COPS (1989) s23e02 Episode Script
California Border Patrol Special Edition
whatcha want, whatcha want? Whatcha gonna do when sheriff John brown come for you? Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Announcer: This special edition of cops is filmed on location with the men and women of law enforcement.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Here at the Rio Grande city station, the border between Mexico and Texas is the Rio Grande river.
We're responsible for guarding Mexico and Texas.
Our central mission is the detection, prevention and apprehension of undocumented aliens, drug smugglers and terrorists.
We're up against a billion-dollar, very dangerous business.
They're at it every day.
And so are we.
Hey, listen up, guys.
Today we're gonna target zone four.
They're moving narcotics to that area, and we all know how they operate.
Today's operation, we're gonna try to take down the driver, the load vehicle and the narcotics.
As soon as anybody sees the scouts or any type of activity, you need to let us know as soon as possible.
Is everybody ready to roll? All: Yes, sir! Diaz: Let's go.
(Engine starts) Romeo-182.
Go ahead.
Okay, right now we're placing our agents in strategic positions around the, uh, border.
Their job is to call out any traffic, any rafts coming from Mexico.
And also, they need to keep an eye on the U.
S.
side to see if any vehicles are gonna drop down to those areas.
We have all our guys on the ground right now.
They're in concealed positions.
We're just gonna wait till the bad guys make their move.
Agent Kurt kruger: Romeo five-five, Romeo-two-eight-six.
Just for info, I got some chatter going on on the South side, and I can hear a couple of nextels going off.
Copy.
Diaz: Romeo-two-eight-six.
Ten-four.
Ten-four, I copy.
You got some scouts in the area.
Ten-four.
Okay, our agents are picking up, uh, activity on the South side from the drug-smuggling organizations.
They have, uh They're talking right now right at the river's edge on the Mexican side, and it looks like they're gonna make their move here any minute now.
(Over radio): Romeo-five-five, we copy.
We got a white Ford focus hatchback.
(Over radio): Wte Ford focus.
(Unclear radio transmission) Diaz: Ten-four.
Vehicle's loaded, going north.
Ten-four.
All units, the vehicle's going north right now.
(Indistinct radio transmission) Agent Adolfo reyna: 336, uh, we're on our way down to the vehicle right now.
Stand by.
There should be two vehicles in front of us.
Diaz: In front of us? Reyna: Focus right there.
Ten-four.
Diaz: Okay, this is the vehicle they called out.
We're gonna check it out right now to see if there's anything in this vehicle.
Reyna: P.
O.
E, be advised, we might have a white focus heading back South.
He looks like it's going to the purple apartments.
He's going down to the purple apartments Diaz: We're calling the agents at, uh, on the river.
This vehicle doesn't want to stop right now.
(Siren wailing) Reyna: He's gonna turn South on, uh, purple apartments area.
Stay clear from the vehicle, Monica.
It's going to your 20.
Come out, and go to the purple apartments.
Diaz: Yeah, this vehicle's not gonna stop right now.
He's trying to find a place to bail.
Reyna: He's gonna bail.
Get ready, get ready, he's gonna bail.
Let me out, let me out.
Diaz: Go, go, go, go, go, go! (Dog barking) (Man speaking Spanish) Reyna: U.
S.
border patrol! You're under arrest! (Officer shouting in Spanish) I got the cuffs.
Diaz: You got 'em? Reyna: Get 'em.
(Man speaking Spanish) (Several speaking Spanish) (Door alarm dinging) Diaz: There it is.
There's the dope.
Hey, bring him over here.
Get him up.
Get him up.
Get him up, bring him over here.
(Speaks Spanish) Come here, come here.
(Speaks Spanish) What's going on? (Men speaking Spanish) Diaz: Where? To a store? To una store Diaz: How much money were they gonna pay you for that? (Man speaking Spanish) They were gonna give him $1,000 for that load that he's got, that narcotic load that he has? SÃ.
Diaz: You know that moving narcotics is illegal? Uh-huh.
Diaz: You're going to jail for a long time now.
(Dogs barking in distance) Let's see if we can get in there and Yep, it's packed pretty tight, so they're gonna be pretty heavy.
