All language subtitles for Drug Wars s01e01

America's public enemy number one in the
United States is drug abuse.

It's been America's longest running and
most expensive war.

Drugs are menacing our society.

Fought with enforcement and prison.

A war waged in the media.

The war on drugs has failed. All it does
is enhance the drug deal.

And it's a war with no end in sight.

as the demand in the United States for
drugs continues to generate billions in

profit for narcotraffickers.

So what's it like to be on the front
lines of this war?

For three months, fusion embedded with
the men and women who do it every day.

And they gave us an unprecedented look
inside a new international anti

-narcotics operation.

While we were there...

The operation sees $400 million worth of
pure cocaine.

It's a modern, high -tech war.

An often violent war.

And sometimes, a frustrating war.

This is Drug War.

There absolutely is an element of
warfare here. There are a number of

that can go wrong in any mission. Every
time we go out, there's an element of

danger, there's an element of risk,
because we don't know what we don't know

until it happens.

We sailed with the USS Renz at the
beginning of their seven -month

Her mission is to hunt traffickers in
the waters off Columbia.

It's a sprawling area where 70 % of
their busts take place.

The Rents is bristling with high -tech
surveillance gear.

But her crew mostly depends on stealth.

But of course, so do the traffickers.

We were trying to decovert, and what
happens sometimes is you'll get

like this that's not on radar anywhere.

And even with the lookouts looking, with
the contact this small, they just kind

of pop up out of nowhere on what's
happening. Now we've got a visual on

if we've got a visual on him, he's got a
visual on me.

Tom tells me that if he's a legitimate
fisherman, I'm wondering where all of

gear is.

Roger, I copy Lima Charlie.

Go ahead and steer towards him.

BWC, Rents has a fishing vessel that is
mirroring their movements.

There's no visible fishing gear from the
Rents right now.

Rents wants permission to launch the
helo, take a closer look, see what's

on.

Fighting the drug war isn't a run -and
-gun operation.

Every move the Rents makes has to be
approved here, at this command center in

Florida.

Why would he be out here this far?

We plan to go find out, so I'm waiting
for the boss to tell me what he wants me

to do.

Our job is to be a bit like a
clearinghouse.

We get information from all different
kinds of sources.

Some of it is from human sources. Some
of it is from partner nations. Some of

is from surface assets afloat.

And then we determine who's got an asset
that can then take action on the

highest priority target.

This is Comfort Fleet. Do you have
permission to launch your helo? Take a

look at that vessel.

Fort Fleet, out.

Might be a fisherman, might not be.

We're going to go out there and try to
find this guy, and then we'll see if

we're going to board him or not.

The Renth is just one ship that's part
of the multinational anti -drug

Launched in 2011, it's called Operation
Martillo, the hammer.

Operation Martillo working exactly as
it's designed to.

U .S. working bilateral agreements with
the Colombians using multi -national

forces together to hammer the living
hell out of the bad guys.

The best way we can combat these drug
traffickers down here is to take their

large loads of contraband from them as
close to the source as possible.

Let's get close. He's got them.

He's got them.

The USS Rent uses a helicopter to get a
closer look at a suspicious vessel.

Roger,

understood. You have good, solid visual
on the target.

We're very far from land. We're almost
180 miles from land. That's a long ways

out for a fishing vessel to be.

So, you know, is he legitimate?

Possibly. But there's more reasonable
suspicion there for him not to be

legitimate, to be this far out.

All right. We know you got a good shot.

But this isn't the only chase for
Martillo right now.

Command Center is keeping an eye on
another investigation in the Pacific.

The U .S. Department of Homeland
Security provides a covert surveillance

another major drug trafficking route.

Yes, sir, we have a contact on radar.
It's moving at a high rate of speed.

showing about 40 knots.

The P -3 Orion surveillance plane used
to hunt Soviet subs during the Cold War.

In the drug war?

that scans the ocean for small boats
loaded with fuel cans and drugs.

Roger, sir. The GOFAS has changed
course, and now he's heading in 035 and

35 knots and heading back into the
Azuero Peninsula.

Copy, sir. The GOFAS seems to have
barousel fuel on board. Let me know if

get any comps.

Copy.

Running low on fuel, but keeping an eye
on it, sir. The P -3 spotted the

suspects at the tail end of its mission,
but she's running out of fuel.

So the crew needs to turn to one of its
partners in Operation Martillo, the

Panamanian Navy, or CENAN.

I will contact CENAN and see what they
have available assets, why it's in that

area.

All right, Roger that. We'll be working
with CENAN.

The ETA would be approximately 35
minutes.

There's the interceptor on narrow.

The GOFAST sees the Panamanian patrol
boat and begins evasive maneuvers.

The target is increasing speed now to
approximately 40 knots.

The Sinan helicopter arrives and tails
the smugglers.

Suddenly, the go -fast takes a sharp
turn and heads for shore at over 45

an hour.

He's heading 035 now.

This

guy's

going to beach here pretty soon, I
think.

He's in a narrow road.

As soon as the patrol boat is on scene,
we're attempting to locate the personnel

that went under the water.

They have the target.

We're climbing on up. We're heading
back.

While keeping tabs on the situation in
Panama, Central Command gets some useful

intel on its other case back in the
Atlantic and passes it on to the rent.

Helicopter just visited a VID on a
fishing vessel that we did not know was

here. That fishing vessel back in 2010
was found to have a false bottom. It's

most likely still operating illegally.

It's probably carrying contraband.

That false bottom is enough for me to go
alongside doing ROA.

I want you to close at 25 knots. The
captain authorizes the rent to approach

fishing boat.

But here's where it gets tricky.

The U .S. military can't legally go
after drug smugglers.

I have zero law enforcement background.
I have zero law enforcement authority.

