Contraband: Seized at Sea (2024) s01e09 Episode Script

1
Cartels use legal cargo shipments
to smuggle cocaine by sea.
Illicit loads have risen by more
than 150% in the last ten years.
With 5,000 container ships arriving
into Port Newark every year,
it's a major target for the
traffickers of illegal narcotics.
Today, Customs and Border Protection
officers John and Lee
have obtained some solid intel.
We received info from
our counterparts in the FBI
that we have a shipment
from Colombia of possible sugar
that might contain some narcotics.
The intelligence is that
there are 500 kilos of cocaine,
worth 25 million dollars
inside a container.
We're gonna get it offloaded and over
to our warehouse for inspections.
In 2019, officers at Port Newark
discovered 77 million dollars
worth of cocaine
in a container from South America.
And there are strong
indications this cocaine
is coming from the same cartel.
So, precautions have been taken.
And we wanna make sure there now ways
that they can get in
to access to the container.
As the six ton container is removed,
security is tight.
Because of the information,
we don't want anyone coming up
and trying to get inside,
so we have eyes all around it.
Because the cartel will be
determined to keep officers
from seizing their load again.
It is estimated that up to 40%
of all cocaine shipments
are intercepted by authorities.
So, South American cartels
have to constantly devise
new ways to get their contraband through.
Recently, they've been dropping
their narcotics by boat,
off the Florida coast
for local associates to pick up.
It's mid-morning in the Florida Keys
and Border Patrol Agent, Nick,
is responding to a an intriguing
report that came into headquarters.
So, what's happened this morning is,
station received a call
that some recreational boaters
had found a package,
approximately eight miles
off out in the Atlantic
and brought it ashore.
It's been packaged in a manner
in which we suspect it's narcotics.
One of my colleagues
has taken possession of it
and they're bringing it back
to the station now.
With only these limited details to go on,
agent Nick arrives at the station
to help process the load.
These bundles were originally
wrapped in plastic
before they were dropped into the ocean.
And they're in good company.
We are seeing a steadily increase
of wash ups and right now,
it's been a pretty steady flow of
about one to two wash ups per week.
To make sure it is narcotics,
the bricks are tested by agent Nick
and agent Otolio.
These are kinda shaped like a brick,
so I suspect it's cocaine,
so we're using one of
our cocaine test kits.
Mr. Otolio here is gonna be
helping out with that,
so he just put a small sample
in the bottom of our test kit
and then from there when it changes color,
that will indicate
what is specifically is.
So, we're actually gonna be looking
for a pink and blue combination.
That's gonna indicate cocaine.
And there we have pink and blue.
Pink over a blue, so this is gonna be
testing positive for cocaine.
Now that it's been confirmed as
cocaine, agents need to weigh it all
to know just how much
the cartel has lost this time.
So here we're gonna have
25 individual bricks
of the tested positive for cocaine
and as you can see here,
it's gonna come out
to a total weight of 65 pounds.
In Florida, a pound of cocaine
costs approximately $15,500.
This is gonna be just about reaching
that million dollar threshold
or maybe a little bit more, so
definitely got a lot of value here.
It's a major concern that many
of these recent wash ups
off the Florida coast
have been as large as this one.
Over the past couple of weeks
we've been getting with the cocaine.
It's been roughly ranging
between 20 to 30 bricks,
so this currently the average
of what we've seen
for the washes we have been dealing
with in the past month.
With cartels making astronomical profits
from the cocaine that does get through,
they can risk some not making it.
Even so, a million dollar load
gone missing will be noticed
and cartel operatives will be out
at sea, searching for it.
Agents need to find out exactly
where this was found, fast,
so they can hopefully
intercept the cartel members.
FAJARDO - PUERTO RICO
The waters around Puerto Rico
are designated as a high intensity
drug trafficking area
by America's Department of Justice.
