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00:00.
00:09Tonight on Border Security.
00:12A passenger is removed from a plane and arrested.
00:15He's denied any knowledge at this point.
00:17Officers are shocked at what they find in his bags.
00:21We haven't sent an amount like this for a long time.
00:24If you had said yes, this wouldn't have happened.
00:26A couple facing prosecution make a desperate plea.
00:33And a New York graffiti artist thinks he's been framed.
00:39It's consistent with cocaine.
00:41How's that passing?
00:58Today in Sydney, airport security officers monitoring baggage leaving the country have noticed a problem inside two suitcases bound for
01:09Thailand.
01:10Customs and Border Protection officers have been alerted and the bags have been taken away for closer inspection.
01:21I reckon ten.
01:23The x-ray image reveals several mysterious organic masses, but no one knows exactly what they are.
01:29Do the other bag as well.
01:32They're in that one too.
01:35Officers raced to track down the owner of the luggage who has already boarded a flight to Thailand.
01:42It appears the passenger was trying to illegally export some sort of reptile.
01:47The head looks similar to the tail and I think that must be a defence mechanism that lizards have.
01:53So the prey can't tell which ends the front and which ends the back.
01:57Some of those it's just very difficult to tell.
02:00There's so many of them.
02:02No one knows how many or what sort of reptile they are dealing with.
02:06But one thing is certain.
02:09Oh, they are alive.
02:10Yeah.
02:20In Brisbane, Quarantine wants to inspect the bags of two passengers who have just arrived from India.
02:28As you can see here, we have quite a considerable amount of suspicious looking items here.
02:33The x-rays suggest their bags may be packed full of food that hasn't been declared.
02:39I want to ask you a few questions, okay?
02:41Okay.
02:41Yeah?
02:42Did you read all these questions?
02:44Yes.
02:44Did you understand them all?
02:46Yeah.
02:46Yeah?
02:47I want to have a look in all your bags, okay?
02:49There's things in there that I'm concerned about.
02:51Okay.
02:52So can you lift up that box?
03:04Yeah.
03:05You want me to just cut?
03:06Yeah.
03:06Just cut it?
03:07You just cut it.
03:10Swash your fingers.
03:12The first box is barely open before Officer Dino discovers a big problem.
03:20It's going to take quite a while here.
03:24Just wait a second, guys.
03:27Fresh food items such as bananas are strictly prohibited and there are severe penalties for
03:32failing to declare them.
03:34If anything else is found now with the high-risk items, yeah, it could go that one step further
03:39than could possibly go into court.
03:41Right.
03:42We'll have to see how we go.
03:43It's not looking too good for the passengers at this stage.
03:51A New York graffiti artist has just arrived at Sydney Airport.
03:56This is Fernando's very first time out of America and he's already attracting the attention
04:02of officers.
04:03The reason he's here, when I saw him down at the gate, I said to him, you know, oh,
04:11you're a tag?
04:12He goes, oh, yeah.
04:13I thought it was a tag name.
04:14He goes, I don't want to incriminate myself.
04:16I went, okay.
04:18So that's basically a little trick that I had.
04:20He's here for one month.
04:22I turned the card over.
04:24He didn't write how long he was here for.
04:26Fernando says he's here to visit a girl and check out the local art scene.
04:31But he's very vague on detail.
04:34So what galleries will you visit?
04:36To be honest, I have no idea.
04:37I don't even have a listing.
04:38I was just going to walk around and just bring one piece with me.
04:42You know, like I said, I'm not planning on making any money.
04:45I'm not here to sell anything.
04:47I'm just here to literally be with that girl for the whole month.
04:50And then if we get to go out and do something, then that's cool.
04:53He's brought with him a large portfolio of artwork.
04:57But there's one painting in particular that officers are interested in.
05:02There were some inconsistencies on top of the frame.
05:06Whether it's an indication where they've stapled another block of wood in there.
05:11Is there some form of inconsistency?
05:12Is this on canvas or a board?
05:14Yes, canvas.
05:15Officers suspect the painting may have been tampered with.
05:19A swab is taken so they can test it for traces of narcotics.
05:35At the other end of the Sydney terminal,
05:38officers have raced to remove a passenger from a plane departing for Thailand
05:43because his bags may contain an illegal concealment.
05:47There appear to be some live lizards attempting to be exported in a passenger's bags.
