clear she's there's no issues with her at all
13:11yep yep so need your phone uh you got your passport yep
13:14up the woman is free to leave
13:19all right guys all right guys so straight out those doors is freedom welcome to the united states
13:32thanks guys take care
13:46in terminal c departures a flight to lima is due to leave in less than one hour
13:52how much cash are you traveling
13:54uh officer hiotis and his team are on the hunt for travelers carrying undeclared cash
14:01on a well-known money laundering route just take out your monies put it down to the ground in front
14:06of me in front of the cameras a woman has admitted to carrying nine thousand dollars for her sick
14:12mother in peru so are you going away for how long you said four weeks yes all right
14:24taking care of mom yes all right okay she's going to count your cash if the woman has under declared
14:33she faces a possible fine and risks having her money confiscated
14:41my job as a law enforcement officer is to look at the truth and what's really there problems come when
14:47they declare one amount and they got a lot more than what they said or if they had more than
14:5110 000
14:52and they purposely give us false information then there's an issue yes you're at 9 000 like you
14:58said everything's good i'm just going to sign that you get back all your money and have a good flight
15:04and best of luck to you and your mom all right i hope everything works out
15:09now with just 40 minutes to take off officers quickly work their way through the rest of the passengers
15:19and don't find anything suspicious we did a few back exams there was no interference activity
15:25involved with cash we didn't find any type of contraband like any weapons or narcotics
15:30they got back all their money and then everything's good to go
15:36the next flight on the team's list is heading to vienna a transit hub for people traveling to the middle
15:43east
15:44i just want to know how much cash you're traveling with anyone give you any money to bring back one
15:49zero zero okay thank you have a good one as the passengers board we got your name your address
15:58officer hiotis stops a husband and wife who have declared just over the threshold
16:03why nobody like nothing just us right well i stopped you randomly and you told me have more than
16:09yet over ten thousand dollars so we're filling out the form maybe nobody else has it yeah okay
16:14the wife objects to being singled out i'm not gonna take much of your time all right
16:20okay do me a favor take out your money put it on the ground i'm gonna count and give it
16:23back to you okay
16:27she claims the cash is for renovations on their vacation home and just watch me because i am
16:33going to be looking through your stuff so i want you to just keep your eyes on me okay thank
16:36you
16:40don't be shaky okay you want to sit down you have a seat there
16:44as officer hiotis continues his search the woman grows increasingly agitated
16:54okay i just i do have to count your money hold on ma'am ma'am please don't touch let
16:57me let me do what
16:58i gotta do here all right i would like to get you out of here i really like to get
17:01you out of here
17:01no no you gotta leave everything here honey okay
17:06hidden in the couple's bags are envelopes of cash they failed to disclose
17:11no we don't steal it ma'am what we're doing is reporting no you have to report it but right
17:17now
17:17ma'am you told me one thing and i'm finding more money all over the place okay that that's against
17:24the law you can't tell me one thing and have anything else ma'am don't touch anything don't
17:29touch anything okay all right because right now i can tell you got more i can tell right now so
17:35for
17:35without even counting you have a lot more than what you told me so let me do what i gotta
17:40do here okay
17:45hold on one second i still have to count what i found okay how much you found there was almost
17:53twice as much cash as the couple initially declared you're at 19 548 okay wait a little
18:00hold on please let me finish sir but they're fortunate that today officer hiotis is in a forgiving mood
18:08what we're going to do here is this i'm going to give the benefit of the doubt here all right
18:12i'm
18:13going to i'm going to say you made a mistake okay i could seize the money now but i'm just
18:17going to give
18:18i'm going to give some discretion here take all your money and i'm going to get you on out of
18:21here
18:21you're going to get on the plane okay so today we're just teaching you a lesson nobody stop just ask
18:27the woman doesn't appreciate she's caught a break
