Contraband: Seized at Sea (2024) s01e11 Episode Script

1
An estimated one million vehicles
are stolen in the United States each year,
worth a total of $8 billion.
At Port Newark, New Jersey,
Customs and Border Protection
Officers are always on the lookout
to prevent these stolen vehicles
from being smuggled out
of the country by criminal gangs.
Our targeting team has identified
two containers of interest
that we've now moved over
to the warehouse.
We're going to head over there
and see what's going on with them.
Intel suggests some shipments
are hiding stolen goods,
and Customs and Border Protection
Officer Paul
is on his way to investigate them.
We suspect that it holds vehicles.
The manifest shows it is personal
effects going to West Africa.
We're going to have the container scanned.
The container is x-rayed.
The paperwork shows it should be
full of household items.
But the scan reveals that is
definitely not what's inside.
This is an image that we just took
out in the yard.
Clearly, it has two vehicles.
One of them looks like an SUV.
The other one looks like a Sedan.
I suspect at least one of
these vehicles to be stolen.
That's my hope.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Just 50 miles of water separates it
from the Bahamas.
This morning, Vessel Commander Fritz,
backed up by Agents Alex and Mike,
are patrolling the waters.
Bay is clear.
They've received a tip-off that
a high-powered boat
will be leaving the Bahamas
with a stash of narcotics on board.
Air Support is providing them
with aerial information.
We got a plane up. It's calling out
targets for Miami now,
they'll come up and fight for us.
So when we both leave the Bahamas,
we'll get called.
It's not long before the aircraft
spots a suspicious boat
heading towards the Florida coast.
All right.
56489795348 RED
- You got it, Mike?
- There it is.
That's a good copy.
They have a vessel coming in.
It's got two guys on a boat without a top
with a bunch of bags in the front.
Sounds like it's legit target.
Sometimes people ride that way,
and don't know that they look
like drug runners.
Drug runners often hide narcotics
and bags ready to throw overboard
if they're being pursued.
The Agents scan the horizon looking
for the suspect vessel.
We'll wait for them to enter
our customs waters,
and once he's well-established
within our jurisdiction,
we will attempt to perform
a US Customs Inspection on him.
- We'll see how that goes.
- That's gonna be them.
I see him right there off our
starboard, in front of you Alex.
Yeah, there's two guys out there.
It's at our one o'clock.
If this is a drug smuggler,
as they suspect,
it could try to speed off at any moment.
Hand my riffle has had it there.
They ready their weapons to prepare
for the worst.
They are right in front of us.
Hey, that's him right there. There he
is. Got him.
Right in front of us.
The team makes their move
and pulls up alongside the suspect's boat.
- Coming trough.
- Not yet. Not yet.
Not yet.
Weapon on deck.
The driver soon stops.
Gentlemen, how are you doing today?
- U.S. Customs.
- Sir.
- All right, where are we coming from?
- Bimini.
Keep it in gear, about 5 knots.
We're going to come on board.
You got your passports,
identification for the vessel?
- Yes, sir.
- Okay.
Can you move forward for me, you
the one sitting down.
Captain, you just keep driving.
- Appreciate it, captain.
- No problem.
Hang on to that railing,
ti's the only thing we have.
The suspicious bags spotted from the
air are clearly visible.
Alex and Mike board the vessel
in order to further investigate.
That's close.
- That was close.
- You're good.
Where are your documents for
the vessel? Where are they?
- Is this your vessel?
- Yes, sir.
How do you know these guys?
That's my son and my best friend.
- IDs where they at?
- In my backpack which is in here.
Fritz keeps a watchful eye,
and something isn't sitting right.
The Captain is super nervous.
I mean, he's, like, really nervous.
Do we have any weapons on board
anything like that?
Yes, sir.
While having a weapon isn't illegal,
it does make the situation even tenser.
Agents want to secure the weapon quickly.
- Where are they?
- Hey, guy.
Stop reaching for everything.
Before the Captain can reach it first.
Just keep your hands still,
listen to what he's telling you.