05:52I identified that bag as belonging to a passenger who was on his flight.
05:56He was taken off the plane and arrested by investigators.
06:00The owner of the bags is cuffed and led into an interview room by investigation officers.
06:06The plane was about to depart. We had five minutes.
06:09He's being searched at the moment.
06:11We'll do a full baggage search.
06:13He's denied any knowledge at this point.
06:15He's basically told me that he's put the bags through check-in
06:20and there wasn't anything wrong with them when they went through there.
06:26During the search, numerous socks and bags are found filled with what officers suspect
06:32are different species of reptiles.
06:35Do we know what time we checked in?
06:37We have access to all that information. I don't know at the stage.
06:41I just want to avoid his defence that he's checked in.
06:47Someone's had his bag for two hours.
06:49We'll be able to confirm weights and things like that, whether that confirms anything for them.
06:53Only the smuggler knows how long these creatures have endured the terrible conditions outside their natural habitat.
07:01And there are now serious concerns for their survival.
07:04I'm starting to wake up.
07:14But they'll need to be extremely careful.
07:17They have no idea whether or not these animals are dangerous.
07:36Mustard seed. Do you want to open that next bag?
07:40A couple arriving from India could be facing a fine or a prosecution
07:45if quarantine officer Dino finds more undeclared prohibited food.
07:50What's in this one, guys?
07:52Actually, fish pickles.
07:54Fish pickles?
07:58The bench is now stacked with food and quarantine officers need to know why none of it has been declared.
08:05We want to know why you wouldn't say you had food.
08:08Because it's apparent that you have many kilos of food and you didn't declare it.
08:14Some of the food here is very high risk and it poses a threat to Australia.
08:20I'm sorry for the first thing.
08:21This is very serious.
08:22It's serious because you brought in a lot of food and you didn't tell us.
08:26And the second thing is you brought in some food that is a high risk here.
08:30Just wait here.
08:31I just need to discuss with my supervisor here.
08:34Officers need to discuss whether the amount of prohibited food warrants a prosecution.
08:39There's still a significant amount of foodstuffs there
08:41and there's a significant amount of prohibited items as well, sir.
08:44I'm thinking that you've got two people both making a false declaration here
08:48so I'd say it's probably best to actually at this stage fine them.
08:52Each?
08:53Yeah.
08:54For sure if they're both making a false declaration there's a significant amount of food
08:57and they're both aware of the intent of it.
08:59OK.
09:00No worries.
09:01All right.
09:02That's it.
09:02OK.
09:03At this stage we're going to give you a fine.
09:06Yeah, it's going to be a $220 fine for each of you guys, OK?
09:10Each of us?
09:10Yeah.
09:11Totally $200.
09:12$220 for you and $220 for your husband.
09:15Sir, we have no money.
09:18Nobody is there.
09:19He's here to help us.
09:21Even this, we can't do anything.
09:24That's the avenue that we're looking at, OK?
09:37In Sydney, officers have stopped an attempt to illegally export two suitcases full of reptiles
09:45to Thailand.
09:46We've got numerous shinglebacks, various ages by little suit.
09:54So obviously we've got different types.
09:59Probably have to get someone to come out because we're going to run out of crates and boxes
10:05and whatnot and I'm not game to put them together.
10:08If they're different I don't know enough about lizards and how they treat each other.
10:14Several snakes are among the wildlife and they could be venomous.
10:19Investigations officer Mick calls reptile handlers out to the airport.
10:24I'm not going to open them.
10:26Yeah, we're running out.
10:28We've got boxes.
10:29We've got some plastic containers.
10:31Officers will need to collect evidence to build a case against the owner of the bags
10:36after he claimed the reptiles weren't in his luggage when he checked them in.
10:40There's a possibility that because they've been wrapped in sticky tape they might hold a fingerprint.
10:45And that's something we can have forensically tested.
10:49The reptile handlers arrive at the airport to help in the investigation.
10:54Number of shinglebacks.
10:57Now we do have snakes in here.
11:00Now we're not going to have any other packages in there.
11:03Oh, it's not been a Darwin carpet.
11:06These aren't in the overseas market yet.
11:08Yeah.
11:09Well, would have been.
11:11And they're really quite rare.
11:12There's probably only less than a hundred of these in Australia, probably the world.
11:17And they're probably worth close to $20,000, I'd say, potentially.