18:31it's thousands of people nobody stop just ask so in this case i could have actually seized the money
18:38because they did fail to declare properly but i decided to extend some courtesy one of the things
18:44with this job i've learned doing this many years is there is the law there in the spirit of the
18:48law
18:48sometimes the best way to enforce the law is by educating somebody and sometimes if you just give
18:55them a little bit of a break a little talking to it goes a lot farther than seizing somebody's money
19:00or arresting somebody the couple can continue on their journey but they know that next time
19:07officers may not be so lenient
19:23san francisco california the discovery of gold here in 1848 transformed what was a sleepy village
19:32village into a bustling city which is today home to 800 000 people 15 miles south
19:42is san francisco international airport which welcomes a million passengers a week
19:50where are you coming from were you on vacation or business trip visiting my dad most are here for
19:58vacation or to see loved ones but some try to conceal their reasons for visiting the golden state
20:05oh you're a climber all right oh yeah that is chalk yep i know for the for the hand so
20:13yeah it's a big
20:14bag of white yeah if you had that without your climbing gear i would be a lot more suspicious but
20:19it's actually all over your bag too so
20:28today in secondary a german citizen has been referred after officers and primary became suspicious
20:37of his travel plans do you know how long are you going to stay in the san francisco area
20:44yeah yeah we plan actually just to stay here uh-huh one or two weeks and then we're going to
20:50visit
20:51our friend okay or his maybe come to us like we better see okay the man claims he's visiting friends
20:59having taken two months off work what's your job i'm working by amazon okay so it's like a part-time
21:07job
21:08it's a full-time job it's a full-time job how can you take two months off from a full
21:13-time job
21:17with no clear answer about his occupation officer chang drills down on the man's friends
21:24okay what kind of work do they do security okay what kind of security yeah what kind of security
21:32security security for shocking laws security for police people trying to find illegal employment in
21:41the u.s are known to seek casual security work i see all right so uh have a seat use
21:50your cell phone
21:50and let me talk to my boss we go from there
21:56okay officer jang takes the information to officer mccarthy we get a lot of people coming
22:03in here for short periods of time and they hop on little security jobs so having a friend that
22:08works security definitely red flags that he's going to be trying to possibly seek employment with that
22:12friend he doesn't really seem to have any plans of anything he's doing he doesn't know of anywhere he's going
22:18so yeah he has nothing says he's going to vacation yeah i found it i found the agent too yeah
22:25officers
22:26want to dig deeper into the man's story okay have a seat so they decide to inspect his bags everything
22:34inside is for yourself do you have any gifts for your friends over here no no no you didn't bring
22:39any
22:39gifts for your friends you're traveling here for two months and you're broke all right the passenger's
22:48admission that he is broke doesn't help his claim that he's here for a long vacation so you're coming
22:54to work when you say you're broke as officers search the man's backs okay uh what about these things
23:02they discover documents that suggest he could be visiting to make money not spend it
23:09uh that's like from the police in germany okay that's me like i'm team okay sounds like a police
23:16record say you are clean that there's no arrest right okay from the world you need that for the work
23:20it's a little bit harder for us to like assume you you are only for for vacation are you planning
23:27find any work over here no actually i don't want to leave here i live in germany right there that's
23:32not my question i didn't ask if you want to live here i i just asked if you want to
23:36work here yeah
23:40mr mccarthy is going to take the statement from you and then we're gonna let the boss decide what's
23:46the outcome just as officer mccarthy is preparing to take his sworn statement the situation changes
23:55is despite claiming otherwise on his esta application the man admits that he has previously
24:02lived in a country on the u.s watch list his esta initially stated that he hadn't been to any
24:10restricted countries come to find out he was living in baghazi libya all the way up until 2014.
