The UK border agency is at war with smugglers in airports and airports. Pull it out. You don't have to say anything. Get that off me face. Coming up, the dogs in Gatwick sniff out a suspect with a dodgy case. Face in a nutshell. Okay. I think you have drugs in your baggage. Cocaine. A search in Manchester goes a bit too deep for this passenger. Can all these go back in? Yeah. Oh, right. Oh, this is your eyes. This is your private collection, is it? We just don't Things get ugly when a family are told their cigarettes are going to be seized. A lot of them. I'm not looking. This is In [music] Manchester, a radio message has come in from a pilot of an easy jet flight. Two female passengers are suspected of smoking cannabis in the plane's rear toilet. Who is it? Blanc. I'll go upstairs, mate. All right, I'll go upstairs. The pressure is now on for sniffer dog Amy to identify the suspect amongst a crowd. Stay single file to the right, please, as you're coming through. Thanks. Just stay to the right and keep walking past. Ames, I'm here. Just lower that back for me, please. Amy, Amy is looking for drugs, but [music] UK border officer Phil is trying to spot suspicious behavior. Thanks very much. There was a girl who didn't really want to I don't know whether she had a small handbag. She if it was her, she wasn't too keen on lowering it for the dog. It wasn't a definite indication. So Amy boards the plane to search the seats for any drugs ditched by the suspects. Hey, am I in about the general area where she was sat? Yeah. Dog isn't pinpointing any particular area. He's just very busy around all those seats. staff have been on already and done a search of the whole area. Um, so the what they could be the dog could just be picking [music] up the residual smell of whatever she's been doing been taken. With no physical evidence left on the plane, the officers will stop and search the two suspects for any cannabis. Unexpectedly, the officer gets a hit for cocaine. He's tra It's quite noticeable that that this particular one wasn't keen for the dog to go anywhere near it and by the sounds of it they are getting traces off them at the moment uh for cocaine. So So this the the officers are just doing further investigation on that at the moment. Confronted with the evidence, one of the girls admits to having taken cocaine, but with such strong traces, officers are still highly suspicious. Well, still getting hits. Absolutely. Uh everywhere for cope was the thing. You said you used some last night. Yeah. First service. I also got hits on the plane for cope. So on the dog where you were sat. Yeah. For you both. Yeah. Your seats on the plane. Okay. So what I'm going to do take you into you take one of these rooms get some repet and bring it in. Come in here with me. Officers have no jurisdiction over drug use abroad, but they suspect the girl may be carrying cocaine internally. It's a serious crime with potential consequences. Obviously, you've got suspicion that you could have drugs internally somewhere because there's none in your bag. You crazy man. No, that's so what I have to do here. Okay. Uh I'm arresting you. Okay. On suspicion of being involved with the illegal importation of controlled substance, cocaine. Okay. It's okay. On this one, I have to arrest you. You do not [music] have to say anything. Okay. It may harm your defense. You you mentioned something in question you later on I recall. Anything you do say will be given in evidence. Do you understand that? Right. The girls will now be searched. What happens when you don't find if nothing's found and I'm sure you'll be arrested and go on your way. Their ordeal is far from over. In Gatwick, officers are x-raying the bags off a flight from Turkey. It's outside the EU and a regular source for smuggling cheap cigarettes. But the team have their doubts about this particular flight. It's um it's a saga holidays flight, which means it tends to be the older generation. If we get cigarette seizures off this, I'll eat my tie. But straight away, the officers find over 4,000 cigarettes. They then head upstairs to see who collects the bags. They watch as the passengers walk straight through. Nothing to declare. It's at this point the offense has been committed. You've come into the green nothing to declare channel. Yeah. Which means you've got no more than one liter of spirits each. [music] One pack. One pack of 200 cigarettes each. As long as you're over 17. Oh, I've got 200 cigarettes. But how many have you got? Uh I've got 2,000 myself. [clears throat] And you've got 2,000 of our own. We just clear cut offense and the man won't be happy with the result. By coming into the green channel over the allowances, you have committed an offense. Right. Go for it. So because you've come into the green channel, the penalty will be today is for me to seize all the cigarettes from you. Sorry. I can if I can go over to France. Yeah, but France legally. No, I