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00:00Aotearoa, New Zealand is a land apart.
00:04Blue ocean, big skies, massive mountains.
00:09Despite the physical boundaries, our border is constantly threatened with as many risks
00:14as other countries.
00:15Drugs, illegal immigrants, pests, and disease, but the nation's protectors are ever vigilant.
00:27Customs, immigration, and biosecurity officers work day and night to keep us safe.
00:32If we declared it, there would be no issue.
00:34The front line of defence, New Zealand's Border Patrol.
00:50This time on Border Patrol, a couple from South Africa roll the dice at biosecurity.
00:55Bringing this in is risky.
00:57I'll tell you my sister.
00:59I know you paid money for it, but you might lose it.
01:02Do you guys have firearm license training now?
01:04No.
01:04A family returning from the US are in customs sights after failing to declare their airsoft arsenal.
01:11A passenger flies in with a curiously large pile of soup and ends up in a heap of trouble.
01:17What will happen to me?
01:19You will be getting arrested.
01:21Oh.
01:21And alarm bells are ringing after an interview with sisters from Japan.
01:25It is visiting New Zealand to go and buy some woolen clothes.
01:29I think I know what the story is here.
01:39There's a quiet afternoon at Auckland International Airport, or so it seems.
01:45In the customs red zone, officers are on high alert.
01:49They're keeping a close eye on a passenger who's just flown in from Malaysia.
01:56So our passenger booked his tickets one day before coming.
02:00Most people, when they travel, book their tickets a few months in advance.
02:03So that's part of the reason why he was brought in today, to have a chat and find out what
02:07he's up to.
02:09As the search unfolds, something unusual catches their attention.
02:14As well as his luggage, this passenger was carrying a large quantity of soup.
02:20And by large, we mean enough to feed his entire flight.
02:26He said that the packets of soup were for his cousin that he's going to give to when he arrives
02:30in New Zealand.
02:32An officer sends a packet for a substance test.
02:37The passenger doesn't seem too worried while awaiting the results.
02:42Customs and immigration officers, however, are very concerned.
02:46Hi. My name is Joyce. I'm an immigration border officer.
02:50Okay.
02:50And I would like to ask you some questions with regards to your entry to New Zealand.
02:55What is the reason for being here, by the way?
02:58I come here is for travel.
03:00I've got a long weekend, so my cousin asked me to buy some the medical soup ingredients.
03:10While there's nothing like a nice steaming bowl of soup,
03:13the substance test reveals there's nothing of nutritional value in these packets.
03:19They are pure ephedrine, used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
03:24This Malaysian traveller has now a lot more explaining to do.
03:33Over at the Biosecurity New Zealand search benches, Paula and her husband Derek have just flown into Auckland from South
03:40Africa.
03:40And she's carrying something for her sister that concerns her greatly.
03:45Bringing this in is risky.
03:48So I said to my sister, I know you paid money for it, but you might lose it.
03:52So she was like, well, so be it.
03:54You know what? We got cutters today.
03:57It's like we knew, we knew we were going to have that.
04:01Ta-da! Magic.
04:02Okay.
04:03Biosecurity officer Hami is on hand to inspect the contentious item.
04:08That's one, three.
04:11She bought it from the Christmas shop in South Africa for her grandkids in New Zealand.
04:17South Africa has many wild animals, endangered species and exotic flora.
04:21But Paula's sister has sent...
04:25Pinecones.
04:28They are a biosecurity risk because of the seeds and all the other things that they have in them and
04:35their disease.
04:36That was what they were going to get for Christmas.
04:41Unfortunately, these pinecones will be gently roasted in the toasty confines of the biosecurity incinerator this Christmas.
04:48But Hami has a crafty, festive solution.
04:51There are a lot of pinecone trees here.
04:53Go for a walk with them.
04:55Grab a couple.
04:57And then you can go and buy the fake snow aerosol.
05:01Ta-da!
05:02She knows exactly where to get all that.
05:04If Paula hadn't declared her sister's snow-frosted presents,
05:08she could have been fined $400 and lost the pinecones anyway.
05:12I'm on my game.
05:13We watch Border Patrol all the time.
05:15Lovely.
05:16We've got this.
05:17And now you're going to be in it.
05:19Yes.
05:20Before I send you to X-Ray, is there anything else you need to declare today?
05:24So we have a certification letter for this.
05:28Oh, that's so pretty.
05:30It's a heartwarming artwork that immediately rings biosecurity alarm bells.
05:35What's in here?
05:36Soil from South Africa.
05:38Yeah.
