[Music]
when your bag is rover i consider it
being a hunter
you're always paying attention see who
may look suspicious or
sometimes you just want to do a random
pop so let's do a random pop
how you doing
can i see a password please
it's a volume game we search a lot of
bags and a lot of times it's negative
all right well we're gonna just do a
quick back check
but she was by herself and she had a lot
of bags so
we're just gonna look and see what we
find
so is this your bag or no
you say oh this is not my bag then
all of our alerts go way high because
we're wondering what the heck is in that
bag
everything
what's your name
what is your uncle's name
you forgot
my person
the wife is my boyfriend from your
cousin husband yeah the wife is gonna
come get the bag not a husband
the husband
all right
she gave you the bag did you even open
the bag to see what's inside i don't
know
you don't crazy but i don't know
why are you taking somebody else's bag
if it's not your bag you shouldn't be
taking it you don't know what's all this
what is all this
so much stuff what is this melon
unidentified liquid
what is this you don't even know what
this is nothing no no nothing
huh who's this
what the hell
what is that
narcotics drugs you know what it is no
you don't know what it is
because it looks like cocaine
you don't know no
um
i'm gonna have to test it oh definitely
let's see what the heck this stuff is
so that's just analyzing
starch baby powder and dextrin from corn
okay all right all right yeah
if it was cocaine it would have said
that
so we tested it it was negative
but this lady has a lot of stuff
all right what else
put the next bag up there
yeah this place is loaded
we are currently on our way to a
briefing with the supervisor the hsi
miami marine smuggling group his group
at the seaport and our group at the
airport work really closely together to
combat criminal activities that are
happening throughout the miami port
system
we are going to talk about a case where
his team seized a yacht that was being
used to smuggle a significant amount of
cocaine
we have three vessels here that we
seized this is the most recent
south florida is a boating community
there's tons of boats everywhere so very
difficult to regulate that traffic
we have pretty decent amount of trade
with the dominican republic and a lot of
recreational vessel activity between the
dominican republic and the united states
you know yachts sailing vessels that are
transiting so that provides
opportunities for these organizations to
kind of mix in with that legitimate
travel and exploit it
initially encountered the vessel coming
out of the dominican republic into fort
lauderdale actually did a custom search
immediately found
five duffel bags full of cocaine right
here in the salon area
and then additional cocaine down below
it's all stacked up on this bunk here
they basically use the area behind this
spunk okay
cocaine was back in here
456 kilos of cocaine
found some more additional evidence in
here one of our principal defendants was
actually sleeping there on the trip he
had 40-something thousand in cash
outstanding
they do an at sea transfer so cocaine
goes from the boat out of the dr on to
this boat snaking their way through the
bahamas stopping for fuel and then into
the into the u.s
and how many subjects were there four
were taken into custody two arrested
the captain was on this boat that night
but we did release them as we collected
evidence the investigation took a little
bit of time but the plan tomorrow is to
go out and execute an arrest warrant for
him
we're going to wait till he comes out of
the residence and hopefully prevent a
situation where we have to try to track
down somebody who's
trying to evade getting arrested
[Music]
what is
this you forgot you don't know what you
packed
coffee
what's this here
this is my picture for what headache
ibuprofen
um
all right so it's good put it back in
here
all right this has a lot of stuff what
is all this
what is this
what do you have all this medication for
your friend have a pharmacy does your
friend have a like a score
is he a doctor this guy or what does he
do
some kind of therapy liquid in in her
bag is like a traveling pharmacy what
people use this for
huh
i don't know
you know what this is this pep time
quite a quinda what's that
ah
no no no no nothing yes she paints
so it could be poison you don't know
what it is
the main issue is that one she didn't
declare any of this it's not like one or
two for personal use it's like
50 plus
two
she has no clue what this stuff is and
neither do we look at these pills we
don't know what that is
we don't i don't know what that is and
we can't test it in such quantity so all
this is gonna be turned over to the fda
no no that's that's going with us so
this is all going it's all going it's
all going they'll determine whether it's
okay or not if not then it's seized and
destroyed more more than likely
this is a good stop it was a good stop
it's a good examination we're trying to