can legally go over to France with a 7 and 12 ton lorry, fill it up with one maker and come through legally and I can't be done for it. Doesn't matter how many you bring through. Yeah, but that is because it comes it's going to Europe and tax has been paid into Europe by buying them in Turkey outside the European country. Yeah, but not to the European Union. That was our paid. The problem is you've come Turkey is not in the European Union. Turkeyy's in Europe. But it's not in the European Union. And by not being in the European Union, that means tax is not paid into the European Union, which is why you have an allowance of 200. anything over that geography, but he clearly doesn't know the law. You better I'm taking your bags with me. You won't be taking your cigarettes [music] with you. Don't go all the way through. No. At the end of the day, but I'm not being real. At the end of the day, it's my hard earned money that's bought them and she wants to take them so they can chuck them in. It's wrong. We've said, "Okay, that's fair enough. Hands up. We'll pay the tax." Totally wrong. Yeah, but you've committed an offense by Yeah, but you've committed an offense by coming into the green channel. It's an outright offense. Where they come from? Turkey. Turkey. You're at 200 each. The European. That's it. I come from Europe. Makes no difference. Not the European Union. The difference. No, I'm going around the red channel. Sorry. No, 200 down there. Coming into the You've come into the green channel. I'll take them. 200 are allowed to be mine. No, 200. But by coming into the by coming into the work arrest me no a lot of them I'm not this is me own money it's me own money which I've got ended up this was a family holiday I paid for it from your grand and they're going to take take even more money from me bad enough the government ripping you off inheritance tax and every other tax and then these do the same taking cigarettes from tired passengers can often boil over into angry confrontations. Sam hopes she's seen the last of this man's temper. Back in Manchester, [music] the suspected smuggler's plan is beginning to unravel and their attempt to dispose of the evidence has failed, I think. Okay. All right. Never mind. What was the following? One of the officers um found a [music] package uh by the bench uh which we think one of the girls has actually dropped. Um it was [music] uh found to be cannabis in a sock. Uh he's actually looked and within the cannabis he's found a small plastic bag [music] like a deal bag containing some white powder. Uh we suspect that to be cocaine. The girl who was traveling [music] with her um the officers have conducted uh a search of person. And during the search of person, they found another package. [music] It's a similar, it's a sock containing cannabis. They weren't sure whether they could feel something else, so they upgraded the search to a strip search. Um, they've done a strip search now, and they're quite happy she's got nothing on her [music] person. But having detected such high hits for cocaine, the girls are led away for a full body X-ray. Class A smugglers face a maximum of life in prison. Just get in there and sit down, please. You're best not talking to each other. If you talk to each other, we'll have to take you one at a time, and it'll take longer. Dealing with suspected drug swallowers is also stressful for the officers. If the girls do have packages internally, it's a life-threatening situation. By using the machines we have [music] in the Green Channel, we've found very high traces of cocaine. So, we believe they could well have concealments of cocaine inside them. We just simply put the passenger on the machine and it passes the person through the machine. We instantly get an image on screen that we can examine and if we can see packages there and they back up to custody while we await the packages to pass through the system. Find anything? What do you think? You tell us. We've got to be 100% sure there's nothing up there. If we say there's there's nothing there and if it is something like cocaine that don't you know when the package does split you you're talking a matter of seconds before you suffer a fatal overdose. So we want to be 10% sure there's nothing there before we say yeah it's negative. If you put your feet on them marks hold on to either side be a couple of seconds and it'll start moving. Thankfully both scans are clear. But the girls are still in trouble. Two weeks [music] later, the court decided the drugs were for personal use only, and they got a 12- month suspended sentence [music] for the attempted importation. And back in the Gatwick search bay, things seem to have calmed down a bit. You can back down, mate. I'm not going to anyone cuz if I did, it could be you looking at me like that. believe you would be on your with it. Well, we cigarettes cigarettes. They're cigarettes at the end of the day. Let them do what they