We're looking at about a 30-pound bundle here.
20, 20 pounds.
Yeah, it's real tight.
Looking at about 20-pound bundles.
13 bundles.
It looks like marijuana, but we won't find out till we get to the station and do a field test on it.
(Both speaking Spanish) (Man grunts) Diaz: Okay.
We're gonna take him back and get him processed.
We're gonna go ahead and weigh this narcotics, see how much we got.
All righty.
Right now we're weighing the narcotics, so we can see how much to charge him with.
That it? 281 pounds.
Right now we're doing a test kit just to make sure that it is in fact marijuana.
What we're looking for in this test kit is for it to turn a certain color.
Agent Benjamin Caballero: It's turning purple already.
Tested positive for, uh, marijuana.
Diaz: There you go.
It turned purple "active ingredient in marijuana.
" (Beeping) Don't move your hand.
Just leave you hand real loose.
I'll do everything.
This is his third apprehension for moving narcotics.
On the other apprehensions, he was a passenger.
Today he was a driver.
I guess he thinks he's moving up in the world, but it looks like he's gonna get a lot more time for this.
(Speaks Spanish) Come over here.
(Both speaking Spanish) Yeah, right now just stay here.
Now we got to call DEA, see what DEA wants to do with him.
I'm pretty sure they'll want to interview him and get all the information on where he got the dope and where he was taking it.
I've been a CBP officer for six years now.
Started my career in long beach, California at the seaport.
Now I'm at the Nogales port of entry, and our main job here is to prevent terrorism and other threats from coming into the United States.
So we're going to screen 100% of vehicles and persons here.
Officer Nathaniel Garcia: Right now we're at the dickens city point of entry.
We have intel on this particular train.
That some of the cement hoppers stayed in some, uh, part of Mexico they wasn't supposed to be in.
Stayed there a couple of extra days.
All right, let's head out to Rio Rico and inspect the train.
We just arrived at the Rio Rico rail yard.
We're waiting for the train to arrive.
We had some inconsistencies with the cement hoppers, so we're just gonna go ahead and wait for them to get here.
We need to do an inspection of the train itself.
There's a large stretch of track between Nogales and Rio Rico.
A lot of undocumented aliens like to hitch a ride on the train from Nogales up to Rio Rico itself.
They'll put anything from, uh, narcotics, or they'll smuggle themselves on the train.
So we're gonna go ahead and do an inspection of the train now.
(Train whistle blowing) (Garbled radio transmission) Garcia: This is the train that's coming in from Nogales right now.
Uh, the rail team noticed some inconsistencies in the cement carts.
This guy either had dope on him before it reached Nogales, or it has dope on it now.
This is, uh, one of the ways that we got to try to beat 'em.
They're always trying to beat us, so it's like Easter.
They hide it, we got to try to find it.
Here we go.
(Whistles) Officer: They're at the car! They're at the car! Dominguez: Okay, we got two on the train.
We got two northbound.
Garcia: They're gonna get ready to jump, bro.
Dominguez: Oy.
They're jumping.
Go.
Go.
Garcia: Right now we got a couple of undocumented aliens that just jumped off the train right there.
We got two of them running in the brush.
Try to see if we can get them right here.
(Siren blaring) Homie, we got two bodies on the east side, just run and jump the fence.
Dominguez: All right, dude.
Garcia: George is gonna go ahead and pursue these undocumented aliens.
We're gonna go and head back to the train track.
And a lot of times, they like to, uh, double back and head back towards the trains.
Uh, we got another team that's gonna go ahead and go finish, uh, checking the train, and we'll just wait here, and hopefully, George gets to flush these two undocumented aliens back towards us.
(Distant train whistle blowing) (Over radio): We have one in custody (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: He's over here at the fence.
(Speaking Spanish) (Both speaking Spanish) Radio dispatcher: East down there on the river.
(Over radio): 10-4.
(Speaking Spanish) (Garbled radio transmission) (Man panting and moaning) (Handcuffs tightening) We got him! Got the other one? We have one, red jacket, in custody.
(Over radio): That should be both, then.
Code four.