11:24We've got a black-headed.
11:25This is a black-headed python.
11:27Black-headed python.
11:28Also crammed into the suitcases were a number of shingleback lizards.
11:33They could potentially be worth $5,000 each.
11:36Yeah, $5,000 each.
11:38And how many shinglebacks are there here?
11:3924.
11:4024.
11:4124 by $5,000.
11:42That's a lot of money.
11:44In all, there are 40 lizards and 4 snakes that were all headed for the black market in Asia.
11:50We haven't had a seizure of this size in wildlife for probably 15 years.
12:13This was a swap taken of the painting.
12:15So it's come back positive for cocaine.
12:18That's the third reading now that's come back positive for cocaine.
12:21So it's telling us something.
12:25Officers suspect this New York graffiti artist could be hiding something.
12:30So they take a closer look at the painting that's returning positive readings for cocaine.
12:36This one here, okay, our concerns are obviously on this part of the frame.
12:41Yeah.
12:41Okay, it looks like there may be two pieces.
12:43But if you have a look at the joint, it's only a one-piece bit of wood.
12:46Yeah.
12:47And what it is, they're seeing inconsistencies inside the actual wood.
12:51We can drill in there without damaging anything, really.
12:55Yeah.
12:55What did that come up with?
12:56It's consistent with cocaine.
12:59Wow.
13:00Wow.
13:01How's that passing?
13:02We can only physical what we've done today.
13:05I know, but that's impossible.
13:07It's impossible.
13:08It's impossible.
13:08It's impossible.
13:09I'm telling you.
13:10The painting is taken away to be more closely examined.
13:14Suspecting the timber frame may be hollow.
13:18And we've really just got to be happy with ourselves whether it's got anything in there or not.
13:35A wildlife smuggler is in custody in an interview room.
13:39While reptile handlers have arrived to care for Australian native lizards and snakes
13:44that were stuffed into two suitcases bound for the black market in Asia.
13:50This is the first native Australian albino snake that I've ever seen in the flesh.
13:54Most Australian keepers will kill to get their hands on one of these.
13:58They are beautiful.
14:00This albino Darwin carpet snake is listed as endangered and it's in poor health.
14:07He's blowing bubbles out of his nose which gives the indication that he's got a respiratory
14:12problem.
14:13But therefore he's been kept in suboptimal conditions where it's not his temperature regime.
14:19So obviously he's been cold for quite a while.
14:22We'll take them back to Sydney Wildlife World and we'll assess the health of the animals.
14:26We'll make a decision from there.
14:27Wild animals can carry all kinds of different diseases and bacteria.
14:31So we'll get them vet checked and we'll make some decisions from there.
14:36It's unfortunate the reptiles have been exposed to such cruel treatment.
14:40And there is a chance that many of them won't survive their ordeal.
14:59We have nothing with us.
15:02We can't go anywhere.
15:06I'm sorry to hear that.
15:07This couple has just been fined $220 each and the news has hit one passenger very hard.
15:16You listen, okay.
15:18This could have got a very serious man, okay.
15:23If you had said yes to the food, this wouldn't have happened.
15:28But you said no.
15:30Not on one card and your husband said no on the other one too, okay.
15:34Okay, we give you many opportunities.
15:37So the moral to this story is, if you believe you have anything then you mark yes.
15:43Okay?
15:44Yeah.
15:45Anything you eat, you mark yes.
15:48Okay.
15:48I'm going to draw you up your fines, alright?
15:53Quarantine seized fresh bananas, coconuts and tamarinds, plus a large amount of homemade food.
16:00In the past, items of this significance have proceeded to court and it's the monetary value and penalties involved are
16:09into the thousands, so they are very lucky.
16:27How many vehicles?
16:32This New York artist is starting to feel the pressure after several swabs of his belongings tested positive for narcotics.
16:40I'm a little nervous, I'll be honest with you.
16:41I think that's fine.
16:42Other than that, that's perfectly natural.
16:44Suspecting one of his artworks could have been tampered with, officers are now drilling the frame.
16:59That's solid through there.
17:01Yeah.
17:02Solid.
17:03It all seems fine.
17:05We still have concerns of what our ratings have been coming back with, as we discussed earlier on, okay?
17:10Which I have no idea why ratings are coming out as they are, whatever.
17:15Okay.
17:16I'm speechless, man.
17:17And as you know, we did the two ratings, okay?
