Customs officers are at war with smugglers in the ports, airports, and at sea. Coming up, sniffer dogs take on drug smugglers in Gatwick. He looks for cocaine and heroin, so he's a class A drugs dog. A 200 million pound fraud spirals out of control. It's too much of a good thing. They did get greedy. And officers are on the hunt for illegal in Bristol. Like possibly the one that just went through. And that that looked like it did have quite a few in that one. In Bristol, Anna and Erica are on the hunt for tobacco smugglers. This is the um Dalaman flight coming from Turkey. Currently not in the EU, and um the allowance for that is only 200 cigarettes. Tobacco's now so highly taxed, the black market is booming, and nearly one in five cigarettes smoked in the UK is illegal, either counterfeit or smuggled in illegally avoiding UK duty. We'll be looking for anything over about 400 really at the moment. Like possibly the one that just went through. And that that looked like it did have quite a few in that one, so. Joe stops a passenger whose attempt to dodge duty looks set to end in tears. Right, basically we've got a female passenger who's coming from Turkey. She's got 1,800 cigarettes. So, what I'm going to do today is seize 1,600 cigarettes off her and give her back 200 as a statutory allowance. I'm not sure how she'll take it. I don't think she'll be too happy, but I don't think she'll be angry. I think she'll be more upset, which is harder usually. Don't mind a bit of um anger, but it's just when they cry, which is a bit difficult. As you As you know, you are over your allowance. Your allowance is 200, okay? On this occasion, I'm going to give you the 200 allowance back. That's all I can do. I can't do anything more than that, I'm afraid. So, I have to spend all that money on nothing? Sorry? I just spent all that money on nothing. Well, I'm I'm afraid that's There's not really a lot more I can do. Can I have my phone back? Sorry? No, you can only have to stick to your allowance, I'm afraid, just 200. Gives me no pleasure to seize these cigarettes. This is when this is a mount. I have I have no choice, I'm afraid. Okay? Gives me no pleasure to stop people. Okay. And I just knew I just knew it when I pulled through nothing to declare. I thought, "Uh-oh, he's got me." I could just see the gleam in his eye. I generally felt bad because although I believe she she knew um she knew what your allowances were, I still think for anyone it's still difficult to to have money taken from you. The passenger seems surprised, but it turns out Joe has caught a regular offender. I've got away with it for about 9 years. I shouldn't have said that cuz he's just behind me there. It may be a small seizure, but replacing the cigarettes will cost the passenger hundreds of pounds. In Gatwick, the X-ray has picked up a bag with some suspicious contents. It's put back on the carousel while Calvin watches from a distance to identify the bag's owner. The passenger's girlfriend is walking ahead, a tactic often used by smugglers to avoid detection. Calvin follows the passenger through the channels where the class A drugs dog Rossi gives an indication on the same blue bag. The questions asked by the officers are seemingly obvious, but the answers given can be used to build up a prosecution if anything's found. So this is all your baggage? So your baggage, sir? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and these are the bags you took out with you? Yeah. Can you give me anything to bring into this country? Okay, just have a quick look in the blue bag, then. Yeah, just the blue one, is it? Start with that one. Start with that one. Always start with the bottom one. Yeah, this is Don't touch it. Um Okay, both these three drugs. Each case is full of sealed packages which look like cannabis. The couple are arrested immediately. I'm going to ask you some questions under which later rely in court. Anything you do or say may be given in evidence. Do you both understand? Do you understand? Is that yes? Yes, sir. Do you understand? Yeah? Okay. All right, let's take them out the back now. Cannabis is a class C drug, but a quantity like this is worth thousands of pounds, so the investigation starts immediately. And Calvin needs to make sure the right people feel the full force of the law. Between 10 and 15, probably. They probably might have 15 kilos. I mean, obviously we'll have to spike it first and test it to establish Do a field test to establish what it is the drug is. I'm making an assumption that it's cannabis. So that's what Okay, and he'll explain your legal rights. Whatever the packages contain, it's not looking good for these suspects. Make your calls, okay? Off the coast of Cornwall, customs cutter Searcher is waiting for orders. I've just