Everybody come to the tracks.
Everybody come to the tracks.
(Speaking Spanish) (Over radio): Gallo station.
Oscar over.
Garcia: You got him? Yeah.
(Garbled radio transmission) (Panting) (Garbled radio transmission) (Indistinct chatter) Garcia: Counter partner caught the other one.
We just ran this one.
He ran directly towards us.
So now we got the two in custody.
We are not done with that train.
We need to check the cement on that train.
Stand by.
(Indistinct shouting) (Garbled radio transmission) Take over for me.
Garcia: Hey, you got him? I'm gonna go ahead and give Bristol a hand, get this other guy over at the fence.
(Both speaking Spanish) (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were in jail before.
SÃ or no? Huh? (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were deported before? You understand English? (Speaks Spanish) Garcia: A little bit? Yeah, a little bit.
Garcia: Yeah? Yeah.
Garcia: Were you ever in jail in the United States? Yeah.
Garcia: When? Where? Uh what? (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were in jail 15 days ago? Yeah (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: He was in Florence prison 15 days ago.
He just got deported.
Now he's on his way back.
(Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: He's en route back to Tucson.
(Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: His wife and his two kids are in Tucson.
(Garcia sighs) (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: Let me get your cuffs.
(Speaking Spanish) Garcia: So we'll hand him over to b.
P.
Border patrol will then take custody of him.
Probably send him up to see a judge because this is his third problem with being deported.
They got to go check that.
Garcia: Keeps getting caught.
He's not very lucky.
(Over radio): Border patrol right now.
Garcia: That's just one more job from customs.
We wear many hats.
Right now it just happens to be handling with undocumented aliens.
Border patrol will take them down to their station and see if they're gonna hit them with reentry after deport, or if not, they're just gonna send them back to Mexico tonight.
Officer Stephen vargas: I work for U.
S.
customs and border protection here at Miami international airport, where we receive millions of people a year.
travelers, but I'm looking for that one percent who's not.
Those are the people I'm interested in, whether they're terrorists, drug smugglers, or just bringing contraband that's prohibited from entering the United States.
This flight is from port of Spain, Trinidad.
It's a high-risk flight for narcotics for us.
Recently we've seen a trend of body carriers and also loaded bags filled with narcotics from this country.
Right now we're going to go meet the passengers prior to them reaching passport control.
Passports, please.
When was the last time you were here? September.
Vargas: September.
Two weeks.
Vargas: Thank you.
Thanks.
Vargas: How you doing, sir? Good, bruh.
Vargas: You live in Jacksonville? Yes.
Vargas: How you getting there from here? I got a ride.
As soon as I get out Vargas: You have somebody waiting for you? Mm-hmm.
Vargas: How long were you in Trinidad on this trip? About four days.
Vargas: Four days? Have you been there before? Yeah.
Vargas: When? Um like, couple months october.
Vargas: How much money do you have with you today? Oh, about a hundred and something left.
Vargas: About hundred and something left? How many bags you have downstairs? One.
Vargas: Just one? All right, do me a favor, just wait right here, and I'll be right back with you.
Were you traveling with anyone else today? No.
Vargas: By yourself? All right, just wait right there.
This is the passenger that has been identified as possibly being high risk for importing narcotics, so what we're gonna do is, we're just going to walk him downstairs, ask him a couple questions, grab his bag he says he only has one, so we'll grab his bag Officer Alfred Marino: All right, we'll call and find out if he's only got one checked in.
Vargas: Okay.
Marino: We'll do that.
Vargas: Let's go.
Marino: All right? Vargas: Mm-hmm.
All right, right this way.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna escort you downstairs Mm-hmm.
Vargas: Grab your bag Mm-hmm.
Vargas: And talk to you for a little bit.
Then we'll get you out of here.
All right? Marino: Well, he's processing now through immigration right now.
He shows kind of perspiration, sweating.
Uh, he looks like a body carrier probably.
His story doesn't sound too good.
He's not sure where he stayed.
He went with $300, he's coming back with about $160.
For three days travel in another country, that's a little bit you know, you spend a lot more than that, but we'll verify his story a little bit more when we get downstairs.
