Original subtitles

On this episode of Drug Wars, the Dominican Republic's drug enforcement

undercover in an attempt to dismantle a Venezuelan cartel.

And U .S. authorities join the operation to track down narcos smuggling drugs

into the Dominican Republic.

The decades -long war on drugs is a constant battle.

Drugs are menacing our society. With the growing demand in the United States,

cartels are moving an endless supply of drugs.

Positive for cocaine.

Fusion is taking you inside the drug war. To the front lines of Operation

Martillo, a multinational counter -narcotics operation.

In just three months, we witnessed over 15 tons of drug seizures, totaling over

$800 million.

This is Drug Wars.

The Caribbean Corridor has some 90 tons of drugs passing through the region

every year, making the Dominican Republic the main hub for illegal

The country's National Drug Control Agency, or DNCD, is busier than ever

monitoring drug trafficking in the area.

The DNCD's intel strategy is based on digital and ground surveillance to gain

access to ringleaders in the drug trade.

An intel agent gets a strong lead from an associate in South America about a

Venezuelan narco picking up a drug shipment in the area.

Lately, traffickers have been sending drugs from Venezuela by the boatload,

mostly due to law enforcement cracking down on the cartels in Colombia.

As cartels find new drug routes, the Dominican Republic has become a new

destination for drugs heading into the U .S., as well as Europe.

With fresh intel about the Venezuelan cartel's next move in the Dominican

Republic, the undercover team hits the streets.

A nivel de lo que a droga se refiere, nos encargamos más de trabajar lo que

las redes dentro del país con lo que es las redes internacionales. Mira, yo

recibí una llamada de una fuente.

Tenemos un activo, un beneficio, que se va a juntar ahí con un pecador ya

reconocido de la zona sur de Baní, Raúl le llama.

Necesitamos saber dónde se va a quedar el dinero en el solano. Lo apuestan.

Okay, Commander. When I get there, I'll let you know.

Solo, 50.

Copy that, 50.

Commander, let's make a face -to -face meeting where we always meet at the

meeting point to talk about a mission we're going to carry out, Commander.

Okay, Commander Jimenez had already told me.

The undercover unit decides to call in their tactical unit for backup, trained

to handle high -risk situations like this one in case something goes wrong.

The two

units meet and plan

the details of the operation.

It's key that they maintain communication to know when to react and

early move that could blow the mission.

About to face the drug kingpin from Venezuela, the team knows they rarely

alone, so the units must remain vigilant in case the drug lord has sentinels

already in the area.

With less than 24 hours until the drugs are supposed to be in transit, this

could be the only chance to track down the Venezuelan and follow him to uncover

the rest of his operation on the island.

Do you see where we are?

Do you have visual contact with us?

Affirmative, affirmative.

We have control of you already.

Okay, okay. I think that's the little red Jeep that gave us the information.

Let's see if you can see the Benesco.

Cochi, don't you think that's Raul? I think he's there.

I can't see him.

No, but look at the walk.

You're old.

As a local boat captain who knows the most vulnerable points along the coast,

Raul's developed a reputation for being a hot commodity, with the connections to

smuggled drugs through the Dominican Republic.

The Venezuelan suspect arrives on the scene, apparently by himself.

We don't know if they're with more people. Up to now, they're alone.

Copy, copy.

I have them in sight.

Both of you and them.

Venezuela and Colombia make borders and stay directly in front of us

through the Caribbean.

That's why their invasion here is permanent through...

. .

.

. .

Okay.

Undercover agents will try to get the suspect's license plate and as much

as possible to begin building a case and find out who is working for this cartel

boss.

At this point, they can't make an arrest until they gather enough evidence

connecting the Venezuelan and his people to the actual drugs coming into the

island.

As the agent approaches the Venezuelan's vehicle, they spot a suspicious man

walking around, possibly a guard for the cartel. The team decides to fall back

and remain unseen.

In the Dominican Republic, an undercover mission to bust the Venezuelan cartel

is underway.

When a possible watchman shows up on the scene and puts everyone on high alert.

If this could be a... a... a... a... a... a... a... a... a... a... a... a...

a...

If the watchman spots the undercover agent, they could blow the whole mission

and even mistake the agents for a rival cartel and start shooting.

Okay,

okay.

The suspects suddenly wrap up their powwow. The team thinks they might have

flagged by their watchmen.

They decide to keep a safe distance and see where the pursuit takes them, hoping

they have not blown the mission.

They tail the Venezuelan back to a residential area.

So far, it looks like their undercover unit was not spotted.

They continue to gather intel before leaving the scene.

My lady, excuse me, what is this street called?

This is street 10.

Street 10.

Because this is street 7, this is Jesús Piñeiro.

As far as intelligence of the field is concerned, so far we are doing well,

because we were able to document the meeting where they directly talk,

communicate, and we also have the place where the Venezuelan is staying.

So far in that part we are doing well. We have to wait for them to make their

move so we can do ours.

