11:44
The animals are often delivered by smugglers who return with knives made in Mexico for illegal fights in the U.S. They can confiscate your vehicle, and since you're a permanent resident, you could lose that too. Cockfighting is banned in all 50 U.S. states. If convicted of aiding and abetting a cockfight, you could not only lose your residency status, but also face up to 5 years in prison. Because I have no idea how we're going to open this. The ingenuity these guys have for building these compartments is insane. At the San Ysidro intersection, Officer Fessia attempts to access suspected narcotics hidden in the roof of a car.
You can see here that it's like Bondo, fiberglass all over. Obviously, if you weren't in the compartment, you'd only see the roof. So now I have to figure out how to lift that. With no obvious signs of access to the compartment from the inside, do you feel like there's something in there? Officer Fessia turns his attention to the outside. I can remove this with my hand. The Sinaloa cartel processes and packages drugs in Mexico. You can see the weld or where they cut, so that it can be lifted easily.
Once they pass through the San Ysidro crossing, they depend on street gangs in the U.S. for distribution. The compartmentalization we're seeing today is insane. It's not something they did in an hour, they thought about it, they did it, they took the time . This is the last part that holds this side down. There's one more screw here. There it is. When you look this way, you can see the packages. There's soap everywhere. They still think that soap will make the dogs stay away. Covering narcotics with detergent is a common tactic, but it is often ineffective against trained dogs, who can distinguish the smell of the drugs from the covering agent.
Next step, okay, I need to test them and then I'll have to weigh all the packages. If it's white powder, I have to test each package because fentanyl and cocaine look the same. If it's white powder, everything will look the same . It feels the same. But when you try it, it'll be fentanyl or cocaine. Fentanyl smuggling has skyrocketed in San Ysidro in recent years. It's still very common for us to catch fentanyl here. So, we 're starting to cut the packages right now. We use all the appropriate personal protective equipment If the officers ingested even the smallest amount of fentanyl, it could be fatal.
The Gemini is a machine we have that has a database of all drugs. You just have to scan it and it will tell you what kind of drug it is. The packages are tested in a ventilated cabinet to ensure that any airborne particles are removed. kilos. That's a lot. So, 38 packages of cocaine, street value here in San Diego between $15,000 and $20,000 per kilo. It's about 44 kilos. This seizure has a street value of $5.4 million. That's a lot of money. Officers discovered two bags of pills hidden behind the seat inside a vehicle arriving from Mexico.
Sir, do you have any medical conditions? Do you need water? Anything like that? That's fine thanks. He said he was just there for a dentist appointment, but it turns out it was for more than just a dentist appointment, yes. Apparently, he went to pick up the Tramadol. But to be sure, let's count them individually and prove that it's Tramadol. A laser scanning device analyzes the chemical composition of the pills. Oh. Tramadol. There were two bags, but as you can see, there are a lot of pills inside. If I had to guess, easily more than 2,000 pills. So I'm going to have fun counting them all, which will be the best part of my day today. One.
Tramadol is an opioid pain reliever used by more than 16 million Americans each year. I'm only up to 500 and we still have a lot more to go. Too many of these pills. Apparently, all of this was for him. For me, this is too much for one person. So, yeah, most likely I was going to sell them or something Misused by almost one in ten, its addictive qualities and opioid effects drive demand on the black market. I know most of the people, that's why they come here. They don't need a prescription in Mexico like we do here. But, I just want to say, it's a shame.