Vargas: Thank you, sir.
Thanks, sir.
Vargas: All right, right this way.
This way and then turn left.
Who paid for your ticket? Huh? Vargas: Who paid for your ticket? A friend of mine.
Vargas: A friend of yours? Marino: What's your friend's name? Dennis.
Marino: Dennis? Dennis what? I don't know the last name.
Marino: You're not sure of his last name? He's just a friend of my family.
Marino: Friend of the family? He stays with us.
Marino: He lives where? In, uh, Fort Lauderdale.
Marino: He lives in fort lauderdale.
Vargas: Why did, why did? Marino: Are you going home now or are you going to go visit Dennis? I'm going to visit him.
Marino: All right.
Woman (Over p.
A.
): Your bags are now at carousel number two.
Vargas: She said it's a go; He looks good.
Marino: He's showing a lot of nervous tendencies right now.
For someone to be looking for one bag, he's looked at a blue one, he's looked at a green one, he's looked at a black one, different sizes.
To me, I can't imagine what is running through his head, but as soon as we get a call from outside, we'll grab his bag and take him back there and see what's going on.
(Indistinct p.
A.
Announcement) Vargas: This is your bag? Yeah.
Vargas: How do you know it's yours? (Suspect mumbles) Okay, all right.
Marino: All right.
Vargas: Right this way, follow us.
Marino: Grab your bag.
Vargas: This bag belongs to you? Yes.
Vargas: All right, is it locked? No.
Vargas: Just go ahead and have a seat.
I'm gonna do a quick bag exam.
You went down to Trinidad for four days and your friend Dennis paid for your ticket, right? Yeah.
Vargas: Do you know his address here? I don't know I know where he stays at, but I don't know the, the address.
Vargas: Where does he stay? In Fort Lauderdale.
Vargas: Where in fort laud it's big.
I forgot.
Vargas: Okay.
I'm gonna go ahead and give Dennis a call.
I'll be right back with you.
Hello, Dennis? How you doing? This is officer vargas with U.
S.
Customs and border protection here in Miami.
Are you expecting somebody today? No? You're not waiting for your boy Sam? You're not going to give Sam a ride? No, do you know Samuel (Blip)? So how does he have your name and number? All right, thanks for your cooperation.
Uh-huh, bye.
Went ahead and conducted a baggage exam, which was negative for any type of contraband.
We performed a personal search on him that was negative, which is starting to lead us to believe that he may have swallowed some narcotics.
All right.
I tried calling all those phone numbers that you gave us.
Mm-hmm.
Vargas: Nobody knows you.
Your friends have disowned you.
They don't even know that you exist.
You know, we think you swallowed the drugs, plain and simple.
What we want to do is take you to the hospital and get the x ray of your, your stomach.
Okay, and that's the only way for you to get out of this.
Okay, go ahead and stand up, please.
You're gonna pick your pants up.
Okay, you're gonna start walking forward.
Follow the other officer.
At this point in time, we're going to go ahead and escort him to the hospital.
He's going to stay there for as long as however long it takes for him to, to have three bowel movements, and at any time, he can go ahead and choose to go ahead and take the x ray exam, which would speed up his process if he does not have narcotics within his stomach.
Marino: Our suspect is arriving from Jackson memorial hospital.
He's positive as an internal carrier.
So we're going to bring him in now and finish off our seizure and turn him over to ice agents as we get inside.
Vargas: Initially he stated that he did not swallow any type of narcotics.
We took him to the hospital for a monitored bowel movement.
The next day he consented to an X-ray, which was positive for foreign bodies in his alimentary canal.
There's a total of 96 and it tested positive for cocaine.
All right, right this way.
These are some of the pellets that he has passed.
If you take a look at here, one of the pellets had started to unravel.
And actually could have killed him.
Because it wasn't packaged properly.
If he would have gotten the cocaine directly into his blood system from his stomach, he would have maybe had about three or four minutes at the most to survive.
You took a big risk.
We're going to go ahead and process all this stuff.
Then someone from immigration and customs enforcement is going to come in and speak with you.
And it's going to be in their hands now.
