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Contraband: Seized at the Airport - Season 2 - Episode 05: That's My Stapler
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00:12And away we go.
00:16We're on our way to one of our off-site express consignment
00:20facility. We're going to be conducting inspections
00:23on multiple shipments that was flagged by one of our units
00:27and hopefully we can get some good stuff.
00:30All right, boys, let's go do this.
00:32The shipments earmarked for inspection are from a European sender.
00:38Hello, guys. We are back.
00:42Whose details bear the hallmarks of a smuggling operation.
00:46This shipment might be good.
00:49We're going to be passing it through the x-ray.
00:53Okay. I like that image right there.
00:57That might possibly be something.
01:00So now we're going to do a more thorough inspection.
01:03The way people package things nowadays,
01:06anything can be disguised as anything.
01:16This looks like a friendly kid's package.
01:18A simple cartoon.
01:19But when we open it,
01:21we usually find
01:23pills.
01:30Anything in the bag is going to stick me, poke me, cut me, hurt me by any chance.
01:34We're up against a clock.
01:35We're looking for anybody that's not declaring,
01:38and there's going to be a lot.
01:48We're looking for Jeder Milt.
01:49We're looking for two.
01:53We're looking for two.
01:54We're looking for two.
01:55You're looking for two.
01:55That's not right.
01:59We're looking for two.
02:05What do you think you'll get to go with example?
02:08We might want you.
02:08You're looking for solace.
02:09And there's going to be a lot less than right.
02:11where are your bags this is it this is it yeah i travel light all right have a good day
02:16thank you
02:17today in san francisco
02:28a traveler is being inspected after an x-ray revealed some unusual looking objects in his
02:33luggage i'm just looking for pretty much contraband we are just going to do a quick
02:38baggage inspection just to see what he's bringing in having just landed from china
02:44he claims to have forgotten the combination for the lock on his suitcase so i'm going to need to
02:50cut it open all right which isn't a problem for officer gluzov
02:58you claim full responsibility of all the items that are in your bags
03:01yes inside the suitcase what's in this box staplers or staples is an unusually large quantity
03:11of office supplies why do you need staples it's about office streets personal what kind of staples are
03:19they like like regular staple why don't you just go to staples and buy some staples it's cheaper
03:24over there boss how much cheaper officer gluzov counts 30 staplers and over 40 000 staples
03:33how many staples do you need how many people do you work with how many is a lot of people
03:45wow so many staplers
03:50do you usually get inspected no never seen so many staples okay what is this
03:57what do you think it gives to me okay it's called tea got a little tea
04:06is it mushrooms what is this a gene when tea i don't do it
04:14the traveler claims the mushrooms are for making a traditional infusion
04:19i just gotta test it out but officer gluzov needs to make sure they aren't the magic kind
04:26i'm just gonna test out the mushrooms psilocybin mushrooms contain hallucinogenic compounds
04:33making them a schedule one controlled substance i understand everyone gets inspected matt you know
04:41very small sample bringing them into the country is a federal crime which can result in a heavy fine
04:50and even jail time
05:10okay i make that image right there that might possibly be something
05:16in at newark's cargo facility it looks like a friendly kids package a simple cartoon but when we
05:23open it pills officers have intercepted an airmail package from europe one of a large shipment flagged
05:32for inspection after they vacuum seal it they'll wash it with a solvent to get the smell away from the
05:40package so that the drug sniffing dogs can't detect it all right so let me go ahead
05:51perfect i'm going to try this all right let's go ahead and test
05:56for quick identification officer olivo uses a laser device which searches over 1200 substances in mere
06:05seconds okay we're going to get ready to conduct a scan from cutting agents to narcotics
06:14there it is mdma
06:18mdma or ecstasy is a synthetic party drug which is illegal in the u.s and united kingdom
06:26good job officer olivo it's a hallucinogenic you wake up the next morning not knowing what you did
06:33a single pill has a street value of around 80 dollars meaning this pack is likely to be worth
06:40nearly 25 000 this is definitely a good fine we get these off the streets
06:47criminal gangs in europe are increasingly manufacturing synthetic drugs
06:52to trade directly with mexican cartels in exchange for cocaine much of their product