One hundred miles south
in the Florida Keys,
the last gusts
of Hurricane Debby are petering out.
The Category One hurricane created
a significant storm surge,
which left locals with loads of
debris to clean up.
But Border Patrol Agent Nick
is recovering another load
that washes up these major storms
narcotics.
I'm headed down south towards Key West,
we received a call of a package that
has washed ashore.
It's been as a result of the storm.
From the description itself,
and just from past experiences,
it sounds like it's gonna be a wash
up of cocaine.
He's meeting an off-duty police
officer at Veterans Memorial Beach.
Hello.
I'll take it from here, okay?
The officer hands over five packages
which were found earlier by a beach-goer.
These packages could be worth
10s of thousands of dollars,
and over the past few days,
more and more have been washing up.
Agent Nick is working fast
with the clean up,
to ensure they don't fall
into the wrong hands.
So it's got to be cocaine.
It's got to be about a kilo.
Got five bricks, so five kilos, 10 pounds.
So it's all neatly packaged,
more methodically packaged.
There have been previous wash-ups
of packages like this all week
containing a symbol on the wrapper
that's linked to drug dens,
but to confirm it's narcotics inside,
Agent Nick will need to take it
to the station for analysis.
We'll process it. Get a confirmation,
but, in my experience,
it's gonna be cocaine.
Off the coast of Fort Lauderdale,
Vessel Commander Fritz, and his
team, have stopped a small boat
which has several suspicious bags
in the front.
- Do we have any weapons on board?
- Yes, sir.
As well as having a firearm on board,
the Captain is acting nervous.
Hey, guy. Stop reaching for
everything.
Keep your hands still,
listen to what he's telling you.
Where are they? Where's the weapon?
- It's locked in here.
- Sit right here.
- Drive the boat.
- Yes, sir.
This is only adding to the Agents'
suspicions
that the group could be running drugs.
He's coming in from born mostly
likely from the Bahamas
he's got bags at the front.
They look they're smugglers.
It's a typical profile
for what the smugglers do.
They throw a bunch of stuff
under the bow of the boat
to get rid of it quickly
if they get stopped by Customs,
they have weighted bags,
they throw them overboard,
and don't have dope on the boat.
Alex and Mike are carrying out
a thorough search.
Who's the registered owner of the
weapon there? You are?
It's my law enforcement weapon.
You in law enforcement?
Retired Paducah County Sheriff's Office.
The man claims to be retired law
enforcement
but that doesn't fit his jumpy behavior.
Where you coming from?
- From Bimini.
- Okay.
- You met with anybody on up here?
- No.
We were fishing over there, nothing else.
- And there's no weapons in that bag?
- No.
That's his clothes bag.
Can I open that?
Its clothes and blankets and pillows.
Mike goes through every one of the
bags in search of any contraband.
Alex carries out checks to ensure
they are who they say they are.
There's a camo backpack in there.
It's got myself and my son's passport
and other documents.
- He's your son?
- Yes, sir.
- I found the ID.
- There we go.
Very good, buddy.
- Mike these guys are good man.
- Thank you for your time.
Despite the suspicious bags on the boat,
the search has come back clean.
And the discovery of the man's ID confirms
that he is, indeed,
retired law enforcement.
Here you go cap.
I'll put it back in there for you.
So all of the men are free to go.
- Fritz we're good.
- We're good.
Ten-Four. We're getting ready to
clear this stop.
But the reasons for him being so
nervous remain a mystery.
- Thank you guys.
- Thank you, no problem.
He was, like, yeah I have firearms,
and he kept reaching for spots
where I couldn't see his hands.
Law enforcement officers knows
that hands kill people,
kill us mostly, and, as a cop,
you know you shouldn't be moving
your hands around.
If he was a former law
enforcement officer,
he should know, keep your hands
where the other guys can see them.
For Fritz's team it's back out to
protect the waters once again,
continuing the hunt for traffickers.
The Port of Newark, New Jersey.
Following a tip off from intelligence,
officers have seized a container
that is heading to West Africa.
After X-raying the contents, Customs
and Border Protection Officer Paul
has discovered that what is inside
is not what it should be.