17:20For what?
17:21On the bag.
17:22Yeah.
17:22Remember the second reading was on the bag, the first reading was on your personal phone and anything that you
17:26come in contact with.
17:28Officers are trying to find an explanation as to why he's had multiple readings for cocaine.
17:34Do you think he's returned?
17:36Well, it's hard to say. I mean, if the indicators are there, he's quite a boy on his responses.
17:46Officers decide it's time to step up the investigation.
17:50Do the research.
17:51Okay, from there, we can upgrade it to see if you have got something inside of you.
18:04Do you have anything inside of you today?
18:06No, I do not.
18:06I do not.
18:07I do not.
18:08I don't know why this is coming up that way, man.
18:10It's really...
18:11It's upsetting, I'll be honest.
18:13This New York artist is continuing to deny any contact with cocaine, despite several positive narcotic readings.
18:21What I'm going to do now is formally detain you for the purpose of a tacked-down frisk search.
18:25What I need you to do first is read both sides of this card.
18:28Okay.
18:30Um, won't touch any of your skin, okay?
18:31Okay.
18:32Alright, just do the body, okay?
18:33No problem.
18:37This is so awkward.
18:39The frisk is negative.
18:42The winner in the stomach, absolutely no reaction.
18:45It's moving very clearly.
18:47Officers are satisfied Fernando is not carrying narcotics internally.
18:52I'm happy.
18:53As long as you're happy.
18:54Yeah, I'm happy.
18:55Thanks for your help.
18:56And I'm sure he'll be happy.
18:57Yeah.
18:58Okay.
18:58Fernando, thanks very much for your time.
19:00Okay.
19:01And thank you very much for your cooperation.
19:04This is the experience, you know?
19:05It's like you go to the Bronx, you've got to get mugged.
19:07Out here, a little different.
19:10Straight from Brooklyn!
19:19There are grave concerns for a large number of distressed lizards and snakes that are now
19:26being sent off for a health check.
19:28They were found cruelly stuffed into baggage bound for the black market in Asia.
19:33Any wildlife trafficking is serious.
19:37It doesn't matter whether it's one snake, one reptile, one bird or one egg.
19:45As I stated earlier, we haven't seen an amount like this for a long time.
19:49This man has been arrested and is taken to a police station to be charged.
19:57The reptiles have now arrived at Sydney Wildlife World for their assessment.
20:04We've got three hatchling black-headed pythons.
20:07There's two in here that we're concerned about.
20:13These are not long out of the egg and you can see that they've still got their yolk sac
20:15in their stomach there from when they were in the egg.
20:17It could be the first sign of an infection as well, so we'll just have to play it out.
20:23This one's a little bit more lively.
20:24You can see he's got a bit normal weight.
20:27Unfortunately, some of the shingle-backed lizards have also fared very poorly due to their ordeal.
20:33You can just see the symmetry of his jaws is just not right.
20:36If you peel that back, you can see he's got a raging infection going on in his teeth.
20:40He's fighting that infection, expending a lot of energy fighting that infection.
20:45It's going to compromise how much food he can eat.
20:47All these things just add up to a struggle for this guy.
20:51Smuggling shingle-backed lizards not only affects their health,
20:55but it also upsets their unusual breeding habits.
20:59In the wild, they can pair bond, which means they mate with the same partner every year.
21:02So if you're taking animals out of the wild, then there's a good chance
21:05that you're disrupting the breeding cycle of the animals.
21:08The person that's doing this doesn't care about the health of the animals.
21:11It's more about making money.
21:13It just doesn't sit right with me.
21:15I mean, these guys have got the right to lie, just like anything else,
21:18and for someone to try and exploit them, it's just hard to fathom, really.
21:25Of the 40 lizards that were rescued, only half survived.
21:30The four snakes and the rest of the lizards are still in care and cannot be returned to the wild.
21:50Next Sunday on Border Security, one pair of boots, two women, and several drug readings.
21:59That in itself begs the question, why?
22:02Closing.
22:04A high-tech mission to combat a serious threat in our northern waters.
22:09He's not allowed to be south of this line.
22:11After that, we check out what he's doing.
22:13And she's planning a wedding.
22:15How long have you been together?
22:16About two months or so.
22:17But they've found the one thing that could put her big day on hold.
22:22Unfortunately, we're going to have to check.
22:25That's border security.