Original subtitles

On this episode of Drug Wars, the crew of the USS Rance rushes to the Pacific

intercept a drug shipment when the ship's main engine suddenly gives out.

want to get fixed and we want to get back on a mission very quickly.

Now it's up to the engineering crew to save the mission.

In Panama, troops venture into rebel territory to protect communities

by narco -gorillas.

The war on drugs is now in its fifth decade.

Dealed by the men in the United States, it continues to generate billions for

the cartels.

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 seized $400 million

worth of pure cocaine.

This? is drug wars.

In the previous episode of Drug Wars, the USS Rentz was on its way to a

bus in the Pacific.

But a cable used to start the main engine failed.

Without it, they'll never make the intercept.

You're telling me that this part is not in stock in any of the warehouses?

Now, the pressure is on.

as the engineering team scrambles to find a fit.

Basically, we would not be able to continue our counter -narcotic mission.

not get this.

We want to get fixed, and we want to get back on the mission very quickly. No

one would only maybe ask it down here.

So you found the part?

They found this part from an organization called CIRMIC, took it off

shelves, and sent it to us.

The timeline's pretty tight. You know, everything has to happen just right. You

have to clear through customs within an hour.

and then they have to get it to the pier, and they have to boat it out to

Oh, the part's on its way?

Okay, so it actually got in -country, cleared custom, and actually made it

the small boat?

The crew heads out to connect with the delivery boat.

My best case scenario here is we get that fixed, we get our engines back up

full capacity, then we'll be doing a high -speed intercept to take down,

get a disruption or an echo bug.

That, tonight, we're going to get it right.

We're going to meet the blue and white boat by the breaks.

We're currently there. We do not see the blue and white boat. Over.

The delivery boat is nowhere to be found.

And with no reception,

They can't get in touch with the rent.

This is Red Knot, channel 64, over.

This is the

Darien Gap, a 10 ,000 square mile jungle spanning the borders of Panama and

Colombia.

These troops are part of the Cenefront, the Panamanian border police.

They're based here in the village of Boca de Cupe, tasked with reclaiming the

territory from a violent Colombian rebel group called FARC.

FARC has been in a bloody conflict with the Colombian government since 1964.

More recently, they've made this area a safe haven for drug trafficking.

Colombian officials say BARC is responsible for 60 % of Colombia's drug

Today,

Centerfront is making the four -hour journey to Matugante.

a remote border village.

The

villagers

ask for safe passage with the troops.

Traveling this far downriver is still fraught with danger.

Francisco, the town's leader is still nervous about reprisals after the

of FARC members.

Most people living in the Darien belong to the Embera tribe, historically known

as the Choco, and they have a long history in this region.

Because no roads reach here, they remain isolated

from the outside world.

But when conflict in Colombia pushed fighters across the border, the outside

world came knocking.

The rent is dead in the water off the coast of Panama.

Her main engine crippled.

We're supposed to meet a blue and white boat out here about 30 minutes ago.

The delivery boat is a no -show.

Far from any U .S. base, the supply chain is pretty limited.

But the crew finally catches a break when the supply ship arrives at the

We're poor fleet, and if we can't get out to do the mission, then why are we

here? So right now I'm putting a lot of pressure back on the folks that has a

job to fix us.

The rent's entire mission is jeopardized when her main engine fails.

And it wasn't easy to get the parts affected.

When they finally get their hands on a replacement part, the engineering team

runs into another roadblock.

No,

they don't match up. Those numbers don't match up.

Hey, get up 0 .0.

We can make it work.

All right.

We need to get everything put together in a game plan. Make sure you look at it

through, and then we'll go up and talk to him and lay the options out for him.

He's going to have to make a decision on it.

My biggest concern is obviously safety.

With the pressure on, it's all about improvising.

They have a possible solution, but that involves some safety risks, such as a

short, a fire, or even system failure.

Now, Landseer has to make a decision.

After a long, four -hour journey, the center -front troops reached the last

village before the Colombian border.

Matugante may seem small and remote, but in the drug war, it's a vital

battleground.

Major Solis and his troops are actually here as an advanced security team.

Their top commander will be arriving later today.

It's an event for the villagers.

Commander Abrego has been the director of CENAPRON, the Panamanian Border

Patrol. since 2007.

The two -hour helicopter trip would be a two -day journey by boat.

By land, it would take weeks, if one arrived at all.

But it's all part of Obrego's strategy to battle the exploitation of these

people by Clark and the cartel.

In 2009, with a change of strategy, we are watching the people, we pass to

our mobile companies and to the reinforcement of our special forces,

protecting the population as such, the environment of the region, patrolling

rivers, which are the roads of the Darin.

