customs officers are on the front line against smugglers in the ports airports and at sea coming up in dover officers scan a truck full of chipboard and find a suspicious anomaly in bristol and night shift looks like it could be a long one the uk duty has not been paid on these cigarettes where's something to declare this is not something to declare and there's more angry passengers in gatwick you can open your bag up and let's look at things all right so finish and let me go idiots [Music] [Music] in bristol early morning flights are being targeted by customs officers clamping down on passengers attempting to profit from cheap and illegal tobacco from outside the eu colleagues like the back are having a look see if they can pick out any cigarettes or tobacco possibly drugs as well i'll stop whoever needs to be stopped yeah we've got a just the one bag it's a black and gray big soft sided okay thank you it's back coming through now and watches closely to identify the passenger white t-shirt then wait for him to walk through the green channel if he has cigarettes it's at this point an offence has been committed are you aware of the allowances of what you are actually allowed to bring back from turkey with regards to cigarettes and tobacco okay did you purchase any tobacco uh cigarettes alcohol who are they for are they for me and we just went by what they told us they say they've been given false information in turkey he's actually got somewhere in the region of four thousand cigarettes and you are only like two hundreds that's quite excessive amount to bring back early you just go by what they allow you and pay the consequences possibly it's going to be an expensive mistake and gives the man the bad news it's an offense because you didn't declare it if you'd declared it when you know when you came in before before you came through the channels if you'd come to one of us and said you've got this amazing i've got to the end of that thing there's no something to declare or nothing to declare there is a red point down there with the phone he said it's right by the bag where the bags come out there's a possibility you would have been allowed to pay the duty on the cigarette but for a night like this 5000 cigarettes when you're actually only allowed to bring back 200 it's just too much it's too much i'm sorry [Music] in dover customs officers are hunting for smugglers on a different scale and trucks carrying certain cargos set the alarm bells ringing this lorry full of chipboard is a prime target well the vehicle looks a bit a bit dodgy yeah armed with their giant x-ray customs can quickly scan huge trucks and innocent drivers can be sent happily on their way this load is thank you so we're looking looking for any inconsistency i've been telling the lowest chipboard so it should just be the same all the way through there's something in there that shouldn't be there this here there's a shadow across the center there see the shadow even more there right across the centre the x-ray has picked up a large anomaly which needs further investigation okay cool okay it looks highly suspicious so the truck will now need to be offloaded it will take hours meaning a long delay for the driver back in bristol the man who's had his cheap turkish cigarettes seized by anne isn't going quietly after her 12-hour night shift anne's doing her best to keep calm there's one there's one rule for one person one is football for a different person one customs officer will allow one one customs officer will allow something totally different this is the kind of thing that puts small businesses out of business and that is what they try to stop no it isn't just getting the money from the gut for the government it's a it's a large amount and it wasn't declared before you came through the channels you actually came through the channels without making what change you're talking about this this point down here these that you walk through the man doesn't have a leg to stand on and anne's patience is being tested to the limit i understand at this point there is not a green channel because there is construction work taking place but everybody that wants to declare something should either speak to one of our officers that is stood here or this red point here there is a phone and if you pick it up you will be connected to a customs officer and you will need to declare what you have this is a declaration if you make this we offer you to pay the duty unfortunately you didn't do that i had to stop here well it came from there that i walked over to here yeah i'm looking for my baggage i come around here i'll get my baggage i look here nothing to declare the rivals from european union whoosh where's something to declare this is now something to declare hang on hang on where is something to declare well it doesn't need to say it doesn't need to say something to declare you can read obviously in that nothing to declare big letters yes that is i'm not gonna argue anymore look good to declare red point warning if you have failed to make the appropriate i didn't know that i'm not gonna argue about it anymore you do have the right to appeal against my decision um the rules are the rules i'm sorry i don't make those rules i know it's just the way it's just you know one-for-one yes as a final act of generosity and decides to let them have back their allowance but the man's angry mother doesn't know how to keep quiet either i think they should be sorted out they're telling us one thing and laws another thing though i'm sorry but i disagree with that [Music] undercover officers also take on cigarette smugglers but on a global scale in 2003 investigators in bristol got a tip-off about second-hand furniture dealer andrew smith smuggling cigarettes from the far east smith's level of business and his income tax returns didn't reflect on the lifestyle he appeared to enjoy he had a large house and a swimming pool