find contraband we're trying to find
things that aren't allowed into our
country and she she had a lot
so we we're going to release you okay
okay so next time just be more careful
with what you take back okay
it's very important that people know
don't bring anything here that's not
yours or that you don't know what it is
because it could be narcotics drugs
weapons don't do it it's not a good idea
[Music]
we're gonna be executing an arrest
warrant the individual was identified as
part of an investigation into a
smuggling organization this guy actually
was the captain of a yacht that came
into miami with 456 kills of cocaine
we obtained a war for his arrest and
we're going to be executing that warrant
this morning
i'll have you guys stage right here in
the corner okay get a direct eye to the
house here and then he will be here at
the end of the street facing north
once the takedown signal comes out just
come to the residence and provide extra
cover
who are the other possibles at the house
um his son
it looks like the wife was heading to
work when i drove by this morning and a
gentleman that was there yesterday i
don't know he kind of looked like a
visitor at the house if he does get into
a vehicle you know just try to keep
containment on that street
all right so we'll head over to the
location here
the rest warrants are you know
inherently dangerous just because we're
going into an unknown
in this case it's the subject's home
this residence
some pre-operational surveillance has
shown that he's uh departing the house
pretty regularly in the morning
mid-morning so we're just going to wait
until he leaves to try to mitigate some
of those risks of going into his house
and grabbing him
all right
so we're on the street of the subject's
house getting set up now getting
everybody in position
we always want to try to dominate the
situation so i think we have six
officers back here today
we're dealing with traffickers that
smuggle hundreds and hundreds of kilos
of cocaine anything can happen
be ready to go
[Music]
yo
hey how you doing man it's your passport
finding narcotics is very difficult
nowadays have anything in your pockets
back in the days you open the bag it's
breaks of cocaine it's not like that
anymore they're getting smart plaster
you could prove it on the side there's
no set weight
as we find it they're looking for ways
to hide it better
we're going to be working in trinidad
now
sir
passport trinidad is known for narcotics
so we like to hit this flight
how are you doing passport
are you traveling by yourself
okay
what's the purpose of the trip i found
the bike
you have a company over there
a store what's the name of the store
stylistic do you have any like little uh
like business card or anything
okay
how many bags are you bringing in mine
break novella is this yeah how do you
will get your stock buying this year
when did you buy the ticket to come
yesterday
so was it planned
yeah and when do you return
friday
can we talk to our alum okay
give me your free ticket
sherlock
you're a question did you remember
somebody else
i bought
okay we're gonna go through immigration
and then we're gonna go through a
customs inspection okay
your hotel it's already paid for
we do have a lot of medication coming in
and a lot of people travel to mexico or
canada and they'll buy over the counter
or they'll pay somebody to get scheduled
medication
these appear to be loaded syringes of a
yet to be determined pharmaceutical
all of this medication coming in that's
not approved by the fda
it's a big problem
it's
in another language people not knowing
exactly what they're taking people
self-medicating people dying
we have schedule 2 schedule three
narcotics without a prescription
these are the things the united states
right now is trying to stop
can you put a couple of boxes up here
please
so everything that is here that i'm
about to go through is yours you take
full ownership and responsibility of
everything yes sir now do you have any
plants
or fruits no no no
currencies of 10 000 or more no
usually when we have families arriving
from vietnam they on average have about
five boxes i'm gonna go through your
bags what i need to do is just stand
behind the yellow line right there as i
do as such please make no sudden
movements towards me okay
we have about 14 boxes
looks like fish cakes
uh
a lot of fish cake what is this one
fish
some cashews
they love having their home food like
fish squid they bring clothes
and medications
let's not forget about those
[Music]
that's coding this is prohibited
it's the schedule two narcotic
no big one when we go out in the country
and my husband's really bad and coffin
thinks that my country is really cold
and with my taste that's it
you got this stuff everywhere don't you
how many of those did you buy how many
boxes
the codeine
that's it
everybody's coughing now isn't that
amazing
so that's otc that's over the counter
that's for dermatitis
yeah these right here are the ones i'm
worried about right now