Here we have the leader of the community, the

society

of women, the educator and the international map.

I'm living in this area since 1974.

We lived with fear.

Why? Because the people from there, who were told that the guerrillas were

getting in.

They said, well, sell us this coconut, sell us this pig.

You couldn't say no, I'm not going to sell it. Because if you didn't sell it

two or three times, you would already be a threat to us.

We are Panamanians.

Where are we? Where are we? We are in the Panamanian territory and we wanted

live in peace.

We will continue to do it, for the safety of you and your seed as such.

And as we have said, cooperation is mutual.

If you see something, you tell us and we immediately react as it has always

been. In the last two years...

Modesty aside, we can talk about approximately 90 camps of different

conditions that we have found and we have destroyed.

Likewise, the patrols are open, they go from town to town, along the roads, they

go through the rivers, bringing physical and visual security to the person,

precisely so that people live in a more peaceful environment.

Abrego says Centafront has recovered 26 % of Panamanian territory from FARC and

have captured over 300 people linked to the rebel group and other criminal

organizations.

The government's social outreach here provides services and support,

but also earns allies throughout the dairy and against FARC.

That is what fills us with satisfaction.

The recognition that Panama is fighting against drug terrorism and that the

National Border Service fulfills its task for the class. It was precisely

created, right?

So the plan is to take the cables that we received and go ahead and build a

jumper cable, and then what we'll do is we'll splice it, put new ends on it, and

then once we start the engine, go inside and remove it, put some electrical tape

around it, and then we'll only use this cable as we need it to start the engine.

The engineering team thinks they have a solution that could save the engine and

the mission.

But there are safety risks.

Lantier will have to make the call.

First, will it work? Second, will it be safe? If it'll work, it's not a

permanent fix.

So the question is making something that's going to be safe, that can extend

inside the model, and in the worst case, you know, as if you had a field spray,

right? See that or wait another couple of days trying to get a park.

The pressure is on for the engineering crew on the rents. They've improvised a

solution to restart the main engine.

But will it work?

It's a calculated risk. It is a risk.

Most of the things that I do are a calculated risk.

I got two leads.

I got two pins.

Lantier keeps up the pressure on his engineers.

Fourth Fleet Command has intelligence on a drug shipment out of Columbia

tonight. This fix is his only hope at an intercept.

We've been delayed to 23. You

should

be able to let it go.

All they can hope for is that this jerry -rigged cable doesn't backfire on them.

Everybody set? You got the PPE on?

I say again, we're not ready.

All right, standby starting one alpha.

Hold on, not yet, not yet.

The Panamanian Border Police, CENAPRONT, are patrolling the remote Darien region

of Panama.

Commander Abrego heads out to a region recently won back from the FARC, a

Colombian rebel group responsible for the drug trade here. This area, called

Union, is now the most forward -based camp in Panama's history.

La Union played an important role in this region's battle in the war on

It's the first time Colombia and Panama have set up a base together to combat

the FARC.

It's a 15 -minute flight to the Colombian border from Mantiganto.

By foot, it takes center front soldiers 10 days.

Landing a helicopter here, let alone establishing a base, would have been

impossible just a year ago as the area was overrun by FARC soldiers.

The camp seems calm for now, but it's a tense situation.

The FARC group, Front 57, has been attacking Colombian and Panamanian

this region.

In 2013, Cenefront and Colombian forces reported the capture of two coca fields

and cocaine labs in the area.

Since then, Cenefront says joint operations have kept FARC on the run.

On the rent, the engineering team installed their improvised jumper to

the engine, and they're about to find out if it works.

Reset the breaker.

Okay. Air is aligned. I'll reset the breaker.

Okay. Go for it. Breaker reset.

Auto start initiated.

One alpha GT.

Auto rotation.

Starting right now. 4 ,500 right there.

There we go.

Well,

we were able to get the engine started. So what we've done now is we're entering

the module to disconnect the wire that we made because there's still a relay

issue.

Have them go ahead and enter and disconnect.

Air secured.

The hope now is that the engine keeps running when they disconnect the jumper.

Mission accomplished.

On the next episode of Drug Wars.

The target is changing course, slowing down to about 30 knots.

With valuable time lost to the engine failure, the rent has to somehow catch

with their new target.

A fishing boat suspected of running drugs.

What we're doing right now is a long -range intercept.

I'm going well in excess of 150 miles, which is going to take several hours to

do, and the whole time I'm trying to calculate where he's going to be so I

get an intercept.