In 2023, U.S. Customs
and Border Protection agents here
seized over 115 tons of cocaine.
PUERTO RICO
FAJARDO
It's midnight on the east coast.
Mike 2802, this is Mike 814
radio check, over.
Yeah, you copy.
Marine agents have received intelligence
about a boat suspected
of carrying narcotics,
coming from the U.S. Virgin Islands
45 miles away.
Radio check is good. All lines clear.
Tonight's operation is under the
control of vessel commander, Victor.
We'll go north-east Puerto Rico.
There's information of a vessel
traveling from St. Thomas.
This is not a typical time
to be navigating
from U.S. Vis back to Puerto Rico.
The plan is to intercept the vessel at sea
and agent Justin
is ready for any eventuality.
And if we get a lights out vessel
that's not stopping,
I'll be the one initiating
our marine warning shots,
marine disabling fire protocol in
order to get the vessel to heave two.
He's my tactical boarding officer.
And then we have Pedro.
He will be assuming cover position
if we have to do any engagement.
The information is
that this could be a large shipment.
There's actually some intel on both ends.
I think something
might go down here tonight.
Agents are deploying two boats
to give them the best chance of
catching the smugglers red handed.
We had enough people for two vessels,
so one of them is gonna go north
and the other's gonna go south.
- Everyone good back there?
- All good.
All right.
To ensure they have
the element of surprise,
they're operating without lights.
Navigating through here
at night can be very challenging
if you have to engage in a pursuit
and some kind of vessel
that do not wanna stop.
Agent Pedro scans the radar
to identify any vessels
that could be the suspect boat.
He sees something, it could be
a potential boat moving here.
This time of night,
any vessel travellng in the area
could be the target.
Agent Victor brings the boat to
a stop in the shelter of an island,
near the suspected smuggling route.
It's legitimate intel, so we're
just standing by here right now.
After a half an hour, there are
no signs of anything suspicious.
And we're patrolling right now
and nothing is going on.
Romeo Tango, what's your position?
The news comes through on the radio.
I think I've found your vessel.
PORT NEWARK - NEW JERSEY
In Port Newark, Customs
and Border Protection officers
are following up on a piece of intel.
Allegedly, a Colombian cartel
has concealed
25 million dollars worth of cocaine
in a container carrying sugar.
Officers have removed the container
from the ship under tight security.
We're just looking
for any signs of tampering
or any, any different
weld marks on the container
to see if there's any anomalies
where they've opened up the rails.
So far, it looks like the container
is fairly decent shape
and it looks pretty new.
We haven't seen any anomalies yet.
While he waits for a truck
to move the container
to a safe place for inspection,
Officer John receives more details of
where the narcotics
are supposed to be hidden.
I just got a phone call from our TFOs
that works with the DEA and the FBI.
He just notified me
with some more information
about the consigning of this container.
They're claiming it could be
one of three places.
The container structure
or the commodity or the roof rails.
So, we're gonna check all three.
The container is going to be taken
to the X-ray area
and officers keep a close
watch every step of the way.
We don't know
who the possible recipient is
for the contraband that might be inside,
so we're trying to have security
on the front and the back end,
to keep eyes on all sides
of the container.
If the intel is correct,
it's essential nothing happens
to the 25 million dollar cargo of cocaine.
In case there is any internal conspiracy,
if there is, at least
we'll have eyes everywhere
to see if anyone tries to
come up to the container, so.
This is our NII yard, this is where
the X-ray is gonna come out.
The driver's gonna line up the
container over here by the X-ray
and they're just gonna drive right
through and try and get an image.
Once in position, the container is scanned
with a mobile X-ray truck.
And the preliminary results
come back quickly.
How does it look?
He's going to print out the image.
Check your front structure.
It's a little more dense
than everything else.
The full X-ray results should give
officers a clearer picture.
And when the container is open,
they immediately see red flags.
- That's like freshly re-done.
- It looks like it's overspray.