06:58is trafficked using america's mail system okay we're good all right we got a few more to go
07:06with a further 45 packages in the shipment get that envelope maybe something the officers aren't done yet
07:18you can see here there's an envelope and within the envelope you see two distinct packages in there
07:24so once again this is a top views a side view so this may be uh probable of something
07:31my spider sense is tingly this is packaging very similar to what we just found with the ecstasy pills
07:38bingo once again our cartoon feline friends packaging on the outside with no name brands on the top
07:50okay this looks like a package of ketamine and this possibly could be pink cocaine so we're gonna see
08:00i'm confident that this is going to come out positive for something we shall see
08:10there you go ketamine is a fast-acting anesthetic
08:18its growing popularity as a recreational drug has fueled a rapid increase in use in the u.s
08:26this will come back as ketamine as well
08:30there you go ketamine good five it's a it's a party drug it's a huge party drug that they use
08:37constantly
08:38having also tested positive for ketamine officers want to establish why only the second batch is pink
08:46we're going to take a reading of it with the gemini which is a little bit more accurate
08:51this test requires a device with a larger library of chemicals
08:58the pink powder here came back because kind of mean uh mixed with mdma a potentially lethal cocktail
09:06both substances have been linked to fatal strokes and heart attacks
09:14we're just we're killing it yeah so basically it looks it's one of those days sometimes we get
09:20nothing sometimes we may get maybe one maybe two but today it looks like we're getting a slew of illicit
09:27contraband coming through the port today so it's a good day this i don't know what this one is we're
09:32gonna have to test this but here we go with more party pills problem is a lot of people take
09:37too much of
09:38this stuff they wind up bodeeing and they're trying to celebrate something a celebration turns into a tragedy
09:45we might have more another suspect right here another suspect another suspect we're gonna pull all three
09:54it's a frenzy all today's the x-ray directs them towards a further twenty thousand dollars worth of
10:02party drugs positive for mdma these smugglers will try anything and everything to get the little
10:12packages through three hours in have another one the search takes a turn this is this is something else
10:26it's possible this could be testosterone this package appears to be from a different center
10:33this time in turkey we're going to have our officer test this to see what it really is
10:59is it mushrooms what is this gene in san francisco secondary a man referred for a suitcase search
11:09i'm just gonna test out the mushrooms is attempting to bring mushrooms into the country from china
11:17you just need a very small sample he claims they're for making tea
11:25i don't know what it is so but if they contain hallucinogenic psilocybin the test will turn purple
11:33that's cool i mean
11:37the traveler will be in hot water yeah if it was positive it would pop for like a lightish purple
11:50it's not positive right no we'd have a different conversation then
11:58i can't tell you why you were inspected i never got but keep in mind that if you're coming in
12:05to the
12:05u.s you're subject to uh inspection every passenger it doesn't matter if you're a green cardholder
12:10u.s citizen like yourself uh or visa all right you're all set sir thank you man thank you chinese
12:20the chinese culture has a long tradition of making tea from medicinal mushrooms
12:26fungi such as reishi and cordyceps are prized for their earthy flavors and health-giving properties
12:34china is known for a lot of teas i did a test no mismatch all regular the guy was a
12:41little bit
12:41annoyed being inspected that is kind of a normal thing between u.s citizens
12:47people don't like to be pulled out or be extra inspected and they get fishy when we they ask us
12:54why are they being inspected but we can only tell them that they're subject to inspection
13:00you too have a good one bye
13:25if you're on the facial recognition you just need your lovely face then your face will mark you on board
13:32did you guys purchase or acquire anything on this trip that you're bringing back with
13:35the other day any like handbags jewelry anything like that
13:40by law all commercial purchases made abroad must be declared and the required import duty paid
13:48all righty use your guys's passports back you guys are all set
13:52at cbp checkpoint and baggage claim officers are spot-checking passengers just off a flight from
13:59rome italy something i'm never gonna use i don't think so officer renault has stopped the owner of a