it was decided that we would mount a surveillance operation on andrew smith to identify his associates and to gather evidence to support a lightly prosecution for cigarette smuggling one of these uh associates was a gentleman in birmingham called george gracik george krasic had visited malaysia on a number of occasions and it was uh it was obvious that those visits were to uh to organize the eventual importation of containers the investigation uncovered an extremely well organized criminal gang bringing in containers of cigarettes to southampton container port what they were actually doing was piggybacking containers of flat pack bunk beds from malaysia and china the cigarettes were in identical boxes to the flat bunk beds the only difference was no bunk beds during the surveillance officers in southampton x-rayed a container hiding over two million cigarettes but to guarantee a conviction and ensure the maximum sentence officers also wanted to prove that smith was responsible for coordinating the importation which meant proving links to the far east it was clear that in in operation commute that smith must have had contacts in the in the far east one person identified through the surveillance was it was a malaysian national female smith and the woman were clearly unaware that they were the focus of a high-level surveillance operation in in july of 2003 officers surveilled andrew smith and the malaysian female at heathrow airport they surveilled the lady checking in for a flight to malaysia the officers searched her bags covertly and found exactly what they needed she was totally unaware that the examination had taken place and officers found a diary and this female's diary contained handwritten notes relating to containers freight charges far eastern ports the evidence of the diary and smith's association with uh with this malaysian female it put him up the ladder a few runs it confirmed that he was an organiser of this this fraud at this point the officers decided it was time to seize the containers and stop the illegal gangs trade route their funds were being were being staffed they were running out of money they needed to think quick they decided to use another company to import or another company name to import their containers the surveillance carried on on smith on one occasion andrew smith was seen to to leave one car and joined some associates in another car a keen keen officer walked along had a look through the window and there was a piece of paper on on the back seat and that piece of paper had a container number on that container number was the next container we seized with a strong case against the two ringleaders assured smith and his associates were arrested he had actually successfully with george grassik imported 10 containers with the help of our detection colleagues in southampton we seized 11 containers that contained 25 million cigarettes the total revenue evaded was around about 9 million pounds with the sheer scale of the fraud and the overwhelming evidence investigators weren't surprised by the sentences handed down andrew smith was sentenced to three years eight months imprisonment george gracik received a prison sentence of three years and 11 months some people would say they played the game on this occasion the authorities won still to come officers stop a tricky customer in gatwick why have you been out there for a well i'm a week officer i need to tell you all right coming up are passengers playing up in gatwick um i haven't finished chat sir let me start stay there off the coast of cornwall customs cutter searcher is patrolling the limits of british waters hunting for yachts headed for the uk from the caribbean all right we'll just leave this in mary's in the cilals and we're going to the west um and we're doing what we call deep sea sweep we're looking for anything that's out there small commercial ships yachts fishing vessels and we'll have a look at them and within a 12 mile limit we'll board them and see what they're up to the atlantic is increasingly dangerous at this time of year but smugglers are prepared to risk their lives in the hope of sneaking drugs into the uk undetected territorial waters will be the power to board any vessel and ask people questions of where they come from and search for vessels colin uses a powerful radar to scan the ocean for yachts it tells us there's a target there and it allows us to watch his course on speed see where he's going which direction he's going for a start and then we're going to actually have a look at him it's nice to find things because it gives you guys a buzz that's what you're here for in the first place but today there's nothing around but a vast ocean and it's easy to see why the cutter crews are the most sought after jobs in customs beautiful aren't they and that was the game you could see how close you get to the bastard the chipboard truck with a suspicious x-ray is now in the search bay the german driver is questioned while michael tries to uncover anything stashed inside the load it's a load of chipboard and what we've done is we drilled into full of back as i drilled through it kind of went down about that deep and then just gave way um and as i pulled the drill bit a little bit tobacco and also i could see a little bit of tinfoil the only problem is with wood sometimes this because the drill it burns it when you're when you're drilling it can smell a little bit like you know kind of tobacco-type smells it could be a false alarm but as the top layer of chipboard comes off the source of the tobacco smell becomes very clear michael has uncovered a massive hall of cigarettes in a coughing concealment the driver is arrested immediately well there's a large quantity of tobacco mild cigarettes and i'm guessing there's some other bits and pieces and boxes and stuff but we'll find out in a bit well the chipboard loads quite normal and it's quite common but as you