i just bought only one my thick one
mm-hmm
let me check these right here okay
it says neocodeine on it
but we're going to do the right thing
and find more information on it that'll
tell us what we got
these are the 500 milligrams
my least favorite thing is waking up
early
[Music]
the plan was to wait till he came out to
make the arrest on this individual
but
since we have not seen the subject go
out of the residence and his vehicles
parked out front we decided to go into
the residence and try to make the arrest
we're just waiting for a helicopter to
help cover the rear of the house
i've been doing this for i think about
my 16th year now and i have an inkling
that something isn't right
it's extremely easy to leave if you
wanted to you know get on a boat and go
to the bahamas we would not have any way
of knowing
[Music]
now we're just getting set up uh give me
a few and i'll let you know when i get
good eyes on there we go we're gonna go
ahead and try to make contact with our
subject here
[Music]
all right
uh
[Music]
can you call them out please leave the
door open leave the door open
can you go over here
any weapons or anything inside the house
no no no firearms at all
nobody else inside right okay we're
gonna go ahead and check the house all
right
we do have a warrant yeah
windows not home
i'm not gonna find window in there right
you don't seem too sure
[Music]
all right good yeah
it's the police
carefree
hey
okay nice and slow
raj you guys are clear thanks for the
assistant
thank you guys
[Music]
stay right there okay
the sun answered we asked if his father
was home he said no obviously we said
we're going to check inside he said his
dad definitely wasn't home he left last
night
went to the last bedroom back of the
house and he was down crouched in the
corner so we were able to take him into
custody no issues so we're going to
transport him over to the office
the rest was best case scenario subject
was taken into custody nobody was
injured
so
all in all successful operation
down here in the marine smuggling
environment we're still at it and we're
going to continue to try to identify
folks who are supplying cocaine other
vessels and other individuals here in
the u.s who are facilitating you know
other smuggling ventures
all right copy brother thanks
i just got a call that our gang unit has
a search warrant as part of another
investigation that also involves cocaine
being smuggled aboard boats from the
caribbean
so we're heading to start preparing for
the larger takedown that's going to
happen
[Music]
this it's a neocodeine
and
it's a derivative of codeine that's
reported in the countries of lebanon and
vietnam those are the two countries that
produce this
[Music]
being a derivative of is sort of like i
guess you would say hemp versus
marijuana is there some there yeah it's
to the
itty-bitty minute percent
so
first time pat on the hand
don't do it again
do not bring this into the united states
again
do you understand yes sir
let me tell you
next time somebody go over there i tell
them
okay me no more no more that one
now i got it
you remember me
never never all right
put that stuff away no more i guess so
thank you all right you guys have a
great day
we're going to release them and there
will be information for the next time
they enter
to look for
these items
if they have it they've been warned and
at that time they'll be receiving a
penalty
and a seizure on these items
some don't know and you can't hold that
against them
some of them do know and they've been
doing it for a while and they supply
their store with it
i tested stuff the other day that came
back as sulfuric acid so think about
that you're buying something outside the
country you're bringing it in
you're actually killing somebody
we have to protect the united states
that's what it's all about and i take
that to heart
thank you bye-bye
[Music]
all right
this is your bag everything inside is
yours
let me get your dragon
she's very disorganized so right now
it's just about having a thorough
interview because we want to be able to
catch them and alive
so you said you want to buy about how
much clothes
but you got to pay for that yeah
and that's after transportation
food
okay
how much money are you bringing in in
cash 500
and you're 100 sure that credit card has
two thousand dollars yeah
now
if there isn't then you're getting
caught in a lot
i wouldn't be caught on a line for my
daughter i have to load it it's a
reloadable card
i'll be right back
we have a lot of passengers who come
here with the same story they come to
shop to the united states to resell it
in their countries however most of the
times those passengers actually have a
plan
and she's only coming for one day
normally when these people come they
come for three four days because if you
don't find something that one day and
you go back home what was the purpose of
your trip
so we have to make sure that she's
authentic
because we have had incidents in the
past where we've had passengers come in
with the same story who will have