This container is supposed to have
personal effects and household goods.
There's two vehicles in here
and there's no personal effects.
You can see one
is an SUV, another one is a Sedan.
And it's laid off out for us in the
back of the warehouse.
We'll go and confirm the VIN numbers
and make sure that they're not stolen.
They are taken out of the container
and placed in a warehouse full
of previously-seized stolen cars.
Each year, 100,000 vehicle thefts
in the United States
end up in African ports,
where they're either resold
or stripped down for parts.
Just one stolen high-end luxury car
could make a criminal gang
tens of thousands of dollars.
We have a Range Rover over here,
that came out of the container.
And the other one is the Sudan,
this is a BMW.
These particular vehicles are expensive.
Anywhere between $75 - $125,000.
Sometimes more.
Criminal gangs use specialized technology
to hack the keyless systems
on newer vehicles, often stealing
them from outside the owner's home.
Whiskey Bravo Yankee.
Right now, We'll collect the public VINs
and We'll start running them through
the system and see what comes back.
Although the shipment paperwork
is incorrect,
they won't know for certain
if these cars are stolen
until they check them
against a National Database.
Since the vehicles don't have
any license plates,
officers look for the vehicle
identification number, or VIN,
a unique code given to every vehicle
before it leaves the factory line.
The sticker looks good.
We do occasionally come across
fraudulent stickers, VIN stickers.
So, in this particular case, this one
seems to be okay.
I'm just checking the public VIN
in the window against the confidential VIN
that is here in the engine compartment,
and it does match up.
- All good, guys? All right.
- Yeah. You?
The VINs are genuine, so c ustoms
and Border Protection Officer Billy
phones through the details
to the Police Database
to find out if they are listed as stolen.
While they anxiously wait,
a second container is brought
into the warehouse for inspection.
This one is on its way to Europe,
but it's been intercepted, due to
suspicions over its paperwork.
- There're vehicles in this container?
- There's no way.
Despite being stacked with household
goods,
this time the manifest does state
that there are four cars inside.
We can clearly see the personal effects,
but the vehicles are hidden
behind all this,
so it's gonna take some time
for the warehouse
personnel to take this all out for us.
Paul's instinct is telling him
something is not right,
but in order to find out,
the officers will need to get to the cars.
We'll see what kind of gems
are hidden in the back.
Back in the Florida Keys,
following the destruction
of Hurricane Debby,
Border Patrol Agent Nick has
collected five suspicious packages
from Veterans Memorial Beach in Key West.
We've got five bricks,
so five kilos, ten pounds.
In my experience, it's gonna be cocaine.
The cocaine packages are just one of many
that have washed up
after recent hurricanes.
Believing them to be packages made
by drug smugglers,
he is taking them to the station
for analysis.
Cocaine test kit, please.
We'll take one of our test kits.
We're gonna remove some of what's in here.
We'll put it in the little test bag,
and then We'll be looking
for a certain color as it reacts
when we break that vial.
As long as this meets certain colors,
that's gonna indicate what
it is, and what we have here.
Nick only needs to test a small
amount of the powder.
Pop it in here.
It needs to go and rest
at the bottom of our test kit.
Give it a little shake, agitate it
a little bit
this is gonna test positive for cocaine.
The test glows blue, which
is a positive result for cocaine.
Nick weighs the packages.
5.8 kilos.
At nearly six kilos,
these packages of cocaine
would be worth a street value
of around $128,000.
The haul will be destroyed but given
the recent storms,
this probably isn't the last load
that will wash up.
The seas are pretty rough out there.
A lot of waves, a lot of wind,
which as a result
that's gonna bring more stuff ashore.
So the likelihood of seeing more
of these packages, will increase.
It's nearly midnight
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The dead of night is the perfect time
for boats loaded with contraband
to attempt to enter American waters.
We'll get right in as soon
as we see something coming in.
Marine Agents Aaron, Kyle, and Rob
are on the night patrol.
They've received intelligence
from Air Units
that a boat carrying drugs
will be making the crossing
from the Bahamas to Florida at any moment.