can see there are it's easy to conceal items within it because you can it's only cheap wood it's a cheap light they can get rid of it quite easily and they can cut holes in it while the driver's question to see if he's involved the officers need to count up the cigarettes [Music] in all nearly two million cigarettes because we spend so much time looking at lorries and not finding stuff because obviously you know not everyone's bringing things in so it's good to find something that's a good number as well this is what we kind of want to get really because this is the big numbers in gatwick the baggage x-ray has picked up a suspiciously empty suitcase and customs want to talk to the passenger officers have to tackle all kinds of passenger and some are more cooperative than others hi sir hi where have you come from today chipotle yeah okay just want to bring you back over here for us just here officers ask simple questions to work out if further investigation is needed but this man is making things difficult yeah no that's fine we'll try and make this as painless as possible you need to be quick but understand i've got to do my job though yeah just first of all we're about to see you going to in the uk where's home for you here well i live here yeah yeah all right if you tell me then i won't have to go and check it no if you do just tell me where you're going why have you been out there for a week i don't need to tell you well i'm a customs officer i need to tell you all right know your business did you pack the bags yourself and do you know what's inside your bags listen i have just gotten it all right then you'll just open your bag up let's have a quick look inside again officers were alerted by the empty bag but are now very intrigued by the man's demeanor just got an empty bag here all right okay that's right i might need to take everything yeah my son is just looking for me all right all right let me do this all right and i'll finish and then you can be on your way all right just let me do my job how much money have you got there you can count which is your money no it's your money so tell him how much he got what did that happen with you sorry what does that have to do with you i just would like to know how much you've got that i don't need to change all right fair enough unless the man starts to cooperate this baggage search could take quite some time searchers deep sea sweep has so far been a washout program heading back in for submitters now unfortunately there wasn't very much out there today at all we've searched quite a big area but all we've found is lots lots of dolphins but heading back in the radar picks up a target this is the target here this chap here the yacht appears to be coming from the canaries a frequent transit point for drugs from africa and the caribbean in this neighborhood but mostly where these vessels come from into this area i'd suspect that if there's anything there with the drugs and it's possibly quite well hidden aboard the yacht as well officers boarding vessels at sea never know what they might face the drugs trade is worth billions and smugglers are willing to protect their goods with force smugglers also try hard not to stand out from the crowd so even the most innocent looking boat needs to be treated with suspicion this boat seems harmless but they can't afford to take anything for granted it's just a customs visit one of my colleagues is just going to have a quick look around how many people are there on board in total it's just the four is it nobody else down below just let my colleague have a quick look and come back to me and let me know okay do you have any um any drugs on board cigarettes spirits narcotics or firearms guns knives explosives you've got nice for the kitchen that's fine while the officers question the crew the officer searching below decks signals the all clear he's happy he's happy he they decide that the boat is clean and the happy crew sail off into the sunset yes ray billy uh that's us just left the dutch yacht [Music] but back in gatwick it's not such plain sailing um i haven't finished yet so i need to have a look at that no no no all right that's special is it i need to have a quick look no this is my document that's that's the best one don't need to have a look at it anything you have in your baggage sir is liable for me to have a look at right stay there stay there the man's erratic behavior is still causing concern all right you're not being very helpful sir are you i just want to leave that stuff there a second some background checks reveal this isn't his first brush with the authorities yes sierra was to rule out any possibility the man's carrying drugs they need to search him and swap his shoes i've spoken to an independent senior officer all right and they've authorized a rubbed down search of your person just like a pat down search like that okay what we do is we'll take your stuff with you and we'll go to there's a private room just out there all right out the back the man continues to make things difficult yeah just place on the bed for us that's right just place it on the bed you can see it when it starts i'd rather you just on this sir please i'd rather you just place it on the bed you just do a swab thanks um it's got two mobile phones plus another sim card but again nothing on the shoes so there's no other reason to hold them so right in the end it was all a lot of fuss about nothing the smallest reason can just somehow just kick off and he just threw his uh dummy out of the pram and just chucked everything around and that was about as much as he could do you know in those first couple of seconds if it's going to be worth it or not with him it's definitely worth taking further just to see what what his story was really the driver of the chipboard truck was released on bail while investigations into who's responsible for the two million cigarettes continue [Music] you