05:40In other words, a big threat to New Zealand's fragile environment.
05:43I actually never thought of that.
05:46South Africa has many pests and diseases that New Zealand does not have, nor want.
05:52I don't know what's in it or where it came from.
05:54Quick thinking Paula has got another DIY solution.
05:58I'll just get soil from you.
05:59They wouldn't know the difference.
06:01Yeah, because that is...
06:03The rest of the gifts are good to go.
06:06Thank you so much.
06:09Thank you guys.
06:10Nice meeting you.
06:10Paula and Derek head out into New Zealand and their biosecurity risks head into the bin for destruction.
06:21Back in the customs red zone, officers were immediately suspicious of a passenger from Malaysia who was hauling a huge
06:27number of soup sachets.
06:30Which turned out not to be soup at all.
06:35New Zealand customs have advised that you've been found with an amount of ephedrine, which is concealed in soup packets.
06:44And because of this, you will be arrested as a result.
06:52Immigration officer Joyce revokes his right of entry immediately.
06:55But the man doesn't seem to understand the severity of the situation.
07:00OK, so you mean today I come and then later I will go back?
07:05Ah, no.
07:06A customs officer helps him digest the news.
07:09Is I going back, Malaysia, or...?
07:12You will be getting arrested.
07:15How come become the prison?
07:17How come...?
07:19Because there is the medical, just the herbal.
07:22Is the man just playing dumb or has he actually been duped by the fake soup?
07:27If I know it's drug, I will not bring that.
07:31Regardless of what you believe it is, you were in possession of a controlled drug.
07:37The man's fate now rests in the hands of the courts.
07:41Is it now he is in the custody of New Zealand customs and possibly New Zealand police?
07:49How are you doing?
07:51Not too good.
07:53Not too good?
07:54Yeah.
07:54Senior customs officer Isaac brings the man a little comfort.
07:58Fast food.
07:58Despite the gravity of the situation, he still has an appetite.
08:03So what will happen to me?
08:04You'll have the opportunity to do an interview, to say anything you might want to say about your luggage and
08:10stuff.
08:12The soup packets that you have over there, inside the packets is ephedrine.
08:17Drinks?
08:17Do you know ephedrine?
08:18Do you know ephedrine?
08:20It's like in cold medicine?
08:23I don't know.
08:24The man pleads ignorance, but it doesn't change the facts.
08:28After the interview, you're going to be arrested for importing ephedrine into New Zealand,
08:34because it's a class B drug and it's illegal to do that, okay?
08:38Okay.
08:39And then you'll appear in court.
08:41Okay.
08:48Back at the customs red zone, a man who arrived with a heap of herbal soup is now in a
08:53heap of trouble,
08:54as it turned out to contain a heap of controlled substance, ephedrine.
08:59You will be getting arrested.
09:01Oh.
09:03Fortunately, the man who may be about to lose his freedom hasn't lost his appetite.
09:09While he digs in, customs officers begin the meticulous process of exhibiting the evidence against him.
09:15What was meant to look like a batch of commercially packaged soup was actually an intricate concealment of ephedrine,
09:22complete with herbs and spices.
09:26And while the man continues eating, the evidence against him piles up.
09:32And up.
09:38After finishing his meal, the man declines a formal interview.
09:42Immigration collects his biometrics.
09:46And customs officers escort him to police custody.
09:51The investigation continues.
09:55He's had this cash with him in Malaysia, so potentially he's been paid overseas for this trip that he's done.
10:03In total, customs seized 14.2 kilos of ephedrine that would have a street value of $1,231,000.
10:12The passenger was charged with importing an illegal Class B controlled drug and sentenced to three years and ten months
10:19imprisonment.
10:20The drugs were subsequently destroyed.
10:29Officers of the New Zealand Customs Service are trained to find figurative smoking guns, real guns,
10:35and as this family returning from America are discovering, air guns.
10:42It wasn't declared.
10:44It wasn't that we needed to because it was a toy.
10:46Yeah, yeah.
10:48These realistic replicas are known as airsoft guns.
10:51Supervising Customs Officer Nilin must enforce the current New Zealand Arms Act.
10:56Do you guys have firearm items ready to load?
10:58No.
11:00Air guns, if they have the capacity to fire fully automatic, they require a permit.
11:09Police are five minutes away.
11:11OK.
11:12The family are clearly not illegal firearm smugglers.
11:15But in the wrong hands, their souvenirs from the States could cause serious harm.
11:20The police are called in to disable the automatic air rifles.
11:24Can I have your passport and your wife's passport, please?