We have intel on a target of interest.
We are trying to see what they're doing.
We know they're up to no good,
based on the intel that we've received,
but we don't have anything solid yet,
so we're watching and waiting.
It's a waiting game.
The vessel was recently spotted
by aerial surveillance,
fishing in waters
just out of US jurisdiction.
It's a common tactic used
by drug smugglers
to wait until it's dark
before making their move.
We found the boat. Looks like they're
just fishing right now.
So we're going to let them hang out,
do what they've gonna do.
It doesn't look like they have any
different plans at the moment, so.
My gut tells me that something is
gonna happen tonight.
That' a good thing and a bad thing to
say at the same time,
but yeah, I feel like something
is gonna go down.
The Agents begin a slow southward journey.
When the boat enters American waters,
they want to be close enough to catch it,
but not too close to scare it off.
Kyle's got a target on radar.
- Roger that.
- Still a way away, though.
The Agents wait for the radar to show
that the boat has moved
into American waters.
- All right, good. Here we go.
- Good.
Do you want to go lights out?
As they get closer, they switch off
their lights to avoid detection.
- Lights out.
- Lights out.
If they are spotted, the boat
could dump any drugs overboard.
- Hey, Aaron.
- Yes, sir.
They must be ready.
- You take a shooter?
- Sure.
For every scenario.
- You guys see any lights up there?
- No.
We have a contact off your port bow.
Should be able to see it.
You would think.
Radar keeps going in and out.
Suddenly, in the complete darkness
of the night,
the vessel vanishes from the radar.
Still nothing on radar.
- Picked it up again.
- Nice.
Still keeps going in and out.
It could be caused by interference
from the rough seas,
but according to their previous
coordinates,
the boat should be right
in front of them
Come on radar, pick it up.
but it's nowhere to be seen.
I think that was a ghost target.
It's weird that it kept coming up
north though.
When it would reappear, it was
always, like, a little bit further.
Don't know what it was.
It would hold on to it for a good
few minutes,
and then it would drop it.
Chasing ghosts.
The suspected drug boat
seems to have strangely
vanished into thin air.
Our radar is not always an accurate thing,
especially since we have sea conditions.
The seas are a little choppy out
here, so sometimes you lose targets.
Or sometimes they may not even
actually exist,
the radar is picking up something else.
It could be a flock of birds,
or a submarine.
Just doing what we can
to see if it will go quiet again.
I'm just hoping it's not a sub.
It's been a long day.
Coming out.
Whatever boat was earlier spotted
from the air is now no longer there.
The disappointed team heads back to shore.
So, we'll be hanging the boat
up, mission over.
And start senselessly and
continuously beating ourselves up,
so we'll call it.
We still have to come back
in the water tomorrow.
Back at it first thing tomorrow morning.
It's one of those things.
A cat and mouse game.
We are always trying to catch them,
they're trying to get away from us.
Not much of our luck tonight,
but it doesn't mean we won't have
luck next time.
Win some, you lose some.
At the Port of Newark, New Jersey,
following a tip off,
Customs and Border Protection Officer Paul
is searching containers believed
to hold stolen cars.
There's two vehicles in here
and there's no personal effects.
The first container had two cars
destined for West Africa,
a known hot spot for vehicles stolen
from the United States.
Neither vehicle was disclosed
on the paperwork.
As the team awaits confirmation
on whether the vehicles are stolen,
they are searching a second container
that has been stopped
on its way to Europe.
Four vehicles in this container?
There's no way.
The container is stacked high
with household goods,
and there are four vehicles
crammed inside.
Making cars as inaccessible as possible
for customs searches is a known
trick of smuggling gangs.
- One, two the three up there.
- Right, right, right.
There's two sets of chains.
- You see the mattress?
- Yep.
Right now, we see a total
of four vehicles.
Two hanging up on chains,
and two down at the bottom,
mixed in with a lot of personal effects.
We've got one motorcycle here.
We can't really tell what's
in the back of the container.
It doesn't look much at the front.
But we'll see what kind of gems are
hidden in the back.