had some intelligence come in. Basically, they found a length of rope with an anchor. It doesn't really say what it is, what it's for, but the locals have never seen it before. They don't know what it's all about. They found it into customs and said, "We think there's a bit something a bit iffy about that." This is a very old way of smuggling. It's actually putting things in the bottom and putting it on a buoy and actually hanging it off the rope. It's been done around here for hundreds of years with brandy in the old days, but it's happened before with drugs. Okay. Full speed, Captain as you can. Searcher's crew man the vessel 24 hours a day, ready to respond to any threat to the UK's borders. Is it successful, though? With over 5,000 drug seizures a year, the threat's very real, and smugglers use any tricks they can to slip through the net. I'm surprised we're looking at that. Just off Just the green five. There's another three there. Uh-huh. There's another one there. So, the whole place is full. It costs millions to operate these high-powered vessels with their onboard speedboats, but they're at war with well-financed criminal gangs who can make millions from a single importation and are willing to protect their profits with force. We've got to still got light. We won't have it for much longer. Um so, after this, we're going to be as quick as we possibly can here to try and get this job done. Have you seen any any pots that you don't recognize? Yeah. Local fishermen are a good source of information, and there have been unusual pot markers sighted in the area. Is this a different body on the end of this and we're going to be at it? In the failing light, the officers check as many markers as they can. Good. It's a real one, isn't it? Yeah, it's good. One back here as well. There's one more, buddy. This might be the golden nugget. And there were parts in there. Did you say? Do you reckon? Go back here, I reckon. Yeah. Not all operations end with a seizure, and Kirsty hopes the intelligence gathered here may prove valuable in catching future smugglers. That's what we'll do. We'll actually pass that information back inland, and we'll pass it back to intelligence to see whether they can match it with any other activity that's been going on. And potentially keep an eye on that area just to make sure that we know where to find it and what the potential of it is. In Gatwick, the custody suite is where suspected smugglers are welcomed back into the UK. It's a significant seizure, but Calvin's job now is to make sure everyone involved in the importation is identified and prosecuted. What are you doing? Right, sit down. Just sit down. What we'll do is we'll let the customs officer know you're here, okay? And then he'll come and see you and explain your legal rights. Okay? Sit there, mate. Ah. Okay. Okay. I intercepted you in channel on North Terminal. North Terminal. And opened a blue suitcase, which you did. Unzipped it, found it to contain foam, and in the foam were have packages which I believe to be controlled drugs. 11:38 Cell number two. Before we do anything, take your shoes off and leave them outside and your belt. I'll get I'll get you You've got a blanket, maybe. You take your shoes off then. Just leave them outside here. Do you want any drink of water or anything? No, I'm all right. Sure? Okay. You can't smoke here, I'm afraid. And the name on this bag relates to the female. That will tie her into this bag. It's unclear who's involved, so the female passenger must also be kept in custody. What it looks like there could be controlled drugs in one of the bags. Do you understand that? Sorry? Do you know what drug it is? No, I don't know yet. They will find out when they do and let me know. Let me know. We just suspect that they are drugs at the moment. Kelvin suspects the packages contain cannabis. And the smell is unmistakable. We check them all just to make sure they all are cannabis rather than we've had that concealed before where some have been cannabis and some have been cocaine. They do all contain cannabis. And the weight of the packages is 20.63 kilos. It's a huge amount of drugs off the streets. Still to come, suspected cocaine smugglers in Gatwick. You swap the bag and they tell you whether or not the bag's been contaminated with drugs. Coming up. A positive drug swap means an intimate body search for this passenger. Please don't make any sudden movement. I will be going into your groin at some point. Over a thousand kilos of cocaine is seized by customs in the UK each year, and Gatwick is a prime point of entry. Sniffer dogs are used on the front line in this fight against class A smugglers. He looks for cocaine and heroin, so he's a class A drug dog. Trace smells or large amounts of and that kind of