5,000. 5,000? This is 500. Many people like to cross various quantities of pills so they can sell them. And they make a lot of money doing it. But with a street value of $1 to $5 per pill, Tramadol is cheap. Moving them by the thousands allows traffickers to make a lot of money. So, I counted 1,351 pills in that bag. How much was it? Although it's a lot of pills. That's a lot of money. With a value of up to $13,000 on the black market, it is another blow to illegal trade. So, that's a lot of money. But you won't win it today. Suspected of trafficking controlled substances, the driver is handed over to Homeland Security Investigations Oh. They are blades for cockfighting. And it's a federal crime. In Laredo, Officer Hinojosa
discovered a stash of cockfighting blades hidden in a traveler's truck So, this goes around their claw and kind of wraps it around their paws for the fight. The cartels import thousands of specially bred roosters from the U.S. each year, spending up to $2,000 per bird. The animals are often delivered by couriers who return with blades made in Mexico for illegal fights in the U.S. They can confiscate his vehicle, and he's a permanent resident, so he could lose that too. Cockfighting is banned in all 50 U.S. states. If convicted of aiding and abetting a cockfight, you could not only lose your residency status, but also
face up to 5 years in prison. 100 custom-made blades, worth thousands of dollars, suggest that the man is part of a larger operation. Thank you. The officers then refer the case to federal investigators. We found 100 undeclared rooster blades hidden in the glove compartment of this traveler. I was traveling from San Antonio, Texas, to Dallas. Investigators must weigh all the facts before deciding whether to take the case to federal prosecution. While officers await the prosecutor's decision, more evidence comes to light This phone was for registration purposes. He gave authorization for it to be
recorded and yes, he had videos. Is that legal in Mexico? Can they do that? After finding 100 hidden cockfighting blades and videos of fights on his phone, officers referred his case to federal investigators, believing he might be supporting cartel-organized fights. It's quite graphic. It's animal cruelty, isn't it? I mean, they, they suffer. They, one of them has to die, so it's, it's quite, it's quite sad. Cartels have a long history with cockfighting throughout rural Mexico. In addition to financing fights, they are known to use them to launder money through betting and strengthen their local influence. So, for the time being, they did not want to
press charges. Age plays a very important role here. After assessing the situation and considering the man's advanced age, prosecutors decided to release him while the investigation continues. still has to pay a fine because he's doing something illegal, and we're going to confiscate all the knives. He remains subject to future charges until all the evidence has been evaluated. But for now, their residency status remains intact. Alright And after paying a $500 fine , the man is free to leave. In this case, we did our job. He was lucky. Luck is on his side. At the end of the day, we seized the merchandise, the illegal merchandise. A large network. You have it here in the US, you have it in Mexico. We just have to
be vigilant, right? Tonight, a pickup truck traveling from Piedras Negras to San Antonio with its cargo area full of products was sent for secondary inspection. The driver says he is returning from a vacation in Mexico with friends, souvenirs, and food from the trip. The detour was to check this because they thought there was too much in the main lane. His story is that he comes from Mexico, from visiting his family. So everyone here is family and friends. A little suspicious, but we'll see what's up. must pay import duties on any product they intend to sell commercially. A cooler full of ice to try and throw us off, but it didn't work. Do you want to check? That's striking Religious statuettes, two large copper pots, and
ornamental birdhouses attract the officers' attention. Items like these can be bought cheaply in Mexico and resold for hundreds of dollars in the U.S. They say it's for personal use, but sometimes they resell them here. This type of informal cross-border trade undermines American manufacturers and costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But it can be difficult to prove. While the search of the truck continues, Officer Zapata is called in for another inspection. Do you have this underneath you? But the items on the bed of his truck suggest that he's not just carrying personal belongings. So you got that in the They have
the same house. It is common for families and friends to divide commercial merchandise among several vehicles to avoid paying taxes. But the fines for being caught can amount to thousands of dollars. I'm going to have a short chat with these people. Under questioning, the truck driver admits that she is related to the van driver and splits the merchandise with her cousin. They 've used it for years, mostly when they bring in commercial items, um , we'll just charge them $20 for not bringing in things like that. As a first-time offender, she agrees to pay the $20 fine. But his cousin in the truck won't be so lucky after admitting that he had already been stopped before.
The driver already had four positive results this year. So, what we'll do now is impose a penalty of $300. If he is caught again, the consequences will be much more severe will be $1,000 and we will impound your vehicle. Thank you, sir. Yes sir. We can only give people a limited number of opportunities. And if we do n't start enforcing the rules, they won't learn. They're going to keep doing it.