want to do. We're going to burn them anyway. Forget about it. Yeah, we were going to burn them one by one. Forget about it. The gentleman wasn't too happy about uh the fact that I was seizing his cigarettes, but it is a right offense coming in from Turkey. You are only allowed one pack of 200 cigarettes. You have to be over the age of 17. and they were in very much in excess of [music] their allowances. Good evening. Uh, it was until we met you. Coming up, sniffer dogs at Gatwick make a significant discovery in the bottom of a suitcase. Basic in a nutshell. Okay. I think you have drugs in your baggage. Cocaine. Coming up, border officers dig a bit too deep into one man's bag. What's up? Oh, right. Oh, this is your eyes. This is your private collection, is it? At Gabwick Airport, a flight has just landed from Port of Spain, St. Lucia. UK border officers need to closely monitor flights from the Caribbean, a known source area for cocaine. Sniffer dogs are a powerful tool in fighting smugglers and one bag in particular gets rookie drug Barney excited. I took Barney um to where Caribbean flight was landing and he gave a really nice indication on a passenger's bag. This this bag is yours and this bag is yours. Right. There's things that you cannot bring in this country. Okay. Okay. Things that you cannot bring here. Do you have any guns? Guns like shoot. Bang. Bang. No guns, no drugs. No cocaine. No. Sure. Okay. Has anybody given you anything to bring back? You're carrying parcels and gifts for people. That is the last. The passenger is acting nervous and Warren decides to do some background checks. I mean, he's quite a presentable bloke that you probably wouldn't wouldn't look at too much. But when Darren's come up and said that the dog's indicated on the bag, obviously you focus on on that bloke. When you focus on him in the queue, he's quite nervous and he's, you know, he's showing signs that he doesn't really want to be there. He wants to be straight through and out. And obviously, when he's been intercepted as well, he's he's showed out there as well. He's fiddling with the bag. He doesn't want to make eye contact with you. And then um from initially speaking really good English, he doesn't seem to understand what I'm what I'm saying to him. So then so yeah, it's all it's all there. The man's bag is put through an X-ray to check for irregularities and straight away it confirms Barney's suspicions. Right. You need to listen to me very carefully. Okay. Okay, I know your English is not good. Okay, I'm arresting you on suspicion of being involved in illegal importation of a controlled drug. Okay, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand what I've said to you? No, but basically in a nutshell, okay, I think you have drugs in your baggage. That's why you've been arrested. What? I think you have drugs in your bag in here. Okay. So, you've been arrested for that. Yes. We'll explain it a bit more later on. Okay. Warren has uncovered a false bottom in the suitcase. But with the man now claiming not to understand English, it's going to take a while to get to the bottom of the story. At Manchester, [music] border officers in the immigration area have asked officer Liz to search a man hoping to enter the UK on a tourist visa as they have concerns over how long he plans to stay. This gentleman's coming into the country to meet somebody he's [music] met on the internet. It's um a girlfriend. And he's coming into the UK to see her for the first time. And how long is it you here for? Uh 6 months. 6 months. And uh why have you come to the UK? Um to eventually try to get married to my girlfriend. I've proposed her over online. All right. And she accepted? Mhm. Oh, excellent. The reason that we're going to search for his bags now is cuz the immigration officers have questioned him upstairs when they took his passport off him when he entered the UK. Um because of what he said, [music] his reason for staying here. That's why they want us to search his bags to see if there's any documents in there that's going to indicate he's going to stay in the UK for longer than what he's is intimating. And when did you meet your girlfriend? Uh back in October. October 08. Yeah. Yeah. Just going to put that on there. The man is being unusually candid, but his story has all the hallmarks of an immigration scam. All right. So, you met her in October08. Where was that? Uh, on an online game. Oh, in an online game. Yeah. Oh, right. What game was that? Uh, Second Life. Second Life? Yeah. What's that all about? What's What What kind of game is that? Is it like a It's a a role playing game. All right. Just a bunch of pictures. Okay. Right. So, you've proposed to someone you've never even met. Man's honesty is starting to get him into trouble. Talking about game long enough. So, when you get married, um when when do you plan to get married? Well, we're going to try to give it about a month or two and then