scent he does that's what he goes for. This passenger was stopped by immigration officers and has now been brought into customs to be searched. Sniffer dog Rossi picks up a scent from one of his bags and gives the signal to the officers. But picking up a scent isn't enough. Officers must find the drugs before someone can be charged. UK customs, okay? Is that your bag, yeah? Who paid for your ticket? Yeah, I paid me but somebody um Someone done booked it for Someone booked it for you but you gave them the money, yeah? And how do you know this person? How do you know the person who booked it? It's a close friend? He's nervous and his story sounds suspicious. Just take a swab of your bag things it tells me whether or not you've been in contact with drugs at all, okay? Okay, if you just bear with me a sec again. Basically, you swab the bag and we have two machines and they tell you whether or not the bag's been contaminated with drugs. Like it's giving a reading now showing that there's it's picked up particles of cocaine. Could indicate that one that they could be a user. Um at some point there's been drugs within the bag. There's stuff there now or stuff on their person. Obviously, you've got to go down every avenue and rule out every avenue. I've got a reading for cocaine from your bag and from your clothes and from your laptop bag. Okay, can I just ask you use at all? No. Do you use cocaine at all? Have you used cocaine in 20 days? No, okay. Finding nothing in the bag, Alex requests authority for a body search. can I have I request for an SOP, please? That's been awful for us, that's fine. I gave him my reasons, gave him four reasons why. Nervous, the more eye contact reading, dog indication, and he's got very little luggage for two weeks stay. What I'm going to do now is take him into the search room and conduct a search. Okay, I'm not going to touch any skin, okay? Got no need to, obviously I can see. If I can just ask you to place your arms out for me. Put your palms up into the air, okay? Please don't make any sudden movement. I'm going to do one side at the time. I will be going into your groin at some point, okay? But I will make you aware when I do that. Okay, again, I'm going into your groin. Okay, if you want to take a seat for me, please. But smugglers don't only carry drugs on their bodies. We swab the inside of the shoes because obviously have swallowers who come into the UK with packages inside them. Packages give out like sweat and they go into your pores and you sweat through the bottom of your feet, so it can give a reading to say that there's possibly packages inside. So, it's another area that we test. It's another frustrating result for Alex, but this man's troubles are far from over. Okay, if you just like to wait by the bench for me. Back to immigration now, yeah, and then they'll make a decision whether they land him from there, but from our side we're happy. If you got disappointed on every one person you stopped, you'd be extremely disappointed and you'd probably you lose your enthusiasm to keep looking. So, you just get back out there and start again. Stop another passenger. Customs officers in Dover have an entirely different threat to deal with. Thousands of trucks a day pass through the freight lanes and the detection teams work round the clock to try and spot which ones may have something to hide. One just gone over the top. There he is. I've never seen a non-marked one. The intelligence hub selects most targets, but it's experience which has alerted Richard to this truck and he decides it's worth searching. Tires in a fridge. I've never seen a non-marked fridge in an Omega Fuels no unit before. Never. So, it's your tires in Smugglers often use awkward loads like tires as cover and so customs have developed x-ray machines big enough to scan an entire truck. So, we probably we might end up scanning it. That's a brand spanking new fridge and like that's not a refrigerated load. Little bit odd. The truck's under pressure to deliver, so this Polish driver isn't happy to learn his truck will have to be scanned. If it finds anything suspicious, it may have to be offloaded which the driver's company will have to pay for. They get a little bit edgy about it. They don't They don't like that we do that. The x-ray picks up an anomaly. That looks like there may be a secret compartment hidden in the floor. Richard needs to find out what it is, but he doesn't want to cost the driver money if he can avoid it. No, I think it's in the floor. Is it in the floor? Yeah. But what is it? I think I think it's ribs. We've got to make a decision as to whether this is worth offloading or or or not. The team are all highly trained mechanics, so Richard decides to try to access the suspicious area from