swallowed cocaine
she hasn't paid for the hotel she
admitted she hasn't paid for until she
has 500 bucks in cash she said she has
some money in her credit card but
you think this will work here well
that's like a debit card gift card
basically yeah
what's your name
is that her name
no what is her different name karina it
says karina that's not gonna let her use
it
then there's something she's not telling
us or she's just lying
can't put her in the path
yeah
put your stuff away and come follow me
okay
i'm gonna put her in a private room to
speak to her a little bit more see if i
can get the tooth out of her and see
where the story goes from here
take a seat right here
i'm gonna search your body
[Music]
what's your daughter's name
so the debit card is hers right
she's just
she's too calm
she's been through this before obviously
she's been put in the room before she's
been patted down this morning she said
that she mainly shows jordan's
and that um last time she stayed with
three months there was a few drones that
were dropping like new drones
that she was
exporting back home through here and
that's where she stayed here
last minute ticket low income you know
what make phone calls call her daughter
right see the story makes sense if it
makes no sense if it's completely off
then we'd write it up too
give me your daughter's number i'm gonna
give her a call
okay wait for me
now let's check the phone see what you
see yeah
she literally has three contacts right
now
i don't know what you want to do
i want to see if she actually leaves
tomorrow you can have outbound check if
she's taking stuff out she doesn't take
anything out she came and she passed
or she's taking out cash
i don't have enough evidence to keep her
but every piece of information that she
gave me i couldn't verify anything
come this way
so i'm gonna make sure that we have an
inspection on her way back to trinidad
make sure she's taking out merchandise
i'm gonna be looking after you okay
after make sure you leave tomorrow if
she's not then she's lying about
something
we got santiago landed about a half hour
ago
still a passport sir dominican republic
is one of the source countries that we
have what's up what are you doing you
have your bags checked in you can't go
by gender
race age there'll be a senior citizen
bringing it in a wheelchair
all right i'm gonna take a quick look
inside of your bag and then you'll be on
your way all right
come this way
have you ever been inspected before
no
i'm gonna open one of these okay what is
this
oh boy
yup
wow all this stuff
so one of our offices found boxes and
cases these are antibiotics yeah only a
few thousand pills here man
this is cialis anti flu kind of like
tylenol scattered viagra is over there
all different types of viagras liquid
virgin
pill version injectable version
massageable version all made and sold in
dominican republic
give me the pill
sedan phil will pop up on this right
away every time so
wow comes up as nothing it says that
it's not found
definitely counterfeit
taking counterfeit pills you don't know
what you're ingesting in your body they
could have fentanyl and fentanyl is
killing people left and right nowadays
everything is not allowed by the fda so
now pretty much it's seasonable
i think she tried to use the wheelchair
as an excuse it throws you off a little
bit because you think little grandma is
not going to bring anything in
depending your status you can actually
be deported and banned from ever
entering the united states
we have information that cocaine is
being smuggled from the bahamas on
vessels it's being sold from a trailer
here in the miami area
the trailer is what we call a trap house
which means nobody actually lives there
it's just used to sell narcotics
so we are currently on our way to this
place to execute a narcotic search horn
the trap house is in the area with a lot
of gang activity
and the subjects have a lengthy criminal
history involving violence
we also have intelligence indicating
that these subjects may be carrying
firearms
so we're utilizing the hsi miami special
response team we're here to
enhance everybody's safety that's the
only reason we existed
let's go
police
thank you
[Music]
this is going over a fence
let me see your head step towards me do
it now
got him they got him guys
[Music]
everybody's care inside yeah
there was one guy man in the trap house
the individual that ran away but he was
caught right down the street
the operation went exactly the way we
wanted it to almost textbook we were
able to conduct a breach of the
fortified fence on the exterior there
was no threats or anybody in the way so
we were able to do that safely so we did
have the primary subject hop a fence we
were able to call that over the radio so
he was taken into custody
we have search teams that are going
through the location now looking for
narcotics firearms other evidence
as far as i'm concerned this operation
could not have gone better for us
[Music]
good
morning
the day before i stop this female coming