14:08bridal dress store who's returning from a buying trip 100 french cotton lace handcrafted in italy
14:15do you have them as silver for these ma'am no i don't at an earlier checkpoint she failed to
14:22declare five wedding dresses to officers this is not what we sell it explains it's because they're
14:30samples gifted to her by an italian supplier are they labeled as samples no it all needs to be
14:39declared as custom but even if i didn't pay for it it's for your business regardless of whether you're
14:46selling it or using it as a sample and how you do that you let the officer up front know
14:51or you let me
14:51know when i stop you but she didn't let me know listen i'm in business since 96 okay we sell
14:59dresses
14:59after 30 000 dollars okay because we do everything custom made by constant management i get it so it's
15:07a totally different scenario so for customs purposes you have to declare it as a commercial sample i
15:13declare everything i'm a very honest person pressed to put a value on them she estimates each dress to be
15:20worth just 50 she's just going to kind of modify and play with them a little bit but for our
15:26purposes it
15:27is being brought in as commercial goods she did not declare the the dresses to me she placed the
15:32value of these dresses at 250 in total these are handmade italian dresses wedding dresses they would
15:39not be worth 50 i imagine they would be far more than that in italy and they are certainly worth
15:44more
15:44here since the samples have no retail value for her the woman says she has made an honest mistake
15:53which could end up costing her dearly listen to me i'm explaining this to you from a custom
15:59standpoint everything has value and when you're bringing commercial items if you don't declare them
16:04a combination of ketamine with mdma in newark officers have intercepted three packages of party drugs
16:28drugs from europe we're just we're killing it today so far they estimate the seizure to be worth
16:35roughly 45 000 on the black market but the search takes a new direction as officers intercept another
16:45shipment this time from turkey this is something else possibly this could be testosterone non-regulated
16:55we're going to have our officer test this to see what it really is
17:02what we have here this is the anabol a steroid used for muscle growth so schedule three drug
17:12dianabol is a prescription-only anabolic steroid widely used for enhancing muscle physique and athletic
17:19performance i'm going to crack the pill just because usually hills they come with a little film
17:28and the film will prevent us from getting the correct reading shining a red beam which is your laser
17:35add the material
17:39okay no match found so we got no match on the dianabol but that will call for further testing
17:46the inconclusive reading suggests the pills don't contain what they claim the fake pharmaceutical
17:53industry is one of the most profitable on the black market estimated to be worth up to an annual 200
18:00billion dollars due to its lax counterfeit laws turkey is a major source country a lot of this stuff's not
18:09regulated or the young men that want to get super muscular they have really no idea what they're
18:14really ingesting after four hours and 50 packages searched hundreds of pills and controlled medication
18:23are seized all worth close to fifty thousand dollars maybe a small amount but at the end of the day
18:30we've
18:30saved a few lives what is the a-team
18:37the seizure will be passed to homeland security investigations as evidence who will work with
18:43european law enforcement to track down the labs behind the shipment
18:49for officer oliveville today marks yet another high point in a long-running dedicated career
18:57well i don't want to say that i'm a legend but i try my very best to identify whatever comes
19:02across
19:02my table right now i'm getting ready to retire but uh every day that i am here i'm gonna do
19:08my best
19:09to try to stop as much contraband as i can because i love my country and uh you know i
19:15just want to make
19:16sure that these drugs don't get into uh the hands of children
19:40but this is not the full resale it's commercial you did not declare it
19:45in secondary a bridal store owner has failed to declare five sample dresses
19:52gifted to her by an italian supplier i'm a very honest person so this is not for resale
19:59but it is commercial no it's not since she has no plans to sell them she believes they have no
20:08commercial value i'm a customs officer i've been doing this for a lot of years okay and i will tell
20:14you 100 it is commercial from a customs perspective it is commercial it's more business okay i respect
20:21you but to me commercial means that i have a client that i can put this dress on look at