Officer (Over radio): I've got him at gunpoint.
Dispatcher: At gunpoint, Cover is code three.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Here at the Rio Grande city station, the border between Mexico and Texas is the Rio Grande river.
We're responsible for guarding Mexico and Texas.
Our central mission is the detection, prevention and apprehension of undocumented aliens, drug smugglers and terrorists.
We're up against a billion-dollar, very dangerous business.
They're at it every day.
And so are we.
Hey, listen up, guys.
Today we're gonna target zone four.
They're moving narcotics to that area, and we all know how they operate.
Today's operation, we're gonna try to take down the driver, the load vehicle and the narcotics.
As soon as anybody sees the scouts or any type of activity, you need to let us know as soon as possible.
Is everybody ready to roll? All: Yes, sir! Diaz: Let's go.
(Engine starts) Romeo-182.
Go ahead.
Okay, right now we're placing our agents in strategic positions around the, uh, border.
Their job is to call out any traffic, any rafts coming from Mexico.
And also, they need to keep an eye on the U.
S.
side to see if any vehicles are gonna drop down to those areas.
We have all our guys on the ground right now.
They're in concealed positions.
We're just gonna wait till the bad guys make their move.
Agent Kurt kruger: Romeo five-five, Romeo-two-eight-six.
Just for info, I got some chatter going on on the South side, and I can hear a couple of nextels going off.
Copy.
Diaz: Romeo-two-eight-six.
Ten-four.
Ten-four, I copy.
You got some scouts in the area.
Ten-four.
Okay, our agents are picking up, uh, activity on the South side from the drug-smuggling organizations.
They have, uh They're talking right now right at the river's edge on the Mexican side, and it looks like they're gonna make their move here any minute now.
(Over radio): Romeo-five-five, we copy.
We got a white Ford focus hatchback.
(Over radio): Wte Ford focus.
(Unclear radio transmission) Diaz: Ten-four.
Vehicle's loaded, going north.
Ten-four.
All units, the vehicle's going north right now.
(Indistinct radio transmission) Agent Adolfo reyna: 336, uh, we're on our way down to the vehicle right now.
Stand by.
There should be two vehicles in front of us.
Diaz: In front of us? Reyna: Focus right there.
Ten-four.
Diaz: Okay, this is the vehicle they called out.
We're gonna check it out right now to see if there's anything in this vehicle.
Reyna: P.
O.
E, be advised, we might have a white focus heading back South.
He looks like it's going to the purple apartments.
He's going down to the purple apartments Diaz: We're calling the agents at, uh, on the river.
This vehicle doesn't want to stop right now.
(Siren wailing) Reyna: He's gonna turn South on, uh, purple apartments area.
Stay clear from the vehicle, Monica.
It's going to your 20.
Come out, and go to the purple apartments.
Diaz: Yeah, this vehicle's not gonna stop right now.
He's trying to find a place to bail.
Reyna: He's gonna bail.
Get ready, get ready, he's gonna bail.
Let me out, let me out.
Diaz: Go, go, go, go, go, go! (Dog barking) (Man speaking Spanish) Reyna: U.
S.
border patrol! You're under arrest! (Officer shouting in Spanish) I got the cuffs.
Diaz: You got 'em? Reyna: Get 'em.
(Man speaking Spanish) (Several speaking Spanish) (Door alarm dinging) Diaz: There it is.
There's the dope.
Hey, bring him over here.
Get him up.
Get him up.
Get him up, bring him over here.
(Speaks Spanish) Come here, come here.
(Speaks Spanish) What's going on? (Men speaking Spanish) Diaz: Where? To a store? To una store Diaz: How much money were they gonna pay you for that? (Man speaking Spanish) They were gonna give him $1,000 for that load that he's got, that narcotic load that he has? SÃ.
Diaz: You know that moving narcotics is illegal? Uh-huh.
Diaz: You're going to jail for a long time now.
(Dogs barking in distance) Let's see if we can get in there and Yep, it's packed pretty tight, so they're gonna be pretty heavy.
We're looking at about a 30-pound bundle here.
20, 20 pounds.
Yeah, it's real tight.
Looking at about 20-pound bundles.