we're going to if we're still madly in love with each other, we're good. Okay. Then we're going to apply for the marriage visa. Right. And where will he live? Would he live here or in the States? Um, I'll live with her. But this is against immigration rules and unless he begins [music] to explain himself, the romance may have to remain online. That's a pair of panties she sent me. All right. Okay. All right. This is the movie collection. Yeah. It seems the custom search is starting to go a bit deeper than the man would like. What's up? Oh, right. Oh, this is your eyes. This is your private collection, is it? That's okay. My dad tried stealing from me. Got a bit of cannabis in there. It's a bit of bit of weed there. Is it? Liz discovers what could be cannabis. Know where it came from. And suddenly the man becomes evasive. Is that what it is? I'm not really sure. You're not sure? Okay. You just hang on there for a minute. The man's bid to meet his fiance looks on increasingly [music] shaky ground. In Gatwick, the suspected smuggler has been taken to the custody suite. Meanwhile, Warren investigates what's hidden inside the suitcase. It's pretty It's pretty well done, actually. Basically, you can see it's got a like a false bottom in it. What we want to do is just to spike it and test whatever's underneath. See what we've got. You can see got like a white powder or paste on the end there. It's like a field test for cocaine. Warren has found a white powder on the deep in the structure of the suitcase. Yeah, you can see it started to go blue already. So, we got cocaine in there. And it's a big hall for the team. How much do you think they want? 3 kilos. Three. Two. Three. That's good. The man has to be held while a Bulgarian translator is found. The officers are now able to communicate the seriousness of the crime. Right. And for that reason, okay, he was arrested on suspicion being involved in the illegal importation of a controlled drug. Narcotic. What? What do you mean? It doesn't really matter at the moment. Okay. Right. Hang on one minute. Basically, all we're getting doing here. Okay. Where did it come from? Well, I don't know. He He'll have to explain it and he get the chance to explain that later. Okay. All we're concerned with at the moment is him realizing or understanding why he's been arrested. Okay. for rookie drug dog Barney. It's his first seizure and he's in line for a big reward from handler Darren. I'm really pleased. He's a new dog to me, but he's doing really well. Ready? I think he's a star in the making. Good luck. Back in Manchester, immigration have asked customs officer Liz to examine the bags of a passenger from the US with a suspicious [music] story and some suspicious baggage. This guy's just come over from America. Um, he's come to see his internet girlfriend who he's never met before. [music] Uh, it sounds like he's intending to stay, so it sounds more like an immigration issue than from our point of view. U, I've just been looking. He's got some adult DVDs, [music] but I've just found a little tiny tiny just little residue potentially of cannabis, herbal cannabis. So, [music] I'm just going to give it a quick test and just see if it is or not. Okay. Yeah. So, I've got a positive reaction. It's a it's very very small amount. I mean obviously he's been very upfront up upfront about what his intentions are uh which could be unfortunate for him uh depending on what immigration decide [music] but from what he's been saying to me it does sound like he does intend to um you know come over here to get married and to you know stay here with his with his with his wife when he gets married. Liz thinks the cannabis is probably just a sign of personal use and so decides to hand him back to immigration. Yeah, it's he's reacted positively to cannabis. Um I mean, have you got any drugs on you at all today? No, ma'am. No. Okay. Okay. What will happen now is uh we'll take you back upstairs. Um I'll just show the immigration officer the paperwork that I found. Okay. And um then it'll be up to them then. they might to want want to ask you a few more questions. Okay. Basically, he's applied for a visit visa, uh, which means he's come here for [music] the purpose of tourism. When he's actually got to the immigration desk, he told the immigration officer that he's come to meet his girlfriend. So, it sounds [music] really like he's come, he doesn't intend to go back at all. So, I've passed that information on to the immigration officer. They'll interview him and they'll make a decision about whether or not to let him come into the UK or whether to send him [music] back home to America. The man was allowed into the UK to meet his fianceé for the first time, but their relationship has been put on hold as he was returned to the United States the next day. The Bulgarian was charged with smuggling cocaine. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 and 1/2 years in prison.