- Who knows?
- Yeah.
But there's a couple of patches there.
Officers know that fresh paint
is often used to conceal
modifications to a container structure.
It's looking like the intel
could be right on the money.
FORT LAUDERDALE - FLORIDA
It's estimated that the U.S. cocaine
market is worth $36.5 billion a year
and 10 percent of that
is smuggled through Florida.
In Fort Lauderdale, agent Gary
of the Border Patrol K-9 unit
is out with his detector dog, Braff,
checking a beach where drugs
have washed up in the past.
What we do is that when he's out
and I'm in uniform,
he knows the odors of narcotics
can be anywhere and everywhere.
So, when we get out to the beach,
I've already imprinted on him that
there could be a productive area.
With more and more drug wash ups
happening along Florida's coastline,
regular patrols are needed.
Good boy. There's a good boy.
But before they manage to find anything,
agent Gary and Braff
are called away on another job.
They're needed at the port of Palm Beach,
to inspect a recently arrived shipment
suspected of carrying drugs.
Kennel. Good. Kennel, buddy.
Agent Gary has been a K-9 handler
with U.S. Border Patrol
for 17 years.
K-9 handling is my passion.
We see the K-9s
more than we do our families.
So, you get that really close bond.
Agent Gary has been with 2-year-old
Belgian Malinois, Braff, for a year.
Braff never gets a case of the
Mondays and never has a bad day.
And I have a little less
than a year before I retire
and I believe I'll definitely miss
a lot of the aspects of this job.
At the port of Palm Beach,
agent Gary checks out
the shipment of fruit
from the Dominican Republic,
before Braff will check for narcotics.
Today we have papaya
on one cargo container
and then we have avocados
on the other cargo container.
The port of Palm Beach
is the fourth busiest container port
of Florida's 14 deep water ports,
and they only request a K-9 unit
if they have intel of possible smuggling.
They do have some kind of indicator,
either the shipper has a previous
history or something to that effect.
Dogs like Braff are trained
to target specific scents
and find the highest concentrations
of the odor known as the source.
And when found are rewarded with a toy.
He has to find source, he can't just,
"Oh, I smell that, give me my toy."
He has to find source
and then he'll indicate by sitting,
staring at source and then what I'll
do is what we call "palm out"
meaning I will get my toy
and make it appear
that it's been pulled out of source.
Then I will give it to the dog.
With 40 times more of their brain
devoted to smell than humans
You ready, buddy?
these dogs can detect substances
at concentrations equivalent
to a single drop of liquid
in 20 Olympic swimming pools.
You ready? Good boy.
Gary fetches Braff
and they go straight to work.
Up. Good boy.
Where is it?
Good boy.
Within less than 10 minutes,
a palate has Braff's attention.
By sitting, Braff is indicating
he's found something,
and a thorough investigation
will soon get underway.
It's morning in Fort Lauderdale.
Before Customs and Border protection
agents Fritz, Mike and Alex,
set off on patrol,
they've been alerted
that a boat from Fargo
in North Dakota, is in the marina.
Fargo, North Dakota, just odd.
We normally have like, odd boats show up.
We haven't seen it around this area
before, so just piques our interest.
Landlocked, Fargo is approximately
1,500 miles form any sea or ocean.
We're gonna go talk to 'em,
see what he's up to today,
just do a quick inspection.
See what he's up to, where he's going.
As immigration agents
and as customs and enforcement,
we can check his documents for the vessel,
we can check his registration,
his hid number, we can do that.
That's what we're gonna do right now.
The agents approach the boat
and immediately begin their inquires.
- How you guys doing?
- Hi, guys.
- What's going on?
- Okay, sir.
We are heading to Bimini and then Nassau.
- He lives in Nassau.
- I live there.
Oh, nice.
- Are you Bohemian?
- I am.
- Who's the owner?
- He is.
You the owner?
And you have the documents,
- your registration, your ID?