That's where the U .S. Coast Guard comes
in.

As the U .S. Coast Guard, we fall under
the Department of Homeland Security.

We can operate pretty freely out here
without the same restrictions that

Department of Defense personnel do.

When this ship operates under the Coast
Guard, we got a tactical control ship to

them. They become my boss.

They just changed course of speed
according to combat. And, of course, the

intercept is 113.

113, aye.

Yes, visual.

The boat's about to go in the water.

As soon as the boat goes in the water,
I'm going to close and get top cover. So

I've got real good lines of fire in case
something sprawly happens like he

decides to shoot.

Back in Panama, the boat suspected of
drug running ran aground.

Those aboard made a run for the jungle,
leaving behind the go -fat and two sacks

of drugs.

But they need to find the suspect.

And the operation becomes a manhunt.

There's these fast boats, the go fast,
so -called.

You don't believe the source zone,
Colombia and Ecuador.

The first place they really can be
interdicted is in Panama.

Panama has become a central highway for
narco -traffickers.

The police here have seized more drugs
than any other country in Central

America.

In this case, they lose the suspects

in the dense jungle, but the operation
isn't a total loss. Two stacks were

recovered. However, these boats usually
carry up to 40, so it's possible there's

more drugs and clues hidden in the go
-fast.

It was a game of entanglement that was
done by the personnel of the FENAN,

personnel of the region of Commander
Rodríguez, in pursuit, guided by the

aircraft up here, and until they got to
the coast.

This was with the help of the U .S. Air
Force.

They gave us the information, we moved
our boats, we moved helicopters, also a

lot of resources were moved for this
capture.

District Attorney Mora has been working
cases like this for years, and he can

tell a lot from the way the cocaine is
packaged.

All told, the two stacks contained 38
bricks of cocaine.

aspecto intrusivo de la embarcación.

Bob is up and down on the horizon, but
he's right under that helo right now.

There we go.

The other

guy came out, got his phone, and just
started making all kinds of hand

Not very happy that we're here.

Meanwhile, the rents and the Coast Guard
carefully approach the fishing vessel.

This could be the first drug bust of
their mission.

Once

we actually

launched that small boat to go carry out
a law enforcement boarding on a suspect

vessel. We can't hit the pause button
and have a redo. Depending on what

nationality they claim for the vessel,
that will determine exactly what steps

have to take to get that country's
permission to get on board.

I cannot in any way, shape, or form
influence him in his decision -making,

because if I do, I've overstepped my
bounds.

The crew on the rent hopes this will be
their first bust of the season, but it

won't be easy.

Everything has to be by the book.

But the boat raised the Colombian

flag. and brought this operation to a
standstill. We need to get all the

that need to be answered. We need to
send that back through our chain of

and then make a determination based on
the boarding officer's suspicions, based

on the answers given, based on what we
see, patterns of life, historical

things we've seen in the sky, all this
type of information.

They have to make a determination. Do we
have sufficient probable cause or

reasonable suspicion to go on board?

If we do, then we'll go on board and
actually conduct a boarding.

The biggest challenge right now is being
patient, because everybody wants to get

the bus, including me.

So up the chain it goes, to the 4th
Fleet Command in Florida.

On the rent, they wait.

Mora's search has to be meticulous.

Without the suspects in custody, he has
to scrutinize everything.

This phone card might reveal a lot about
the traffickers and their buyers,

if there's any data to read.

Mora's team is convinced there's
contraband hidden somewhere in the go

After tearing apart the boat for hours,
They think they may have a breakthrough.

But they find nothing.

They lost the suspect, and the seizure
is small.

But Mora calls the operation a success.

He says they seized a million dollars
worth of cocaine that will never make it

to the United States.

The crew on the rent hopes this will be
their first bust of the season.

But it won't be easy.

Everything has to be by the book.

Typically, we're able to ascertain from
the helicopter that there is no flag

being flown. There are no indicators of
nationality on the board of the vessel

whatsoever. And at that time, we can go
through a process to assimilate that

vessel without nationality.

What that allows us to do is basically
approach that vessel as if it was

stateless. and not have to go through
the extra considerations of contacting

specific nation to get their permission
to conduct boarding.

127 is no, not recommend boarding.

Roger, good copy, stand by, I'm going to
send the outboard jets out.

After getting a closer look, the Coast
Guard thinks this fishing vessel is

legit. This is 4th Fleet, roger, out.

VWC, Renton's lead at team came back,
they recommend not boarding.

They noticed that the child's on board,
they talked to the captain.

And the captain's story checked out. He
just took his nephew out, and there's

other fishing vessels in the area.

LIDET doesn't seem necessary to board
the vessel right now.

All right. So everything's checking out
there?

So far, LIDET, when they went over
there, everything's checked out, and no

boardings been conducted.

All right. Have them knock it off.

Roger.

This is Comfort Fleet. Stand down, LIDET
team. Bring them back to the ship.

Comfort Fleet concurs. Do not board the
vessel. Far away is complete.

Turn back to mother.

Jive is going with the boarding team's
recommendation not to board.

and they said they have nothing further
for us at this point.

This operation for this specific craft
is over.

It can certainly be frustrating at
times, but we're here. We're going to

fighting the fight and taking as much
contraband off the waters before it

the streets.

There's no doubt in my mind that what
we're doing as a single ship in a sea of

potential bad guys and movements and
flow every night is a drop in the

But what we take off the streets is
significant.

The drug business is a $95 billion
business, of which $94 billion of it is

profit. If we weren't such big consumers
of drugs, the cartels would not make

very much money.

On the next episode of Drug War, how a
Panamanian port becomes a deadly

battleground.

And meet the covert agents and
informants fighting the drug

war.

And when one is tortured, they end up
with one's family and the last one to

is one.