24:17first he denied it but then eventually admitted that yes he was living in restricted countries
24:23when the man lived in libya it was a breeding ground for terrorist groups affiliated with isis
24:30and al-qaeda we're looking for anything that shows that he may be involved in what was the fighting
24:36back in libya where he may be involved with any of the organizations that are coming out of libya that
24:41we deem as a threat in san francisco sounds like a police record say you are clean that there's no
24:57arrest right okay from the world you need that for the work officers are questioning a german citizen
25:04trying to enter as a tourist who they suspect is attempting to work in the u.s illegally have a
25:11seat
25:11and wait for the officer call you for the statement
25:16they have discovered that he failed to declare that he spent more than a decade in libya
25:22a restricted country with known terrorist links
25:27so we are still looking into possibly may have a link to some sort of organization that maybe could
25:34be seen as gang related or terrorism hey come on in and have a seat officer mccarthy pulls him aside
25:43for further questioning just know you're you are stopped because we believe you might be in
25:48inadmissible to the u.s today okay so then to just clarify you lived as a residence in libya from
25:561998 to
25:572014 correct yeah you were there during the fighting you were there during the fighting benghazi yeah
26:09in 2012 insurgents attacked the american embassy in the libyan city of benghazi
26:15killing four people including the ambassador were you ever involved in any of the fighting that was
26:21going on the civil war were you ever like a soldier there involved in anything like that okay officer
26:29mccarthy needs to understand why the man didn't flag that he was in benghazi at the time of the attack
26:35and then uh why did you not answer yes on question nine of your s application just
26:40explain why you didn't you put no instead of yes yeah yeah of course i understand the question
26:49wrong okay the omission on his s to application could be an honest mistake or it could be a deliberate
26:57attempt to deceive officers i'll send this over to my boss and hopefully you will know it when
27:02there's 30 minutes okay just have a seat in the front and i'll come out and get you
27:12over the next hour senior officers review the man's application
27:23they find no evidence of any links to the civil war in libya
27:28but they discover something else which sheds new light on his travel plans
27:33we were able to re-interview him talk to him what we found that was of interest is a lot
27:38of
27:38influencer stuff it seems to be that he has over a million followers we're not sure why he didn't
27:44mention that to us with over a million followers on one platform alone it turns out that the man is
27:52one
27:52of germany's leading social media influencers the social media account kind of really helped him out
27:58you know influencers you're going to get paid you get endorsements you get advertisement deals you
28:02have more income coming in and your travel is more authentic at that point
28:09so they're they're reviewing it right now we're just waiting to find out the final verdict
28:14after an anxious wait
28:17all right we're almost done the passenger learns his fate come on it's going to be uh good news you're
28:22gonna be
28:28happy after careful consideration senior officers have decided that they're happy with his reasons
28:35for visiting the u.s so after the whole investigation of everything they've determined that you're okay
28:41to enter the united states so you can come in okay so just in the future read through these applications
28:51the man is free to begin his vacation you probably know the way by now but you just right out
28:56that door
28:57okay thank you have a good trip all right thank you and begin sharing his experience with his many
29:05followers back home this is one of those unusual circumstances where we find out the person just
29:11made an accident i'm pretty sure his followers are going to hear about this story that's probably the
29:17first thing he's already posting up outside of our baggage claim
29:31over at san francisco's terminal one officers are making their way to a gate to prepare for the arrival
29:38of a fugitive
29:42we're here waiting for this gentleman to arrive from switzerland he's being extradited from switzerland
29:49for being suspected of a homicide
29:54the suspect a u.s citizen is accused of killing his father in santa cruz and then fleeing to switzerland
30:02he left the united states a day before his father was found and he became the prime suspect of the
30:12case so
30:12the u.s marshals went to switzerland to go look for him with the help of the swiss police over
30:18there
30:20five u.s marshals are accompanying the suspect on the flight and a further five officers are waiting to
30:27escort him to escort him to a holding cell we have all hands on deck here there's so many officers
30:33handling this case because we want to make sure that everything is done correctly and handled appropriately
30:41for the safety of other passengers extradited prisoners are usually secured at the back of the plane
30:56the fugitive has been on the run for 11 days and once the other passengers have disembarked my eye is
31:03switching they bring him into u.s custody hey rcc can you set up victor 15 for the papa delta
31:23room
31:24on the g-side baggage excuse us a little bit we're going to come through here
31:34if convicted of first-degree murder the man faces the possibility of 25 years to life in prison