- He doesn't have registration,
he hasn't registered the boat yet in
the Bahamas. We've a bill of sale.
You have the documents on your vessel?
- Yes sir.
- All right, gonna go.
Although the boat says
it's from Fargo on the stern,
the owner is from the Bahamas.
Needing to know more,
agent Alex follows him into the cabin.
- Any weapons on board, sir? No?
- Negative.
So, it's not registered yet?
I think the registration here
has just expired.
Where was it registered before?
Which state? It was registered
recent in the Bahama.
- No.
- Registered in Florida.
Okay, so you should have a record there.
When you bought it?
Oh, you just recently bought it.
- I bought it.
- Okay.
Agent Alex quickly ascertains
that it may say Fargo,
North Dakota on the boat,
but it was actually purchased
recently in Florida.
- Okay, you have your ID?
- Yeah.
Okay, you got your passport.
Well, this is a good deal,
you only paid 14,000?
It's not as good a deal as it looks.
- Yeah, you got a lot of maintenance?
- A lot of work.
Lot of maintenance, yeah. If you
want, we go back outside, it's hot.
Since the boat's documents seem in order,
agent Alex moves on to checking
if any customs violations
have been committed.
Do you have any merchandise up to
$10,000 that you wanna declare?
- Negative.
- Nothing?
- Have you ever been arrested?
- No sir.
Nothing at all, okay.
I'm retired law enforcement,
not that that makes any difference.
- In Bahamas?
- Yes.
Agent Alex returns the man's documents,
satisfied nothing illegal is going on
and the team leaves the men to make
the 50 mile journey to the Bahamas.
- You have a great day. Bye, Cap.
- Bye, gentlemen.
- You guys be safe out there, okay?
- Thank you.
- Thanks a lot for what you guys do.
- Thank you very much, Cap.
We appreciate it.
While the boat's history
remains a mystery,
all its documentation was fine.
The owner is an
ex-Bohemian cop. Retire.
He said he's just going for fishing
and enjoy his retirement about.
And everything checked up pretty good.
Now the team sets off to go out
and patrol the waters
off the coast of Florida.
FAJARDO - PUERTO RICO
850 nautical miles away,
on Puerto Rico's east coast,
marine agents have been waiting
to intercept a boat
smuggling narcotics
from St. Thomas
in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
I think I've found your vessel.
When they received information
that a boat seen coming
from St. Thomas has been
stopped by the second team.
Another vessel was able to stop
a vessel traveling from St. Thomas.
We would go check it out.
Since it matches the description
of the one from their intel,
the crew immediately heads to where
the suspect boat has been taken.
When they arrive,
the vessel has already docked
and its 5 passengers disembarked.
Did you take a picture of the PR numbers?
Agent Pedro joins the team
searching the vessel.
- Were you by the island?
- St. Thomas?
No.
Right away, the boat captain
lies about their journey.
So, he stated he came from Culebra.
The second time they asked
he answered he came from Culebra.
And the third time they stated they
were coming from St. Thomas.
By initially claiming he came
from the Puerto Rican island of Culebra,
just east of the mainland, the
captain has made a major mistake.
Lying to an agent is a big red flag
and now they are convinced
they have the right boat.
One by one, they will be
interviewed by other agents.
The operator of the vessel looks nervous.
We will see how these end up.
The five men's IDs are checked
and every nook and cranny of the boat
is searched for any narcotics
that may be hidden.
In the Florida Keys, U.S. Customs
and Border Protection agent Nick
has just processed
a million dollars of cocaine
found by two fishermen in the sea.
So, right now, I'm going to
meet with the individuals
that did discover the package
that was out there on the water.
I wanna go meet with them, we'll see
what information they have to share
from when they found it,
and maybe anything that would
be of any useful information.
Agent Nick knows
that time is of the essence
because this much cocaine
will definitely be missed
by the cartel that dropped it off.