13 bundles.
It looks like marijuana, but we won't find out till we get to the station and do a field test on it.
(Both speaking Spanish) (Man grunts) Diaz: Okay.
We're gonna take him back and get him processed.
We're gonna go ahead and weigh this narcotics, see how much we got.
All righty.
Right now we're weighing the narcotics, so we can see how much to charge him with.
That it? 281 pounds.
Right now we're doing a test kit just to make sure that it is in fact marijuana.
What we're looking for in this test kit is for it to turn a certain color.
Agent Benjamin Caballero: It's turning purple already.
Tested positive for, uh, marijuana.
Diaz: There you go.
It turned purple "active ingredient in marijuana.
" (Beeping) Don't move your hand.
Just leave you hand real loose.
I'll do everything.
This is his third apprehension for moving narcotics.
On the other apprehensions, he was a passenger.
Today he was a driver.
I guess he thinks he's moving up in the world, but it looks like he's gonna get a lot more time for this.
(Speaks Spanish) Come over here.
(Both speaking Spanish) Yeah, right now just stay here.
Now we got to call DEA, see what DEA wants to do with him.
I'm pretty sure they'll want to interview him and get all the information on where he got the dope and where he was taking it.
I've been a CBP officer for six years now.
Started my career in long beach, California at the seaport.
Now I'm at the Nogales port of entry, and our main job here is to prevent terrorism and other threats from coming into the United States.
So we're going to screen 100% of vehicles and persons here.
Officer Nathaniel Garcia: Right now we're at the dickens city point of entry.
We have intel on this particular train.
That some of the cement hoppers stayed in some, uh, part of Mexico they wasn't supposed to be in.
Stayed there a couple of extra days.
All right, let's head out to Rio Rico and inspect the train.
We just arrived at the Rio Rico rail yard.
We're waiting for the train to arrive.
We had some inconsistencies with the cement hoppers, so we're just gonna go ahead and wait for them to get here.
We need to do an inspection of the train itself.
There's a large stretch of track between Nogales and Rio Rico.
A lot of undocumented aliens like to hitch a ride on the train from Nogales up to Rio Rico itself.
They'll put anything from, uh, narcotics, or they'll smuggle themselves on the train.
So we're gonna go ahead and do an inspection of the train now.
(Train whistle blowing) (Garbled radio transmission) Garcia: This is the train that's coming in from Nogales right now.
Uh, the rail team noticed some inconsistencies in the cement carts.
This guy either had dope on him before it reached Nogales, or it has dope on it now.
This is, uh, one of the ways that we got to try to beat 'em.
They're always trying to beat us, so it's like Easter.
They hide it, we got to try to find it.
Here we go.
(Whistles) Officer: They're at the car! They're at the car! Dominguez: Okay, we got two on the train.
We got two northbound.
Garcia: They're gonna get ready to jump, bro.
Dominguez: Oy.
They're jumping.
Go.
Go.
Garcia: Right now we got a couple of undocumented aliens that just jumped off the train right there.
We got two of them running in the brush.
Try to see if we can get them right here.
(Siren blaring) Homie, we got two bodies on the east side, just run and jump the fence.
Dominguez: All right, dude.
Garcia: George is gonna go ahead and pursue these undocumented aliens.
We're gonna go and head back to the train track.
And a lot of times, they like to, uh, double back and head back towards the trains.
Uh, we got another team that's gonna go ahead and go finish, uh, checking the train, and we'll just wait here, and hopefully, George gets to flush these two undocumented aliens back towards us.
(Distant train whistle blowing) (Over radio): We have one in custody (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: He's over here at the fence.
(Speaking Spanish) (Both speaking Spanish) Radio dispatcher: East down there on the river.
(Over radio): 10-4.
(Speaking Spanish) (Garbled radio transmission) (Man panting and moaning) (Handcuffs tightening) We got him! Got the other one? We have one, red jacket, in custody.
(Over radio): That should be both, then.
Code four.
Everybody come to the tracks.
Everybody come to the tracks.
(Speaking Spanish) (Over radio): Gallo station.
Oscar over.
Garcia: You got him? Yeah.