20:27this dress is
20:28this big it does not fit anybody i'm not going to try it on i'm just saying i don't know
20:34i don't know
20:35that for customs purposes you have to declare it you have to declare it with the proper value okay
20:41when asked she estimated the dresses to be worth around 50 each officer reynaud disagrees
20:50if customs disputes the value which in this case i do 250 is way too low for what's here
20:55okay these are handmade dresses in italy i know they're not resellable i know you're not planning
20:59on selling them but clearly they're worth more than 250 dollars and they're commercial okay
21:05they are considered commercial for customs purposes because you are bringing them in
21:08for business use even though the woman has made a genuine mistake on this occasion officer reynaud
21:16won't be saying i do how are we gonna do this it's got to get looked at by our import
21:21specialist
21:22they'll determine what the actual value of these items are and then they'll they'll assess any tariffs
21:26any any duties that are owed okay you will owe duties on these items all five dresses are seized
21:33they don't need to fit in there nobody's going without a wedding dress right i don't want to
21:39ruin anyone's wedding so we're going to put it in uh into a bonded warehouse with the airline
21:44and our customs import specialist can take a look at it and they'll determine what the value is for
21:49these items and then they'll uh they'll assess any tariffs any duties that are owed on those items
21:54and then she'll be able to get them back do you have any questions at all ma'am no it's
21:58okay all
21:59right thank you very much sure sure can we do that all right thank you this gentleman's going to get
22:04you on to okay out of your final destination all right have a good day
22:08good day
22:3128 of all illicit drugs seized in the u.s are at airports
22:48in order to catch smugglers customs and border protection regularly carries out specialized
22:59operations known as 100 percent checks
23:03i know i know i missed you too
23:10at jfk officers san herjo and canine magnus are heading out to runway 22 left where a flight from
23:19the dominican republic has just touched down the dominican republic happens to be the hub for
23:27for narcotics to transfer through we try to hit those flights hoping that we come up on something
23:34a 100 check is when a plane its passengers and even its crew are inspected without prior warning
23:43once they put the chocs on we'll get out we like to watch the airline workers and see you know
23:50make sure
23:51that they're not hiding a bag or concealing a bag we want to make sure that all bases are covered
23:58on board the now empty a320 the search begins
24:02oh boy
24:06so we normally like to look in like little compartments like this because sometimes you never know but it's
24:14happened before
24:17where we find something in there
24:19keep up good job
24:25bathroom
24:25good boy
24:29magnus is trained to detect the scent of weapons cash and narcotics even if they're no longer on board
24:39good job his nose is so good that i could skip a couple rows and even if there's something in
24:46the
24:47seat he will alert and he'll take me there we have the ac on right now so if there was
24:53anything the wind
24:54could possibly move the odor i have to trust my dog and follow him good job
25:03we're gonna go inside the uh belly so that's gonna be the next uh part
25:09below the passenger deck aircraft search technician officer cambray enters the cargo hole
25:18okay within this area they actually hide a lot of uh contravent narcotics and uh weapons we're gonna
25:26scan some of the panels to see what's within the void there's a lot of boards in this aircraft here
25:31in this area and if i do see anomaly then i'll open it up and then from there we'll do
25:35further
25:35inspection previous searches of aircraft cargo holds have revealed narcotics stashed by ground crews
25:43being bribed by the cartels this is this area that i just scanned that's where you get the the panel
25:50separation and the screws goes
25:59i see a smaller anomaly here i'm gonna open the area just to inspect it because it does look like
26:06a little unusual to see that so i'm gonna check it out and see what what's in there
26:13the hatch stores gases used to inflate emergency evacuation systems in an area only accessible to
26:21flight crews okay it's part of the insulation back here this is what the insulation looks like
26:29sometimes you have a piece that's actually full with the x-ray you will see it as a heavier mass
26:33so
26:34that's where i saw the piece of insulation actually just stuck over here so i can see that so it's
26:39negative for any narcotics so far the hold appears clean good boy good job magnus
26:50but up on the passenger deck up hey magnus