It was a big package that they did find.
The sheer value being over a million
dollars, it is a lot of money.
Money causes a lot of greed to people
and do a lot of violence,
so the individuals that were
involved with that bundle,
they are out there, looking for it.
The sooner the agents get more details,
the sooner they can send
a patrol boat out to the location
to try and catch the cartel
operatives looking for their load.
Gentlemen, I appreciate you coming down.
- No probs.
- What kinda stuck out
when you guys were on the water?
We were about, 7-8 miles out of Islamorada
and we were actually fishing,
trawling and as we were riding by,
Kevin says, "I think there's
a suitcase floating there."
Was there any other boaters out there?
There was one that we passed,
but they were leaving as we came around,
and by the time we got it out
of the water, there's nobody, really.
- Where'd you guys launch from?
- Harry Harris.
We came out, straight out of Harry Harris
and then came south across the drop off.
Agent Nick goes back to base
with the information of exactly
where the drugs were found.
With ever increasing amounts
of drugs dumped at sea,
the chances are more will be spotted.
In the meantime, agents start patrolling
the vicinity of the drop off,
hoping they'll find the cartel members
looking for their missing
million dollar package.
1,200 miles due north in Port Newark,
Customs and Border Protection officers
are acting on intel that 25 million
dollars worth of cocaine
is hidden in a container from Colombia,
allegedly carrying sugar.
Officers believe they have found evidence
that the container
may have been tampered with
so they immediately to check to see
if it has any false walls.
So, right now we have a range finder,
so we'll just shoot it from end to end
to see what the length
of the container is.
The range finder allows the officers
to accurately measure the dimensions
of the interior of the container.
Anything different
from factory specifications
means it's been altered.
- 40 feet.
- So no wall, no false walls.
It looks like the length of the
container is correct, it's 40 feet.
It's nothing like shoved inside,
like, the gaps and stuff, right?
- There's nothing on the ground.
- You going in?
Office Lee moves into the interior
of the container for a closer look.
We're just checking
the fame of the container,
we're checking the walls, the roof
to see if there's any markings
or any different sounds, like
something could be inside the wall.
We're just going around tapping.
Everything seems to be
checking out so far.
So, but we're gonna continue
to hop on the roof in a little bit
and see if we can see any markings
from the outside.
Shipping container walls
are made of two sheets of maritime
grade corrugated steel,
which results in hollow spaces
that can be exploited by cartels.
So, right down in this area,
this little rail here,
they'll cut out a square here
and then they'll take the narcotics
and push it down in a tube and then
once all the narcotics are in,
they'll take that piece of the cut
out, they'll put it back in.
They'll re-tack weld it and then
take Bondo, smooth it over,
sand it and repaint it
to make it look like it was factory.
But it doesn't look like that method
has been utilized this time.
No, it looks like the container
and the structure is pretty intact.
We checked both sides of the rails,
we don't see any Bondo
or anything out of the ordinary.
Looks like for now,
the structure on top is good to go.
After a visual inspection
of the container has found nothing,
now it's K-9 Siri's job,
to try and find the contraband.
Siri uses his 300 million scent receptors
to sniff the whole container.
If he detects anything,
he'll signal by sitting.
But, there's no signal,
meaning the contraband
must be incredibly well hidden.
The full X-ray image
of the container comes back
and it's frustrating news.
So, we got the image up.
I don't really see any concerns
about the frame or anything.
Commodity looks dark.
So, I mean, it could be in there.
As far as I'm concerned,
the frame and stuff,
I don't really see anything.
With the container's rails
and structure cleared,
the third and final place
the intel mentioned
is the Colombian sugar itself.
Now, the 1,000 bags need to be
X-rayed, one by one.
The Bahama's 700 islands and keys
and its proximity to the U.S.
make it an ideal conduit for smuggling.
And traffickers regularly try to blend in
with pleasure craft around Florida.
