Contraband: Seized at Sea

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,