Officers Paul and Billy check
the shipment manifest.
There is a lot of toys in there.
Although four vehicles are listed
on the paperwork,
given how they have been hidden
by household items,
Paul wants to check them over.
Some of these older motorcycles
are still valuable,
even though they're in rough shape,
the parts alone carry a lot of weight.
They'll strip this down
and then farm out the parts
and probably make tenfold what they
could on just one stolen unit.
Officers Paul and Billy will have
to individually check each vehicle
to ensure they match those
listed on the shipment paperwork.
But already, the motorcycle
is looking suspicious.
We're looking for the VIN number.
It's normally put on the front
of the frame of the motorcycle,
usually up here by the neck.
The VIN number seems to have been removed,
making the owners very hard to trace.
To Paul it suggests that someone may
be trying to hide something.
There's some rivets
that are missing over there.
The VIN plate could have been removed
nefariously,
to hide the fact
that it's a stolen vehicle.
In Fort Lauderdale.
Marine and Air Units work 24/7
keeping their eyes out for
suspicious vessels.
One of their biggest
tasks is monitoring drug runners
who travel between Florida and the Bahamas
carrying narcotics to land.
Lots of fishing gear on board.
Looks like they're coming back
from a fishing trip.
Three to four people on board.
Approximately, 30 foot in length.
That's a good copy.
We're standing by.
A report has come in from Air Units
about another sighting of another
drug pushing.
Gangs carrying narcotics often
disguise themselves as fishing boats
to travel in and out of US waters.
We're still more than 20 miles out,
so we're just gonna run.
They're just trying to try move
and intercept,
as we get closer, maybe six miles in.
With the ability to reach speeds
of 60 miles an hour,
the team heads out to intercept the boat.
A vessel must be within US waters
for them to have jurisdiction.
But first, they need to determine
where it's heading.
All right, let's see
what we got coming at us.
We're looking for anything in this
area right here.
We're between Hillsboro inlet
and Boca Raton inlet.
Both are a likely scenario for the
boat the aircraft is tracking.
So we're trying to look them up on radar,
and then we'll intercept them.
But today
The swells are getting horrible, man.
Man, that's big.
The seas are not helping.
This is the kind of sea state that
gets you sick when you're fishing.
Give to me that long again.
Luckily the aircraft is still in the area.
It provides an update on the
target's position.
Hey, Captain. It is 26, 23 north.
Two miles that way.
All right, keep your eyes out.
With new coordinates from their
eye in the sky,
Fritz and the team head to the location.
I think I see him.
But as they approach, the unexpected
happens.
I got a motor
that's getting ready to go on.
We're down a motor.
The Florida Keys stretch nearly 200 miles,
and they have 800 islands in total.
With so many inlets for boats,
it's a tempting place for people
smugglers,
drug pushers and criminals to hide,
and offload onto land.
And their ideal time is the dead of night.
This is basically where the Florida
Keys starts
and this is the county line
coming up here.
Tonight, is checking the known
hotspots on land
where criminals sometimes operate.
Tonight, I'm working from six at
night until four in the morning.
I'm just patrolling the Northern Key,
mostly Key Largo.
We're looking for any type of
smuggling activity,
monitoring for any landings.
This is one of our frequent areas
where we get a lot of migrant landings.
Drug smuggling occurs here frequently.
We're checking the area to
see if there's anything suspicious.
It's always a cat and mouse game
as to when they're gonna come.
It's nearly midnight,
and anyone spotted in this area
will immediately be of interest
I'm just gonna run his license plate
and see what's going on.
He's not supposed to be parked here.
And already a car illegally parked
near a known smuggling area
has caught his attention.
How are you doing?
Is this your car?
What are you doing down here?
If you don't mind me asking.
- Okay. Yes.
- No, no. Do you speak Spanish?
All right, what are you doing around
here at night?
- No, we were just fishing here.
- Fishing?
- Do you have a license SIC, please?
- Yes, sir.
- You don't have any firearms?
- No, no, no, no.
- No one else, you're alone?
- My partner. He's over there.
- The one fishing? Okay.