It's early in the morning and off
the coast of Fort Lauderdale,
marine agents Fritz, Alex and Mike
are now out on patrol.
They notice a boat speeding
towards the mainland
from the direction of the Bahamas.
- Check it out now.
- Yeah.
At this time of the morning,
most pleasure craft
are heading out, not in,
so the agents decide to investigate.
I'll do the talking.
You stay at the helm.
It's potentially suspicious behavior.
Yo, gentlemen, United States Customs,
how we doing today?
- How're you doing?
- Good, where are you coming from?
Off shore, 600 feet.
- Okay. Where are you going now?
- Heading home, Fort Lauderdale.
- You catch anything out there?
- Two dolphin.
All right, man. How big?
I wish we had more, they bit early,
they didn't bite late.
Sometimes known as dolphin,
the mahi-mahi is relatively common
in the Atlantic waters off Florida.
- Any heavy traffic out there today?
- Nothing, almost nobody.
Nobody?
All right, you have a good day, all right?
- Yeah you guys too, be safe.
- Hey, you too.
Satisfied,
the agents let the fishermen go.
The reason we stopped it,
it was the first we saw coming in.
Most are going out right now.
If not, they'd be staying out
there for a little bit,
it's early in the morning.
It's rare to see somebody come back
with fishing lines that early.
But he seems to be a local, he went
out super early, didn't go too far.
So, he said he caught
his catch for the day,
and it was a pretty quick day,
so he's heading in.
The team continues patrolling
the waters around Florida.
At the port of Palm Beach in Florida,
Border Patrol K-9, Braff, was brought in
to inspect this shipment of fruit
from the Dominican Republic,
suspected of hiding narcotics.
Within minutes, he indicated
he'd found something of interest.
Oh, that's a good boy, he catch it now.
That's a good boy.
Oh, what a good boy.
Handler, agent Gary immediately
rewards Braff with his toy
and then looks to see
what he's sniffed out.
I believe that is one kilo of cocaine.
Considering the cocaine was hidden
in four tons of boxed fruit,
it's an impressive find.
The dog's ability
to sniff stuff out is amazing.
They have technology that they want
to make the dog obsolete,
but they can't get better than a dog.
So, that's another reason
why I love doing this.
Smuggling single packages is rare
and the chances are high
that more is hidden.
So agent Gary and Braff
continue their inspection.
Good boy.
After and hour, Braff finishes
checking all the cargo
with no further finds.
He did not alert on anything
or indicate, no.
The case is handed over for investigation
and the package
stored securely pending testing.
Without Braff, those narcotics
would have ended up on American streets.
These dogs, it's very unique.
They say the selection test
for picking these dogs,
that only one percent of the whole
canine population in the whole world
would be able to pass this test.
It's 3:00 a.m. on the east coast
of Puerto Rico.
After receiving intel about
a boat smuggling narcotics
from the U.S. Virgin Islands,
a suspect vessel has been stopped.
When interviewed, the captain lied
about where they came from.
- Were you by the island St. Thomas?
- No.
Leading agents to believe this
is the boat they're looking for.
We have to make a complete search
to make sure there's nothing on the boat.
We want the picture of the
Picture them and then run it.
Since boats have lots of
hard to access places
where contraband can be hidden,
a cavity inspecting endoscope is used.
We are using the scope
because sometimes we cannot
see through small holes,
for example, we're just speakers
where the cables come out
and you can see inside of the speaker box.
Shine up with your flashlight.
Speaker boxes are a favorite hiding
place of smugglers.
Point it down at the back.
But this one is empty.
The agents finish their search,
having found nothing
and the travelers are free to go.
So, the result were negative,
so we release them
and they are on their way home.
But if this wasn't the boat
agents received intel on,
then the smuggling vessel
is still out there.
In Port Newark,
officers have been searching
for 25 million dollars worth of cocaine.