With surveillance set on the cartel boss, the unit also gets confirmation

the drugs will be arriving within 24 hours.

Now, the plan is to capture the smugglers as they enter Dominican

wait for the Venezuelan boss to collect the drugs.

Last night's undercover operation in the Dominican Republic has already been

carefully shared with various international agencies, all part of

Martillo, to see who can join the hunt for the smugglers heading their way.

The Customs and Border Protection Base in Puerto Rico receives the info and

joins in the effort.

What we have today, it was a confirmed departure of a GOFAS out of South

America. It was destined to the Valle de Yuma in Santo Domingo.

We're the front line in attacking the contraband coming into the United States

and the Caribbean.

We operate between here and South America. There's nothing between us.

There's only 1 ,000 kilos of cocaine out there, go -fast type vessel.

We flew on it last night in the area, no joy.

We're going to see if we can come across this guy today.

We just received the morning brief.

There's a lot of information out there, a lot of smuggling activity taking

place, and now we're going out to check the airplane out, prep it for departure,

and soon we'll be airborne and start a patrol.

The Office of Air and Marine, or OAM, will attempt to locate the Venezuelan go

-fast heading north towards Dominican Republic.

But finding a 30 -foot speedboat in the ocean isn't an easy task, even with

state -of -the -art technology.

The aircraft we fly on is a Dash 8 maritime patrol aircraft.

It's a very sophisticated aircraft.

We have a very sensitive radar package on it, specifically designed to detect

small targets, small maritime targets in heavy sea states.

We're going to get a good radar picture of the area.

It's going to tell us all the different boats in the area.

And then we're going to slowly, one by one, identify those targets with our

camera.

Hey, gentlemen.

Yes, sir. Yes.

We're good to taxi.

Flight control.

R check.

I'm still waiting on the radar.

U .S. Homeland Security's workhorse in the Caribbean is the Dash 8 surveillance

aircraft. It flies at an average cruise speed of 334 miles per hour and gives

the OAM a live bird -eye view of any possible illegal activity.

They're hitting us hard. We've got to hit back really hard. They said they

the boat's doing 20 knots.

So I don't see anything right now. So we're just going to work. We're going to

work our way north. We're going to zigzag back up north and see what we

Okay, let's go to the 69 and go up.

The Dash 8 comes with a FLIR.

or forward -looking infrared imaging system, able to record clear video from

,500 feet. A good video recording can be considered evidence and will help law

enforcement build a case.

Our sensor package allows us to maintain a covert.

presence in the area. And that's really critical in our area because we're

looking for prosecutions.

We're not looking to just deter drug trafficking in the area. We want to put

drug smugglers in prison.

We have a vessel south and to the east, but I'm going to run you down the 68,

get closer and stay outside the fur.

Okay.

We should be able to see, but we've got to get behind. It's behind that cloud,

that angle on the camera.

We should be able to see, but we've got to get behind. It's behind that cloud.

A GOFAST boat coming from Venezuela is moving drugs en route to the Dominican

Republic.

The OAM is helping Dominican authorities track the GOFAST boat.

We detected an Edwardonio -type vessel with twin engines.

Three subjects were on board, and you can see the standard drug smuggling

that comes directly from South America.

Jorge, do you mind contacting the American authorities and see if

they have any marine assets available or if they can launch one of their Tucanos

to give us assist on this? We're going to be bingo fuel shortly. I'm not sure

how much play time we have.

Okay, got it.

Arma Dominica, I want Micromius to inform you we have a vessel, a vessel

of Saona Island, approximately 50 miles, heading north.

Vessel is an Edward Doño type, twin outboards, three persons on board.

Dominican Republic's Air Force is also alerted to join the operation.

It will relay info with the U .S. plane and help track down the smugglers.

Dominican forces are also well equipped with state -of -the -art technology and

will be flying an A -29B Super Tucano with a surveillance package that also

includes the FLIR system.

The Super Tucano, which can reach top speed at 368 miles per hour, is a highly

maneuverable aircraft designed to operate in high temperature, humid

and low altitude.

It's a modern day dogfighter in today's drug war.

Once we get to the point, we will go down to 3 ,000 feet and we will stay

between 3 ,000 and 4 ,000 feet.

That height also, from 3 ,000 to 5 ,000 feet, serves as cover or cover.

So that when the boat goes with its engines on, they do

not capture the sound of us because...

Getting info from the OAM's Dash 8, finally the Super Tucano locks eyes on

target.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

10.

At this point, the Dash 8 is low on fuel and will hand off surveillance to the

Super Tucano.

The plane will continue its pursuit and pass on its coordinates to the DNCD so

they can prepare and coordinate with the interceptor boats.

We're going to confiscate as many drugs as we can from them. We're going to take

their money from them. We're going to make them want to shift areas and not be

here.

On the next episode of Drug Wars.

The multinational operation to hunt down a major shipment of drugs from

Venezuela continues.

And in the streets of the Dominican Republic, addicts struggle with drug

overdoses.