- Yes.
The man claims his friend is fishing
somewhere in the undergrowth.
It was to check what you were doing.
- You're not doing anything illegal?
- No, not even drinking.
- You're not picking up people?
- No, no, no.
Night fishing is popular in the
summer months in Florida,
but Agent White wants to be sure
he's not using this as a cover
for something else.
Just a vehicle parked in the side of
the road in a known smuggling area,
sometimes they're fishing, sometimes
they're acting like they're fishing.
We're making sure that hey don't have
any contraband with them.
While Agent White is running
the man's details
through the system to ensure
he is who he says he is,
his friend suddenly appears.
- How are you? Good evening.
- Good evening, friend.
- He told me you're fishing?
- Uh-huh.
I'm checking here because we have
a lot of things happening here, okay?
There's a lot of contraband around here
and it's not normal to have
someone park here.
- Yes, but we're just fishing.
- Okay.
Right. We're fishing.
The pair's stories match,
and a check of their drivers
licenses shows
they're both who they say they are.
If you see anything suspicious
you can call us. Okay?
Us or the police.
Because there's a lot of people
here dealing with contraband
so we're patrolling more because of it.
Thank you.
The men are allowed on their way.
They were cooperative.
They seemed to be fishing.
They're here for the weekend,
makes a lot more sense.
Just want to make sure they are doing
what they're supposed to be doing,
and we don't have any illegal activity.
They were reasonable, cooperative,
I have no reason to suspect anything.
And for Agent White,
who has another four hours on duty,
the search for smugglers continues.
We'll move on, and we'll go look for
some more.
At Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
Agents are acting on a tip-off
that a high-speed boat smuggling drugs
is approaching from the Bahamas.
After Air Support spotted a vessel
matching the description,
they rushed to intercept
I think I see him.
But one of their engines has cut
out, slowing down the chase.
Motor down, motor.
With the suspicious boat due
to reach US waters at any moment,
Agents need to get their boat up
and running fast.
That means we're swimming back.
Hold on. Keep that thing on the
radar, want to check the motor.
Alex takes a look at the engine
that is shut off.
All right, which one of you is acting
up on me?
- Anything back there?
- Don't see. Can you lift those?
For every second they are delayed,
the suspect drug smuggler
makes more ground on the Agents.
But with no sign of any malfunction,
Fritz resets the motors.
All right. Here we go.
- Got the motors back. Let's go.
- Hang on.
With the motors restarted,
and all back up and running
at full capacity,
the team must catch up with the target.
Ready.
- Radar says 33.7 knots.
- Gotcha.
A mile further east they manage
to intercept it.
Four people at least on board her.
. Got at least four.
But the suspect boat is not slowing down.
- Got them all?
- Yeah.
Agents turn on their lights and
siren signaling the boat to stop.
On the run.
The intelligence only stated that
the boat could be carrying drugs,
so with no information about the crew
or the potential of weapons on board,
the Agents remain vigilant.
Hi. How are you guys doing today?
US Customs.
- Where are you guys coming from, sir?
- We're coming from Abaco.
- Whose vessel? Is it your vessel?
- It is.
- You the Captain?
- I am.
- You have the documents on vessel?
- I do.
- Question, any weapons on board?
- No.
How many people?
You got five inside?
- Nobody else?
- Yes.
- Just us.
- Okay.
- Hey, Fritz, I'll go over.
- I'll say.
Captain, do me a favor, put it in
gear and stay in idle speed
or a bit below idle speed, so you can
just drive down towards the land.
It'll easier for me
to transfer these people over.
I don't-- hey, that's enough. Hey.
Stop what you're doing.
I don't want anybody putting
their hands in anything.
Go towards the back, and Captain,
drive your vessel.
Everybody else right here.
With the possibility that the
occupants of the boat
could be armed or dangerous,
Agents must take control.
So far, everyone is compliant.
- How are you doing, Captain?
- All right.
- You have the documents?
- I do.
- Give me your passport.
- Okay.
And the registration.
Everybody is a US citizen, right?
- We all are.
- Gotcha.