They're working off intel
that it's hidden somewhere
in a container of sugar from Colombia.
So far, they've come up empty handed.
We checked in the container,
we checked on top of the roof,
down below, inside, on the floor.
I'm very happy with like,
the container overall.
We're gonna take a deeper look into
the commodity of the container.
It means officers will need to put
all 1,000 bags through the X-ray.
Still hopeful.
I think it can literally be anywhere,
so we're gonna go through
every single bag,
send every one through the X-ray
and hopefully find something.
But yeah, it's gonna be a big job,
it's gonna be a long time
and it's gonna be a lot of muscle,
putting some elbow grease into it
trying to dig down, getting a little
dirty trying to find something.
They believe the odds
are stacked in their favor
because Colombia is ranked 16th
in the world for producing sugar,
but number one for cocaine.
We're throwing each bag individually
on, going through each image,
seeing if we can find any
discrepancies among the image.
When hunting for contraband,
Customs and Border Protection
takes every precaution possible.
- Super dark.
- Yeah?
After an hour and almost 200 bags,
the offices are struggling.
We're gonna change
inspection method up a bit.
We're not getting
clear images with the X-ray,
everything's so condensed, so thick.
Everything just looks like a big blob.
The next method is probing every bag
for any hidden foreign bodies.
A lot of times they'll take the contraband
and put it inside the sugar
and then they'll wrap it around.
So, we take these little probes,
we probe the sugar.
If the probe doesn't go through,
it hits something,
you know something's inside.
Every single bag will need to be checked
to ensure nothing is missed.
Intel was like, 500 kilos,
there's a lot in here,
so you can literally put one pallet,
we'll put a couple of narcotics
in each pallet,
so, if we don't probe
all of them you can miss it.
Very simple.
Brown sugar? Smells good.
There's like, eight more.
It's painstaking work, made harder
by the searing summer heat.
Trying to say positive,
trying to stay positive.
Trying. Trying to say positive.
It's so hot, it's brutal right now.
Six left.
After another hour,
officers are still coming up empty.
So far, nothing. Hopefully in the
next five we'll find something.
We'll see.
- Still got hopes.
- Yeah.
- Still got hopes.
- Keep working away.
They feel different, right?
No, they all feel
exactly the same. Heavy.
Last two.
Almost done.
It's been three long hours
and they finally finished
probing all 1,000 bags.
That's it, we just went through
about 40,000 pounds of sugar.
We literally probed every single one,
100 percent on the container.
Unfortunately as of right now
it's still negative,
but we're gonna take a couple of bags
and bring 'em over to our Gemini and
test some sugar, just in case.
This is the last trick
they have up their sleeves.
The officers will test
the contents of the bags
in case it is cocaine disguised as sugar.
So, this machine helps
us identify narcotics.
We're gonna run a quick test
on the commodity
just to see if there's any narcotics
laced in the commodity.
Cartels have been known to modify cocaine,
to disguise it as common substances,
which is then extracted using
a chemical process.
If there is cocaine within the
sugar, this detector will find it.
It uses laser beams and the
wavelengths of the different material
to identify such narcotics.
So, hopefully we'll get a result.
It just takes some time
to see if it has any recognition
of the item in its catalog.
And comes up as sugar.
Unfortunately negative
or results on the narcotics.
Despite an exhaustive inspection,
this time the intel didn't get a result.
It's a little frustrating but you
know, every day we get new intel,
from all of our counterparts,
so you know, they say,
"There's always tomorrow," you know?
It's like fishing.
You don't have your best days
when you're out on the lake.
It's the thrill and when you
do catch something.
We wanna catch something and
you know, make a difference.
It may not have happened this time,
but with millions of tons
of cargo arriving
into Port Newark on a daily basis,
it's only a matter of time
before officers strike it lucky.
I wanna go home and
take a shower first, to cool off.
Absolutely.
Maybe have a pint, if I can say that.