31:45all right yes yeah look hit
31:48all right let's go next he'll be subjected to a full body search and have his bags examined for evidence
32:25early morning at jfk in queens new york one of the busiest airports in north america
32:33can i see a passport please sure and the main cargo hub for the northeastern u.s
32:42cool let's run the rest more than one and a half million tons of freight passes through here each
32:48year concealment methods are ever evolving it's just a cat and mouse game really
32:56former marine officer vincent's and his team are the first line of defense against contraband entering
33:03the country i wish we could find drugs every day before she uh that's not how it works today officer
33:12vincent's has received intel that a shipment from china contains illegal products
33:19we're going to run the shipment completely to make sure that the contents inside of the boxes is
33:25legitimate and doesn't contain any narcotics or contraband the description on the manifest is vague
33:32and that's a red flag it's a generic description of the shipment it doesn't really identify what's
33:40inside of the box the team's mobile x-ray unit can handle packages weighing up to 55 pounds
33:49are you going to run the rest and scan hundreds of packages an hour
33:57could be organic right it doesn't take long for them to spot a suspicious shape hidden inside one of the
34:05boxes should be at the top just right here anything is a form of concealment
34:17there's always double check you know make sure it's good to go
34:23i don't know what that is
34:28yeah little dino seems he's good
34:31it's not the kind of monster haul officer vincent's was hoping for you really don't know what's inside
34:38of the box unless you open it and actually physically inspect it right
34:47the next few boxes don't raise any alarms
34:51looks like there's an anomaly in there but then officer vincent spots a dark patch
34:57which indicates a densely packed item it doesn't look like the right of the box i can tell you that
35:05let's take a look each parcel conceals several sealed boxes
35:12that's an interesting package
35:16it's got some weight to it too
35:22oh yeah we got powder
35:39uh excuse us a little bit we're going to come through here
35:42in san francisco officers are bringing a fugitive wanted for murder into u.s custody all right let's go
35:51uh go that way the man is suspected of bludgeoning his father to death before fleeing to switzerland
36:00excuse me that's not a waiting area
36:05officers escort the suspect into a holding cell
36:08where he'll be processed so the individual is coming from overseas
36:13so right now what we're doing is a u.s customs and border protection part of the processing
36:21we need to uh expedite the the process because a passenger is a wanted person
36:26uh
36:35after searching the suspect officers also check his baggage
36:50some federal agencies are required to have warrants before they look through the bags
36:56but we can conduct the baggage inspection and and see that if there are any anomalies in it
37:07the man watches the bag inspection closely
37:22any unusual items discovered during the search are bagged and tagged as possible evidence
37:30so at this point in time u.s customs and border protection has concluded uh our inspection
37:38this is also the time we do the change of custody
37:42right now we're handing it to santa cruz sheriff
37:48the man now faces trial and a possible life sentence in prison
37:53they're going to give him his whole due process they will give him a chance to appoint a lawyer
38:00and then criminal justice will proceed from there
38:14at jfk that's an interesting package officer vincent and his team have discovered possible illegal
38:22products inside a shipment from china oh yeah we got powder it's unclear what the powder is
38:31yo you got a mask in there so officer vincent treats it as a potential threat
38:37you want to keep everybody around you safe yourself safe you know i want to go home at the end
38:42of the day
38:46the mystery powder has been packed in air sealed plastic and aluminum bags
38:50to evade detection from the canine the best box let's see we see some residual powder in here
39:01uh they all seem to have the same off-white
39:11this is our gemini it works on a spectrum level and we're able to identify the substance as long as
39:20it's in the library
39:20here we have so we have a positive result for mdmb anaka
39:29mdmb anaka is a synthetic narcotic known as a precursor cannabinoid
39:34and is used in the manufacture of illegal designer drugs such as spice it mimics the effects of natural
39:42cannabis but is more potent and dangerous and we've come across it quite frequently within the
39:49past like two to three years so it's definitely up and coming
39:55consumption can cause seizures and death so this particular chemical has been linked to overdose
40:03deaths in the past so definitely want to try to keep this stuff off the streets
40:09smugglers are increasingly using smaller parcels to traffic goods
40:13to help minimize losses if one shipment is intercepted
40:21so we got a total of 4.04 kilograms of mdmb anaka
40:28this seized shipment has a likely street value of around 12 000
40:34we're going to turn it over to one of the sister agencies and they'll initiate
40:39uh an investigation that's going to hopefully lead to an arrest
40:45not every day is as successful as today but you know that motivates us even more to keep looking every
40:50not every day
40:50so
40:59so
41:01so
41:04so
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