from the caribbean she told me she's
coming to purchase clothing she owns a
store in trinidad and told me she's
leaving today
we have an inspection outgoing i want to
make sure she leaves and i want to make
sure she takes back merchandise if she
doesn't leave then we have a problem and
she leaves with no merchandise we have
an even bigger problem maybe she came
and she passed penalties
[Music]
says love i see
[Music]
i got her
hello i am is your passport police how
you doing
you coming with family no no
check your luggage and you'll be on your
way
inside i'm gonna carry on yeah
okay
what was the purpose of the trip
um
oh okay
when you came into the us
so yesterday
just one day it's not enough time to
shop it's too late
and when you came in how much money you
brought into the us cash money
at five weeks
oh then how much money are you taking
back home
no cash you weren't sure you spent it
all here oh okay pretty good
this is a new stuff or your your stuff
your stuff
do you have any receipt of the stuff you
bought
okay it's good
after checking her backs we feel like
the purpose she initially told me is
legitimate so i'm gonna go ahead and
release the passenger right now
we get a lot more negatives and
positives
but i'm gonna keep looking we're gonna
keep talking and who knows maybe we'll
actually find something
thank you for your time have a good
flight
what are you bringing back with you from
from over there yes
anybody give you anything to bring nope
try it together yeah
all right come on let me take the bag
right
anything to declare
[Music]
you wear these
give me a second all right
so pedro
so you can see how it's darker on the
bottom like really like dense very dense
and completely off the swing
yep they're loaded
oh definitely
[Music]
there you go white powder
from the odor i'm gonna say it's cocaine
this is the sole of the shoe
and that yellow packet is loaded
get the test kit
oh it's so thick
there you go blue
positive for cocaine
i'm just gonna take you to another area
to process you all right
your wife know about this
just not trying to be lying to it
your wife know about this
she does
so why she acting like she don't know
about it
the only thing that's loaded is those
shoes
look how wide these are
[Music]
wow the smell is so strong oh my god
it's like a weird mustache film yes
this is what we do all the time it's a
cat of the mouse game you know
one finds it everybody helps it's a team
effort just your thumb like that
so much hard work we got a lot of
negatives but when we hit it's a good
feeling
[Music]
lately we've been seeing huge trends of
people ordering stuff off of the dark
web
people have ordered fentanyl off of the
dark webs nowadays it's leaning more
towards prescription pills
and we're just trying to catch
everything that shouldn't be coming into
the country
okay you can run it
this is mail that came in late last
night we're doing routine scanning on it
to see if we can find anything
good
hold on
you can see the pills looks like a book
almost
it's labeled protein supplements
it did look like supplements but in a
lot of cases it's not the right kind of
supplements
it definitely doesn't look right
i believe it's a present lamp commonly
sold to xanax
you can tell by the bar shape
quite a lot here too
you got probably
10 or 15 000 pills here
if it was legitimate it would have some
markings on it not just pills and an
envelope we're getting these pretty
regularly it's highly addictive and
chances are these aren't prescribed for
someone they're doing this on their own
you actually don't know what you're
getting
i'm gonna get a quick weight just to
see how much it is
3 400 grams
this is a massive amount with a high
dollar value
people don't get pounds of pills a
normal person couldn't use this in a
year
so we're going to have to contact our
hsi agents and they take it from there
whether they would like to do a further
investigation on it
[Music]
all right so what'd we end up finding
approximately
a little over a kilo coke
baggies
cash
scales
how much cash do we think we found about
600 bucks see china we're still counting
it yeah
so that's crack two right
right
how many bags of crackers we got
five bucks we got loose
and the uh subject is still uh not
willing to speak to us yet is that
correct not yet okay
well this is good with this kind of
weight in his possession maybe this will
uh make him more amenable to sharing
what's going on with us
[Music]
for a neighborhood like this for them to
be sitting on thirty thousand dollars
worth of narcotics and just selling it
willy-nilly is pretty significant
our next steps on this are going to be
trying to turn this into more of a
federal case we're going to be looking
to identify the broader network that we
want to pursue for investigations and
potential prosecution
outstanding work good job
excellent
the residents are going to be able to
sleep peacefully tonight knowing that
these guys are not selling this amount
of dope to the citizens of miami
[Music]
you