11:27Airsoft guns use compressed air to shoot plastic pellets.
11:31While they have less power than a firearm dislodging bullets,
11:35they can still cause permanent injury,
11:37and their realistic appearance means brandishing one in public could end very badly.
11:42We're going to issue a warning letter for not declaring those firearms.
11:49And, well, unfortunately, we're going to seize those as well.
11:54And who is going to take that notice?
11:57Is someone in the family going to take one for the team?
12:05At Auckland International Airport arrivals,
12:08Customs Officers are screening passengers of a recent flight.
12:12We've got two female passengers just arrived off NZ90 from Japan.
12:17They were profiled for the reasons of their visit of being in New Zealand,
12:21which is to stay at a hotel, eat some food and do some shopping,
12:25which is quite suspicious to us,
12:27why someone come all this way just to stay at a hotel.
12:31Customs Officer Bethan needs to find out more about their intentions.
12:35So firstly, can you please tell me a bit about why you're in New Zealand?
12:39Where are we going to go and what sights are we going to see?
12:46OK, so you're going to go shopping and you're just going to visit the hotel.
12:52Wool products. So you want to shop for some wool?
12:55Judging by the contents of the women's luggage,
12:57they've already been doing some very high-end shopping.
13:00These cosmetics are worth hundreds of dollars.
13:03Not bad for a university student and a part-time office clerk.
13:10Their large suitcases are full to the brim with clothing too.
13:14For a four-day trip to New Zealand, you wouldn't expect that much luggage
13:19and especially for a shopping trip you would expect these to be pretty empty
13:22and to have room to shop basically.
13:25It's just interesting.
13:27Haven't quite gotten the full picture yet.
13:29Bethan organises an interpreter to find out more.
13:32And can you get them to elaborate as much as you can about which hotel and then which mall?
13:39Just a shopping centre next to a hotel.
13:42Just a shopping centre next to a hotel? OK, cool.
13:44Their accommodation is in Manukau.
13:46Although there is a mall nearby,
13:48it would be a stretch to say it's an international shopping destination.
13:55There's also this unmarked one, which I don't know what's in here, just says memo.
14:00Supervising customs officer Richard comes to aid Bethan's inspection.
14:04You've also got the amount of vitamins.
14:07Yeah, it's a large amount.
14:08You don't bring that for four days?
14:09No.
14:10Whose bag was this in?
14:12This is all in this bag.
14:14All in this bag?
14:14Yeah.
14:14And this belongs to the younger one?
14:16Yes.
14:16I think.
14:17Yeah, I believe it's the younger one.
14:18And I'll say the older one is the overseer.
14:19Yeah.
14:22Just visiting New Zealand to go and buy some woolen clothes and to eat at the hotel.
14:29That's probably not what it is about.
14:30Let's give I and Z a ring.
14:33Yeah.
14:33Because I think I know what the story is here.
14:36Yeah.
14:43Back at the customs red zone, customs officer Bethan and supervising customs officer Richard
14:47have concerns two Japanese travellers could be here to work.
14:51Bethan updates Immigration New Zealand about their implausible story.
14:55When we ask about their travel plans, they state that they will be doing some shopping
14:59for woolen clothing and that they will just be staying in the hotel for four days and eating food.
15:05They've got a little bit of money with them but one's a student and the other is just a general
15:09office worker.
15:10They're lining up a little bit more with a potential sex worker and a supporter.
15:15So yes, we would like to speak with them.
15:18Undertaking any type of work will be in breach of the visitor visa they were granted on their arrival.
15:25So with the customs risk mitigated, the women are heading upstairs to Immigration New Zealand
15:29to learn whether they'll be able to enter New Zealand.
15:32Just this room here.
15:34Officers Pratesh and Gay will interview the passengers separately.
15:38Come through.
15:40What's the purpose of your travel to New Zealand today?
15:42We're going to be here for a short period of time and we like to do the shopping.
15:48Where will you go shopping?
15:56You have travelled from Japan to New Zealand today to go and do some shopping at Manakau Shopping Centre.
16:15Really I wonder why she travelled all the way from Japan to try the ramen noodles here in Auckland.
16:21As well as buy a woolen jumper at the Manakau Shopping Centre.
16:25I'm going to see what the sister has to say about her travel and then compare.
16:33The woman's travelling companion has similarly modest ambitions for her Kiwi holiday.
16:38She's planning on buying a wool coat but she hasn't researched any shops that sell wool coats.
16:44She wants to spend fifteen, sixteen hundred dollars which is a hell of a lot to spend on a coat.