27:05magnus picks up a scent
27:18the learning over here
27:21on the corner here like he took a big inhale
27:29he's going crazy um i'm gonna call one of you guys there might be something there
27:42a
27:57alerting over here at jfk airport a team is performing a 100 check of an a320
28:06from the dominican republic a known transit point for smuggled contraband he's going crazy i'm gonna
28:13call one of you guys there might be something there
28:16canine magnus has picked up a suspicious scent on the passenger deck
28:21hey sorry about you i was on uh one of the flights and i wanted one of you guys to
28:27check something out for
28:27me there could possibly be something there this aircraft might have been used for transporting
28:35of narcotics it could possibly be the ac is on so odor kind of travels
28:42and you know sometimes um the dog can pick up on the odor but because of the
28:47the circulation he can't really pinpoint where it is
28:53so it's up to us to kind of step in and use our tools
28:59aircraft search mechanics arrive to investigate
29:07there's something there that like a odor that he's trained to detect
29:13he would kind of give off this behavior so that's why i'm a little bit
29:18optimistic that something might be there
29:23in the belly of the plane all right aircraft search technician officer cambry conducts a
29:32corresponding search trying to access the area of suspicion from below
29:38i see you man i'm down here i have my partners upstairs
29:53yeah it looks pretty good here working good
29:58so in that area here we actually communicate make sure there was nothing upstairs and i'll make sure
30:03i tell them there's nothing down here also so far look pretty good nothing here so there's no step
30:09outside and then we'll close up
30:18after a two-hour search
30:24okay this is secure
30:27officers declare the plane free of contraband
30:31it's a cat and mice game so it's just one of those things that we have uh
30:35we have to do here and you know just try to uh get the drugs off the street and this
30:40is part of our
30:41mission and as aircraft search uh mechanics this is what we do here for cvp
30:49officers have a theory that magnus was picking up on the residual odor of narcotics from a previous leg
30:55this is why magnus could have picked it up
30:59for today magnus's work is done the customs and border protection will continue
31:04its 100 checks and remain vigilant it was a productive day for us
31:11magnus loves his job i love my job and um we're every day motivated to find more and more drugs
31:21i will do it over and over again if i can you hear that magnus yeah
31:28so
32:02across united states airports officers carry out checks on a million travelers every day
32:09one two three cheese no cheese
32:14always on alert for people violating the terms of their entry visas
32:21you're married to the girl you came with today right uh she's my wife yeah yeah she's here yeah
32:26correct in honolulu a couple traveling from china on b2 tourist visas have been referred for questioning
32:37on their frequent visits to the u.s the wife returns home after a short visit while the husband stays
32:45behind
32:47officer nix wants to find out what's behind the unusual travel pattern
32:53just gonna have you take a seat right here for me
32:56okay okay the pair is questioned separately okay when was the last trip to the u.s
33:07okay who did you come with my wife okay how long did you and your wife stay with my wife
33:14and me is
33:16about the two months just two months about two three months yeah two three months that's pretty big
33:23difference yes it's another three months why did your wife leave after two weeks
33:29because my wife go back to china take care of the baby and then i keep to travel and then
33:36meet
33:36my cousin mate so what did you do i go to the bar okay to get a drink similar to
33:46their last trip to the u.s
33:47the wife is yet again booked on a return flight but her husband says he has plans to stay longer
33:55how come you didn't buy a ticket to go back home yet not yet i want to vote tomorrow and
34:01where are you
34:02going to stay in the hotel and then rent a car to get a road trip you said you're going
34:08to rent a car
34:09do you already have a reservation for a car rental not yet i want to rent today and return today
34:17you're
34:17going to book a new car every day yeah yeah why not just book one for six days because the
34:25hotel parking
34:26is about the 60 dollar one day if i rent one day i use no fee for parking okay after
34:35two weeks do you
34:37have any plan of staying longer i want to go to the california wait just one moment i'll be right
34:46back
34:47the man's travel plans are unusually light on detail there's a lot of disparities with the fact that he