(Garbled radio transmission) (Panting) (Garbled radio transmission) (Indistinct chatter) Garcia: Counter partner caught the other one.
We just ran this one.
He ran directly towards us.
So now we got the two in custody.
We are not done with that train.
We need to check the cement on that train.
Stand by.
(Indistinct shouting) (Garbled radio transmission) Take over for me.
Garcia: Hey, you got him? I'm gonna go ahead and give Bristol a hand, get this other guy over at the fence.
(Both speaking Spanish) (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were in jail before.
SÃ or no? Huh? (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were deported before? You understand English? (Speaks Spanish) Garcia: A little bit? Yeah, a little bit.
Garcia: Yeah? Yeah.
Garcia: Were you ever in jail in the United States? Yeah.
Garcia: When? Where? Uh what? (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: You were in jail 15 days ago? Yeah (Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: He was in Florence prison 15 days ago.
He just got deported.
Now he's on his way back.
(Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: He's en route back to Tucson.
(Both speaking Spanish) Garcia: His wife and his two kids are in Tucson.
(Garcia sighs) (Speaking Spanish) Garcia: Let me get your cuffs.
(Speaking Spanish) Garcia: So we'll hand him over to b.
P.
Border patrol will then take custody of him.
Probably send him up to see a judge because this is his third problem with being deported.
They got to go check that.
Garcia: Keeps getting caught.
He's not very lucky.
(Over radio): Border patrol right now.
Garcia: That's just one more job from customs.
We wear many hats.
Right now it just happens to be handling with undocumented aliens.
Border patrol will take them down to their station and see if they're gonna hit them with reentry after deport, or if not, they're just gonna send them back to Mexico tonight.
Officer Stephen vargas: I work for U.
S.
customs and border protection here at Miami international airport, where we receive millions of people a year.
travelers, but I'm looking for that one percent who's not.
Those are the people I'm interested in, whether they're terrorists, drug smugglers, or just bringing contraband that's prohibited from entering the United States.
This flight is from port of Spain, Trinidad.
It's a high-risk flight for narcotics for us.
Recently we've seen a trend of body carriers and also loaded bags filled with narcotics from this country.
Right now we're going to go meet the passengers prior to them reaching passport control.
Passports, please.
When was the last time you were here? September.
Vargas: September.
Two weeks.
Vargas: Thank you.
Thanks.
Vargas: How you doing, sir? Good, bruh.
Vargas: You live in Jacksonville? Yes.
Vargas: How you getting there from here? I got a ride.
As soon as I get out Vargas: You have somebody waiting for you? Mm-hmm.
Vargas: How long were you in Trinidad on this trip? About four days.
Vargas: Four days? Have you been there before? Yeah.
Vargas: When? Um like, couple months october.
Vargas: How much money do you have with you today? Oh, about a hundred and something left.
Vargas: About hundred and something left? How many bags you have downstairs? One.
Vargas: Just one? All right, do me a favor, just wait right here, and I'll be right back with you.
Were you traveling with anyone else today? No.
Vargas: By yourself? All right, just wait right there.
This is the passenger that has been identified as possibly being high risk for importing narcotics, so what we're gonna do is, we're just going to walk him downstairs, ask him a couple questions, grab his bag he says he only has one, so we'll grab his bag Officer Alfred Marino: All right, we'll call and find out if he's only got one checked in.
Vargas: Okay.
Marino: We'll do that.
Vargas: Let's go.
Marino: All right? Vargas: Mm-hmm.
All right, right this way.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna escort you downstairs Mm-hmm.
Vargas: Grab your bag Mm-hmm.
Vargas: And talk to you for a little bit.
Then we'll get you out of here.
All right? Marino: Well, he's processing now through immigration right now.
He shows kind of perspiration, sweating.
Uh, he looks like a body carrier probably.
His story doesn't sound too good.
He's not sure where he stayed.
He went with $300, he's coming back with about $160.
For three days travel in another country, that's a little bit you know, you spend a lot more than that, but we'll verify his story a little bit more when we get downstairs.
Vargas: Thank you, sir.
Thanks, sir.
Vargas: All right, right this way.
