People employ numerous methods to smuggle drugs into the
country. Sometimes it’s a clever form of concealment;
most times, less so. In an early episode, thorough
detective work causes the story of an Ecuadorian man to
unravel, and despite continued protestations an X-ray
reveals that he’s swallowed large pellets of liquid
heroin.
Later in the series, a random baggage search
by CBP officers of an 18-year-old reveals cocaine in the
lining of his luggage, seeping out through the cracks in
his suitcase and mixing in with his clothes. After he’s
arrested, HSI agents convince him to cooperate and start
naming names.
Drugs aren’t the only thing these agents are looking
for. Fruits, meats and other foreign produce,
potentially carrying harmful pests and bacteria that
could devastate the country’s agricultural industry, are
confiscated and destroyed, including nearly 25,000
seizures in 2011 alone. Officers in the mail room
inspect nearly 700,000 packages a day for drugs,
counterfeit money, exotic animals or worse. For ICE and
CBP agents, it’s all in day’s work.
Premiere Episodes Include - Courier to Kingpin remieres
Monday, Oct. 8, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. At New York’s John F.
Kennedy International Airport, one of the largest hubs
for international travel in the United States, officers
of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and special
agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) are always on the hunt for contraband.
When a flight arrives from South America, the CBP team
sends the plane’s luggage through X-ray and then to the
K-9 team, which immediately picks up on a package
containing crystal meth. Next, CBP Officer Redpath
interviews a traveler returning from his wedding
ceremony in Bangladesh. The passenger admits to filing a
false report about his kidnapped parents at the U.S.
Embassy, which further intrigues Officer Redpath — is
this a crime for CBP or the FBI? A Guyana flight arrives
with a man making his third trip in the past year — a
little too frequent, in the officers’ opinions. After
inspecting the passenger’s bag, the team finds 4 kilos
of cocaine. A young kid arrives from the Dominican
Republic and Officer Finn has a suspicion about him.
After seven calls to relatives fail to verify the young
man’s story, Officer Finn decides to take him in for an
X-ray.
Cavity Courier - Premieres Monday, Oct. 15, at 9 p.m.
ET/PT. A flight arrives from Guyana, a recent hot spot
for smuggling activity, and CBP Officer Elias has his
eye on a particularly nervous passenger. As soon as
Officer Elias opens the man’s bag, he sees a false
bottom concealing cocaine. Officer Redpath interviews a
woman from Paraguay about the stamps in her passport. It
takes very little coaxing to get this woman to admit to
living illegally in the U.S. for seven years — and she’s
not going to be admitted into the U.S. today. A Jamaican
man is stopped by CBP officers and becomes very nervous.
After the officers remove his shoes, they discover
cocaine in the bottom worth around $60,000. On another
arriving flight from Guyana, a woman in baggage claim
keeps looking back at the officers — is this a dead
giveaway for a smuggler? After Officer Finn’s tough
interrogation proves futile, he tries a gentler approach
with the woman, which ultimately leads to her
confession.
Hidden Heroin - Premieres Monday, Oct. 22, at 9 p.m.
ET/PT. When a man arrives from Ecuador without luggage,
CBP Officer Finn wastes no time meeting him at baggage
claim for questioning. The team brings him into a
private room for a pat-down and the traveler’s story
begins to unravel, forcing the officers to do an X-ray
for ingested drug pellets. CBP’s target team discovers a
package containing engine pistons. When the weights of
each piston begin to differ drastically, the officers
decide to drill for drugs, leading them to a heroin
trafficker in D.C. Later, a very nervous traveler
arrives on a flight from Nigeria. As Officer Finn
probes, the man seems to be stumbling over his story.
Coke in the Coat - Premieres Monday, Oct. 29, at 9 p.m.
ET/PT. A family arrives on a flight from Peru carrying
bags full of leather jackets. After CBP officers go
through the bags, they discover cocaine in the lining of
the coats. The father admits to transporting the bags,
but claims he never knew he was carrying drugs. In the
mail room, Officer Boris identifies a package containing
a photo album … and half a pound of heroin worth around
$13,000. When flights arrive from Pakistan, Egypt and
Kuwait simultaneously, Officer Elias is already on his
toes, but when a radiation detector starts going off,
the team must identify the source without causing panic
among the passengers.
Search & Seize - Premieres Monday, Nov. 5, at 10 p.m.
ET/PT. For CBP officers Ramirez and Finn, an 18-year-old
trying to smuggle cocaine in the lining of his suitcase
proves to be a slam dunk. When he is selected for a
random baggage search, CBP officers find the narcotic
seeping through cracks in his suitcase. Now they work to
get him to cooperate and start naming names. Later, at
immigration, an unemployed man from Nigeria claims to be
in the country to purchase computer parts while
traveling with just $100. Through deft ICE
interrogation, his story starts to unravel, and he may
be barred from the U.S. for five years. Finally, a woman
from Jamaica attempts to smuggle undeclared food, and
cockroaches are crawling out of her bag.
To Catch A Smuggler is produced by National
Geographic Television (NGT) for the National
Geographic Channel (NGC). For NGT, the Executive
Producer is Jerry Decker. For NGC, Executive
Producer is Madeleine Carter, Vice President of
Production and Development is Kevin Mohs and
Executive Vice President of Production is Michael
Cascio.
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