underneath. Customs officers also take on gangs involved in carousel fraud, which steal money from the VAT system. It works like this. Criminals set up fake companies to import high-value goods VAT-free. The goods get exported back out to fake companies in Europe, at which point VAT is reclaimed. These shipments get stamped at the border, but then simply turn around and come back into the UK. The same goods go in and out of the country again and again. In 2001, a man by the name of Ray Cox was at the center of a carousel fraud so massive, it would take the next 6 years to bring him to justice. By looking at him in financial profiling of Ray Cox, we basically determined that in a space of 3 years, he'd gone from being a pallet repairer to a multi-millionaire. He'd become a major thorn in the side of attacking the UK's VAT system. And we we embarked on what became an 8-month long surveillance operation against Raymond Cox to identify those he was associating with, those he was trading with. We effectively identified a total of seven people. But they were just average people, so they weren't particularly well-educated people and certainly not with a business background. Day after day, the surveillance team looked on as the fraud increased. Cox and his six accomplices gradually lost control. The goods were going round and round on the carousel so fast, they forgot who was selling what to who. They they became blasé and as often you see within the fraudulent activities, they did get greedy. It's It's too much of a good thing. In May 2002, it culminated in a meeting at the Trafford Centre in Manchester at a restaurant called Tiggy's about keeping the fraud on track. And of course, they were unaware that they were under surveillance at the time. The surveillance team tracked all the suspects to the meeting and captured it all on film. Whereupon, we were all able to get inside. And, in fact, I entered the CCTV control room for the Trafford Centre, uh, zoom in and record the whole meeting. Uh, a surveillance officer's dream. With the gang making around 10 million pounds a week from the fraud, tensions were clearly running high. The meeting at the Trafford Centre was the first time that they'd actually all been filmed together. Come the end of the meeting, when the paperwork appeared to be sorted out, they all got up, and it was a very jovial, much backslapping, hugging, as if there were no problems. But, in fact, their problems were about to get a lot worse. The officers had decided enough was enough. On the morning of the 8th of July, 2002, the carousel of the conspiracy was taken out. The 217 fake companies had stolen over 180 million pounds, and it took 4 years to sift through the mountains of paperwork. The 9-month trial found six of the seven guilty as charged, who all received at least 5 years in prison. Seen as the organizer, Cox received the heaviest sentence. Raymond Cox, who was the principal, received a 12 and 1/2 year prison sentence. It was a very rewarding result for the effort that had been put in, and the signal to the criminal fraternity as a whole that, um, you know, we are going to take these frauds seriously, and you do get, uh, similar sentences to what you can get in major, major drug cases. Back in Dover, however, a lengthy search has found nothing. I think you just got to use a bit of common sense, haven't you? So, at the end of the day, are we going to charge you 150 quid off though, didn't find nothing, or you just make a judgment? Okay, chef, please. Richard decides the truck doesn't need to be offloaded and the happy driver can carry on and deliver his load. But on the bay next door, a white van has been pulled and this time it's a hit. The van's full of cigarettes destined for the UK's black market. But not anymore. The drivers have been arrested and taken into custody. They um stopped the vehicle, questioned them and once they questioned the driver, they um went in the load and examined the load and on opening a couple of boxes in one of the pallets, um detected large quantities of cigarettes. It's a serious crime, but their efforts to avoid detection aren't quite so easy to take seriously. I was stating it's foiled. for the arrest. Lindsay, uh designed in a vain hope that we wouldn't detect these, but uh it's it's kind of uh laughable, but aluminum trays, I don't know whether they were hoping our x-ray eyes wouldn't go through them or just seems um I know. At the end of the day, it's cardboard box of cigarettes in it and we were we were going to find them, so. In just one van load, the officers have seized over a million illegal cigarettes. The cannabis found in Gatwick was valued at 55,000 pounds. The man has since pleaded guilty. The female passenger pleaded not guilty and will stand trial soon. Mhm.