This way and then turn left.
Who paid for your ticket? Huh? Vargas: Who paid for your ticket? A friend of mine.
Vargas: A friend of yours? Marino: What's your friend's name? Dennis.
Marino: Dennis? Dennis what? I don't know the last name.
Marino: You're not sure of his last name? He's just a friend of my family.
Marino: Friend of the family? He stays with us.
Marino: He lives where? In, uh, Fort Lauderdale.
Marino: He lives in fort lauderdale.
Vargas: Why did, why did? Marino: Are you going home now or are you going to go visit Dennis? I'm going to visit him.
Marino: All right.
Woman (Over p.
A.
): Your bags are now at carousel number two.
Vargas: She said it's a go; He looks good.
Marino: He's showing a lot of nervous tendencies right now.
For someone to be looking for one bag, he's looked at a blue one, he's looked at a green one, he's looked at a black one, different sizes.
To me, I can't imagine what is running through his head, but as soon as we get a call from outside, we'll grab his bag and take him back there and see what's going on.
(Indistinct p.
A.
Announcement) Vargas: This is your bag? Yeah.
Vargas: How do you know it's yours? (Suspect mumbles) Okay, all right.
Marino: All right.
Vargas: Right this way, follow us.
Marino: Grab your bag.
Vargas: This bag belongs to you? Yes.
Vargas: All right, is it locked? No.
Vargas: Just go ahead and have a seat.
I'm gonna do a quick bag exam.
You went down to Trinidad for four days and your friend Dennis paid for your ticket, right? Yeah.
Vargas: Do you know his address here? I don't know I know where he stays at, but I don't know the, the address.
Vargas: Where does he stay? In Fort Lauderdale.
Vargas: Where in fort laud it's big.
I forgot.
Vargas: Okay.
I'm gonna go ahead and give Dennis a call.
I'll be right back with you.
Hello, Dennis? How you doing? This is officer vargas with U.
S.
Customs and border protection here in Miami.
Are you expecting somebody today? No? You're not waiting for your boy Sam? You're not going to give Sam a ride? No, do you know Samuel (Blip)? So how does he have your name and number? All right, thanks for your cooperation.
Uh-huh, bye.
Went ahead and conducted a baggage exam, which was negative for any type of contraband.
We performed a personal search on him that was negative, which is starting to lead us to believe that he may have swallowed some narcotics.
All right.
I tried calling all those phone numbers that you gave us.
Mm-hmm.
Vargas: Nobody knows you.
Your friends have disowned you.
They don't even know that you exist.
You know, we think you swallowed the drugs, plain and simple.
What we want to do is take you to the hospital and get the x ray of your, your stomach.
Okay, and that's the only way for you to get out of this.
Okay, go ahead and stand up, please.
You're gonna pick your pants up.
Okay, you're gonna start walking forward.
Follow the other officer.
At this point in time, we're going to go ahead and escort him to the hospital.
He's going to stay there for as long as however long it takes for him to, to have three bowel movements, and at any time, he can go ahead and choose to go ahead and take the x ray exam, which would speed up his process if he does not have narcotics within his stomach.
Marino: Our suspect is arriving from Jackson memorial hospital.
He's positive as an internal carrier.
So we're going to bring him in now and finish off our seizure and turn him over to ice agents as we get inside.
Vargas: Initially he stated that he did not swallow any type of narcotics.
We took him to the hospital for a monitored bowel movement.
The next day he consented to an X-ray, which was positive for foreign bodies in his alimentary canal.
There's a total of 96 and it tested positive for cocaine.
All right, right this way.
These are some of the pellets that he has passed.
If you take a look at here, one of the pellets had started to unravel.
And actually could have killed him.
Because it wasn't packaged properly.
If he would have gotten the cocaine directly into his blood system from his stomach, he would have maybe had about three or four minutes at the most to survive.
You took a big risk.
We're going to go ahead and process all this stuff.
Then someone from immigration and customs enforcement is going to come in and speak with you.
And it's going to be in their hands now.
Officer (Over radio): I've got him at gunpoint.
Dispatcher: At gunpoint, Cover is code three.