16:49I'm in line with their thinking. My passenger also I'm very, very curious as to why she has travelled all
16:55the way from Japan to New Zealand for a two day holiday to try the different variations of ramen noodle
17:01and buy a woolen jacket.
17:04The stories are far-fetched but they do match.
17:07My passenger claims that the elder sister, which is your passenger, has funded this trip to New Zealand. So can
17:15you verify that information for me please?
17:17Yeah, sure, I'll go do that now. Thank you.
17:19Gay returns to the interview room to question her passenger about her financial situation.
17:24Are you able to show me any of your pay slips or bank statements with your wages going in?
17:30No.
17:31Ah, okay, thank you.
17:34So she showed me two pay slips. For one of them she had 231 yen, 571.
17:40So that's about two and a half thousand dollars. Is that monthly?
17:43Yeah, monthly. It's over 500 odd dollars a week.
17:46That's 31,000 New Zealand dollars.
17:49How can you afford to come for a two day trip?
17:53Wow.
17:57Back at the Customs Red Zone, Supervising Customs Officer Nilin is dealing with a family who've arrived carrying some very
18:04realistic airsoft guns.
18:06Air guns, if they have the capacity to fire pulling automatic, you require a permit.
18:15Unfortunately for the family, it means their expensive replicas will be seized. And that's not all.
18:21We're going to issue you a warning letter for not declaring those firearms. Who is going to take that notice?
18:36I'll put that under your name.
18:38Mum takes one for the team and puts the accidental importation of the prohibited firearms under her name.
18:45Okay, cool.
18:46So, although they are airsoft firearms, they have the capability of firing fully automatically.
18:54It's semi and it's fully automatic as well.
18:58This one is pretty solid.
19:00It's got good weight to it.
19:02Yeah, pretty solidly built.
19:05This one is pretty light, fully plastic, but still has the same capability.
19:10If it has those specific requirements of being fully automatic, then it's definitely a permit is required at the time
19:16of import.
19:17Sorry for the inconvenience.
19:24It's a good lesson for big kids who want big toys.
19:27Before you fork out seriously big bucks, do a little research.
19:32They just did a bit of research, went onto the website, which would have told them that a permit is
19:37required for restricted weapons.
19:40They could have had one at the time of import.
19:49Back at Immigration New Zealand, officers Pratesh and Gay are interviewing two passengers from Japan,
19:55who say they're visiting New Zealand to do some high-end shopping.
19:59You have travelled from Japan to New Zealand today to go and do some shopping at Manukau Shopping Centre.
20:07Pratesh and Gay weigh up the balance of what they've learnt so far.
20:11What do you think?
20:12I'm suspicious, very suspicious.
20:14She earns $31,000 per year, but she's going to spend $1,600 of that on a woolen coat.
20:21If you're on that sort of budget, you would be a lot more careful about what you're going to be
20:25spending your money on.
20:26I'm also really curious about the luggage. Now they've arrived with two heavy suitcases, chipped-in suitcase for a two
20:34-day holiday.
20:37Armed with more information, it seems as though the sisters really could be trying to pull the wool over Immigration's
20:42eyes.
20:43Are the passengers actually planning to stay longer to work, something that involves a lot of make-up and outfit
20:50changes?
20:51New Zealand Customs undertook a search of your luggage and found a wide range of lingeries, large amount of make
21:00-up, high-heel shoes.
21:02This indicates to me that you have brought these items to New Zealand to undertake work in the sex industry.
21:10The young woman doesn't seem to bat an eyelid at this proposition.
21:14Her possible intentions were also given away by her vague plans.
21:18It causes me to wonder why you have paid considerable amount of money in airfares to come here in the
21:27first place.
21:30Do you want to tell me the truth?
21:40There's nothing to say about the truth.
21:44Okay.
21:47My decision is to revoke your entry permission.
21:52You are now liable for a turnaround and you will be placed on the next available flight departing New Zealand.
21:59The young traveller doesn't seem too bothered by the prospect of going home.
22:03Would I be together with my sister?
22:06The outcome is not known yet.
22:10Will her sister be eating ramen alone?
22:13What's the decision?
22:15Uh, refused to.
22:16Okay, okay, cool.
22:18And did she spill out any new information?
22:20No, she provided nothing new.
22:22No.
22:22Both passengers were refused entry into New Zealand.
22:25There were too many red flags to ignore.
22:27And we highly suspect that they were here for reasons other than a genuine holiday.
22:33Any shopping will have to be done in the departures lounge.
22:36Both women...
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