Original subtitles

On this episode of Drug Wars, a suspicious ship from North Korea

cross the Panama Canal.

Sinan, Panama's air and naval enforcement, detains the North Korean

intel suggests it's smuggling drugs from Cuba.

But the Panamanians were in for a big surprise.

The war on drugs is

now in its fifth decade.

Dealed by demand in the United States, it continued to generate billions for

cartels. For three months, Fusion embedded with the men and women who

war 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 War.

Panama is a major transit point for international cargo as it makes its way

across the Panama Canal.

But recently, the country has become a major hub for drug cartels as they take

cocaine out of Colombia and into Panama for further distribution.

Panama's Sinan received intel on a North Korean ship, the Chong Chong Gang,

which already has a record of contraband in the past.

They halted the ship for inspection.

Senan Public Affairs Representative Rafael Gallardo takes video throughout

will prove to be a grueling operation.

North Korea already has reputations for shipping contraband across the world, so

Sanan crews have reason to be meticulous on the search.

Crews search the ship all night and into the next morning, but so far, nothing

turns up.

The non -inspectors need to check the cargo holds, but suddenly, the generator

dies and the cranes used to open them won't work.

Port mechanics struggle to find the source of the problem.

They finally find the engine room and generator.

They're surprised to find a North Korean sailor tampering with a generator.

This makes the nun even more suspicious about what the North Koreans could be

hiding.

With no power on board, they know the inspection is going to be tougher than

expected. Fortunately, the port authorities are prepared and quickly

massive generator.

Crews work through the night to get the electricity running again.

With power back on, the mechanics focus on the broken cargo doors, which also

seem to have been sabotaged.

Angel? They turned off the generators and the engines of the cranes.

They didn't want to collaborate.

They spoke, they spoke, they needed the doors to open, and they didn't want to

collaborate. That's where, that's where they knew they had something to do.

They decided to bring some cranes, mobile cranes, to be able to lift the

After two days of cheap tricks by the North Koreans, the Panamanians are

able to open the cargo doors.

With limited manpower, Sinan and port crew begin the grueling task of

the mountains of sugar.

The Infantry Corps, the DIAN, we started working in the sugar wagons and there

we realized that we couldn't.

The hours passed and we took out sugar and sugar and sugar.

It was hours that we were there, we went out to drink water and we stayed there.

We spent hours and hours taking out the sugar and then that's when the people of

the port, the Manzanillo, brought staff to help us.

More and more port workers come in to unload the massive amounts of sugar all

throughout the night, eager to see what the North Koreans are up to.

The crew on the North Korean cargo ship, the Chong Chong Gang, have been doing

everything they can to slow down the Panamanian inspection.

Finally, the Panamanians reach the bottom of the deck, but so far...

No signs of drugs or contraband.

Underneath the deck, more sugar.

And conditions on the Chong Chong gang go from bad to worse.

The

inspection

crews are evacuated for fumigation.

And then, it's back to work.

As

the

workers continue to unload, they spot something peeking out from under the

of sugar.

There, as we can see, well, let's see what's there. Well, there it is.

When the people of intelligence and all this came, they decided to see it

quickly. Let's see what's there. It was cut with an exacto, the rubber part.

It was cut a little.

It opened the doors a little.

And the camera got in there.

And there they see that there is something.

It looked like there was another way in, right?

No,

but the car is secured here.

And there is something like shining.

It was decided that the door would not open, that the container had to be cut.

People came to the port and said, let's cut this because we have to see quickly

what's here.

Senior Panamanian officials arrive on the scene.

A large drug bust made on a North Korean ship will certainly make headlines.

Where Sinan thought they were going to

find drug, They ended up finding what the experts on board say is a missile

system designed to shoot down planes flying at 30 ,000 feet.

Smuggling this kind of military hardware makes this bus an international

incident with severe consequences for the North Korean crew.

Danan decides they must detain the entire crew of the Chong Chong gang.

According to the experts, North Korea has a history of attempting to buy

weapons from around the world.

So this seemed like business as usual for the North Korean crew.

But this time, they got caught.

No, no, no, sir

Sir,

sir, sir, please.

Right now.

Okay.

No problem, sir. We are not too harmful.

Sir!

Sir, that's where you are going to be there. Just one night there.

Just this night there.

35 crew members were detained aboard the ship and placed in a holding cell.

After detaining the ship's crew, Sinan continues to unload more stacks of

Soon after, they discover another container.

With more evidence mounting of a large shipment of illegal weapons, Sinan tries

to approach the captain of the ship for questioning.

but things quickly get out of control.

The North Korean captain puts a knife to his neck and threatens to kill himself.

Panamanian police... Police catch a North Korean ship smuggling illegal

through the Panama Canal.

Sinan detained the crew, but now the North Korean captain is threatening to

himself if authorities don't leave his ship.

. .

Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli arrives in person to see what the North

Koreans were trying to smuggle.

. . .

As crews remove more sugar, new containers continue to appear

it more evident just how big this smuggling operation really is.

It's day three of the investigation of the North Korean cargo ship, Chong Chong

Gang. More digging reveals more illegal weapons, including anti -aircraft

missiles.

Sinan Public Affairs Representative Rafael Gallardo checks in on the

captain. The captain tried to commit suicide and is now under careful

supervision, unwilling to cooperate.

The captain faces some serious charges for illegal weapon smuggling.

With almost 200 ,000 stacks of sugar completely offloaded, Sinan crews are

confident they've found every hidden container on the ship.

oh oh oh oh

After several days of intense labor, their hard work paid off.

Altogether, the Panamanians uncovered 25 hidden containers and six military

trailers.

The surprise itself was when more and more different and very heavy weapons

appeared. They were heavy weapons, heavy in the sense that they were many pieces

of iron to arm.

After a thorough search of the container, what alarmed authorities most

secret North Korean document that addressed the captain and gave detailed

instructions on how to load and conceal the illegal weapons shipment, and how to

make a false declaration to customs officers in Panama.

Panama's Minister of Defense and Sinan director arrived to inspect the weapons

and prepare to hand over the investigation to the United Nations.

Sinan's discovery of illegal Russian missiles quickly made worldwide

The final list of the weapons found included two anti -aircraft missile

two MiG -21 jet trainers, 15 engines and afterburners for the MiGs, artillery

shells, and other munitions and material, most of it from the Soviet

But according to experts, most were in working condition.

Right now, what is being investigated is the United Nations.

The United Nations is in charge of everything related to the ship and the

On the next episode of Drug Wars, in Cartagena, Colombian police are tipped

off on a drug stash buried on an island.

On the rent,

the crew gets intel on a fishing boat possibly carrying about 1 ,000 kilos of

cocaine. He's seemingly fishing at all, so things kind of mind like human traps.

Please come to mind when you're waiting on a loaded bug to then go a different

direction with all the moves that you have.