- Correct. Registration.
- Gotcha, sir.
- And how was your trip?
- It was awesome, man.
We were over there for a vacation.
We've got a buddy who's got a house.
The people on the boat claim to be
on a fishing trip,
but that's a common tactic used
by smugglers,
so the Marine Agents need to check
every detail.
How was the swell over here, pretty rough?
- It was, beautiful.
- Really?
The trip back we took the
north route and it's been flat calm.
Oh, wow.
He's coming in from I think he said
Western, or Lucayaarea,
which is one of the Bahamian islands.
Those guys are doing the boarding,
conducting an inspection, search.
Running all the guys' paperwork
and documents.
Sounds like you had a good time.
- It was fun.
- Yeah.
Nice to get into a different place
man. It was so different.
You might enjoy here.
- Thank you sir, for your time, okay.
- No problem, thank you.
The checks have all come back clean,
meaning this isn't the boat
they were looking for.
- Keep it here, we'll get out the way.
- Take it easy Captain.
All right, thank you.
Thank you for keeping us safe,
we appreciate it.
- Thank you.
- Don't worry.
Appreciate, what you guys do.
- Have a good day.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
- See you, captain.
- We made their day.
- Yeah.
With over 2000 miles of coastline
to patrol in Florida alone,
the search for drug smugglers is
a huge challenge for Marine Agents.
Although this stop didn't turn up
anything,
the Agents know it's only a matter of time
before the criminals' luck runs out.
Back at Port Newark
Customs and Border Protection
Officers Paul and Billy
are awaiting information
on two seized shipping containers.
One was destined for West Africa.
The shipping paperwork listed
the contents as household items,
but, in fact, it contained two luxury cars
suspected of being stolen.
These particular vehicles are expensive.
Anywhere between $75 - $125,000 dollars.
Another container bound for Europe
had four cars listed on the manifest,
but Paul has his suspicions.
An old motorcycle inside appears
to have been tampered with.
There's some rivets that are missing
over there.
The VIN plate could have been removed.
The vehicle identification number
seems to be missing.
But then, there's a breakthrough.
- Got it.
- Found it?
- Yeah.
- Where was it?
It's up higher than it normally is.
It's higher and it's dirty.
So now, We'll run that VIN
through the system
and see if it comes back stolen or not.
Officer Billy has phoned through
the details
of the vehicle identification numbers
of all the cars that have been seized.
This will be determine if they have
been stolen.
After an anxious wait, he finally
gets confirmation.
- All right. Thank you.
- I ran the car.
It's come back as current title.
There's no steals on it.
- Matches up? Yeah.
- Right. All right.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
The contents of this container, we
pulled out two vehicles already.
They have matched the manifested
items that were in here.
They are both in pretty rough shape,
mostly junkers.
As you can see up there, there's
another junker
that we also took a look at.
It also matches what was manifested.
So, we feel pretty confident
that there is no stolen vehicles in
this container.
The four vehicles that were heading
to Europe are clean,
so they can be reloaded and sent
on their way.
But the same can't be said
for the first container
that was destined for West Africa.
That one.
Comes back stolen from New Jersey.
- Great. All right.
- All right.
That one, they've been looking for
the car since January.
Great work. Great work, Billy.
The vehicles are both stolen
and won't be going anywhere.
BMW confirmed to us
that they've been looking for this
vehicle since January.
The Range Rover was reported stolen
in North Jersey,
it was a part of a home invasion.
And the agency, the police agency,
is asking us
to hold this vehicle for fingerprints.
If officers manage to find
fingerprints in the stolen vehicle,
it may help lead them to the perpetrators.
We are happy that we got these cars.
This one took a little extra digging,
but that's why we have some of the
best guys in the business over here.
For Paul and the team, it's another
two stolen vehicles intercepted.
These are all confirmed stolen vehicles.
Just a quick count of what we have
in this part of the warehouse,
we have, two, four, six, eight,
ten vehicles
all confirmed stolen
within the last two weeks.
And we just added another two
vehicles today.
Loads of luxury vehicles.
We just keep rolling here.