34:54doesn't have a lot of reservations any real details for his travel or even lodging or flights to follow
35:00along with his plan there's also the fact that he admitted that he initially did not tell us his
35:05full plans which do include travel to the mainland united states after his time in hawaii
35:12a search of his suitcase yields a surprising discovery it's weird he's got nine different bank accounts
35:20multiple credit and debit cards with u.s banks we are going to bring the information we have for
35:27this individual the evidence we had suggesting his various bank accounts we're going to investigate
35:32further to determine what his intent in the united states is and what his past activities were
35:39when we looked in your luggage today you have like 15 to 20 different bank cards why do you have
35:46like almost 20 bank bank cards debit cards because listen once we find something that you didn't tell
35:53us about and if it's something that might cause us for concern you're not going to get an opportunity to
35:59change your story at that point
36:21in honolulu a married couple from china is being questioned after red flags were raised by their travel
36:29plans when we looked in your luggage today you have like 15 to 20 different bank cards why do you
36:37have
36:37like almost 20 bank bank cards debit cards here on tourist visas the husband claims they came for vacation
36:47but the discovery of his multiple u.s bank accounts suggests otherwise before then i come to america
36:55i want to do the business in china they need to have the bank account in u.s usually an
37:06account gives you
37:06one maybe two cards you have almost 20. yes so how many different accounts oh
37:15about nine nine about nine why nine different bank accounts in the united states sometimes my friend
37:26need to transfer the u.s dollar to the chinese yeah who are you transferring money for for my friend
37:35so he
37:35lives in u.s no in china in china how much money have you helped transfer a total 40 000
37:4240 000 us
37:44dollars yeah i'm trying to understand why why was someone in the u.s uh-huh why is she giving
37:49you
37:5040 000 to transfer back to china who is this person to you he's my friend so you're just helping
37:57move money
37:58from here back to china yes just transfer to money okay because right now i don't think you're being
38:05fully honest so right now with the questioning he's already fairly nervous his answers are extremely
38:12varied which leads us to believe he's trying to lie about the real reason why he's transferring money for
38:17people it does have potential links to things such as money laundering or fraud
38:23do you understand the possible penalties for lying to federal officers in the united states
38:29what's the penalty maybe you can
38:32me up that's one thing yes yeah you could also go to jail for five years in the u.s
38:37prison okay
38:39i'm gonna have you wait and uh back in the same room until we're ready to talk to you later
38:44okay
38:47while the interview is paused another team continues to question the man's wife
38:54she makes a startling admission about their previous trip to the country
39:00his wife stated that he worked in some capacity on his last entry to the united states
39:06according to her he did receive money for some things that he did in the united states there are
39:11things suggesting too that he had an intent to also come back again on this entry potentially to do
39:16the same thing a clear violation of his b2 tourist visa means only one thing
39:26you'll be expeditiously removed on the first available flight and you were barred from re-entering
39:32the united states for a period of five years from date of removal do you understand from now yeah
39:38so do you understand yeah
39:46good give it a couple seconds
39:50all right good next because of the evidence his lack of reservations his lack of ability to truly
39:56describe what he did on the last trip he was refused entry to the united states today he is going
40:01to be banned for five years
40:04as for the suspicions of money laundering officer nix will turn over his findings there are further
40:11concerns we have as well but those we're going to address with probably another agency to process but
40:17possible further actions against him in the future the couple will be put on the first flight departing
40:24for china whenever we are able to refuse entry to people who are coming for derogatory reasons whether
40:32that's again terrorism or fraud or illegal activities criminal activities it always gives me a great feeling
40:39to go home and knowing that i actually helped protect our country and at the end of the day fulfilled
40:44you know my job my job my duty my duty to protect our country
40:48so
41:17so
41:19so
41:29you
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