To Catch a Smuggler

(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.)

This terminal is open 24 hours.

So, we are here at 3:00 in the morning

just to do our job, like always.

If I get my coffee, I'm good to go.

All right, they're coming out.

Hello, guys. Come on. Passport. Good morning.

(BRITO SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Flight coming from Panama,

which is a transit point for South America,

the Caribbean, and Central America.

(BRITO SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(WOMAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(BRITO SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Gonna check everybody's passports,

see if anything stand out.

For example, you have passenger go to another country

and they have no reason to be there,

it is my job to find out what was the real reason

for that person to go to another country.

Where are you coming from? Which country?

Panama.

Just Panama? No other country?

And, uh, Canada, Canada, and...

No, no, on this one, this trip. Now. Just Panama?

Yeah.

Okay. Do you have family there?

Uh, friends, friends.

Just friends? And you don't carry any bags?

No, I, I pick up my bag and then I go to Hong Kong.

I live in Hong Kong.

Oh, okay. Have a good day. Go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Um, whenever you're finished.

So, that guy? He sounds so off.

There's something there that I'm not quite comfortable.

The kid live in Hong Kong.

He said he has friends in Panama,

said he stayed there nine days with them.

I don't know, he's hooked up on some type of, I don't know what.

- (OFFICER SPEAKING) Mm-hmm.

This passenger, he's nervous.

We don't know the reasons why this passenger went to Panama,

now coming into New York and now traveling all the way to Asia.

That's weird, you know, route.

It's good to find out more about it.

She has a lot of experience.

Been doing this job a long time,

and she's made a lot of drug seizures through her career.

If she has a feeling, she... she'll go with it.

Right now, he's trying to look for his bag

by the carousel.

As soon he get his bag, then we go ahead and stop him again,

check the bag and talk to him a little bit more.

Hey, keep an eye.

In October of last year,

CBP officers at the Miami Air Mail Facility

did an inspection of a shipment that was outbound to Argentina

and found multiple weapon parts.

They understood that these are controlled items

and that they are being smuggled out of the United States.

So, they detain and seize those items and then they contact HSI

to do the follow-up investigative side of it.

So, what we have here from the seizure,

we have the buttstock, we have the lower receiver,

the upper receiver, the barrel.

These are very tactical SWAT-esque types of rifles.

They buy these parts from different vendors,

ship them out separately, and once they are received,

they figure out ways to put them together

and sell them as complete weapons like this.

So the components here in the United States

would cost around $650 to $800.

In Argentina, the components could cost

up to $20,000 to $25,000.

It's being smuggled out of the United States

and into the hands of the criminal organization

in Argentina and Brazil.

We've reached out to HSI Buenos Aires

that is located in Argentina.

We started sharing information with them,

and by extension, with the Argentinian government.

Start working an international joint investigation.

Collectively, we have been able to identify all of these nodes,

all of these individuals

involved in this smuggling endeavor.

Now, the Argentine government is going to be executing

search warrants in the Buenos Aires area.

My team will be going down to assist as much as we can

with those operations to take these folks down.

Once we get in country,

we follow the lead of HSI Buenos Aires.

- That'll work. - Okay.

There are significant threats that are involved in this.

This is a huge endeavor.

We're trying to prevent people

that shouldn't have this stuff from getting it.

We're clear to go.

Let's make it happen and get after it.

I'm waiting for the passenger

to finish collecting his bags.

He's pacing back and forth.

I don't know, he's waiting for his bag

or he's just walking around to see the right moment to exit.

- (PASSENGER SPEAKING) - (OFFICER SPEAKING)

Um, none right now, none right now.

- In Panama. - (PASSENGER SPEAKING)

It doesn't make sense that you travel to another country

with very little bit of money.

So I need to know what he did to support himself there.

Details, what he was doing.

I would like to talk a little bit more. Okay?

Okay.

Not finding anything in the bag

doesn't mean that the person is good to go.

We're gonna take him to a private area

where he's gonna be patted down

to make sure they don't have any package or patch on the body.

If this person is a drug smuggler, we're gonna find out.

(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENT OVER P.A.)

We're doing outbound flight.

We're looking for currency and any other contraband.

Make sure you stay together, always two.

If you're gonna follow somebody down the ramp

or down the jetway, make sure you let somebody know.

Safety first.

All right?

Ready to roll?

I'm ready to rock and roll.

Ready to roll that up?

Right now, we're making our way to the outbound gates.

We're gonna hit up some outbound flights looking for currency,

possibly narcotics.

We'll see what we get.

There is one straight in front of me

with the red shirt.

We're trying to catch people in their natural element.

We're trying to observe people's behavior

when they don't think that they're being watched.

People are doing what they would do normally,

and we're just trying to observe them

to see if we see any anomalies.

And if we do, we can stop those people

before they get onto the plane.

Now departing from Gate 4.

This flight's bound for Turkey.

It sure is.

Due to current events, we spend a lot of time focusing

on flights to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

LAX is a major hub for outbound currency smuggling.

The currency can be linked to narcotics smuggling

and terrorist activities.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Going that way.

Shaved head. He has a black backpack.

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

You see him? He just, he can't stop.

He has his little carry-on.

The way he's holding it...

he's almost like hugging it. He doesn't want to let it go.

We have a gentleman that is a little agitated,

so we're gonna interview him when he comes up

and see what his story is.

Hi, do you have your passport?

Just come over here, this way.

Relax, relax, relax.

We're gonna look inside of your bags. Okay?

Hey, is there anything sharp in here?

- Anything that I should know? - (PASSENGER SPEAKING)

Take your hands out of your pockets.

Take your hands out of your pockets. All right.

Where are you heading to?

How did you get this green card?

How did you get this?

- (SPEAKING) Hey.

You don't walk away from me.

How did you get this green card?

How did you get this?

Hey. Don't walk away from me.

This is the final boarding process.

Listen, listen, listen.

I'm going to help you out if you work with me.

- (SPEAKING) - But the moment you start walking away,

doing all that stuff, we're gonna have a problem, okay?

So, let me do my thing, and then we'll go from there.

Alright, so how much money are you taking?

How are you gonna survive out there

if you're only taking 300 bucks?

What does your brother do? What's his job?