To Catch a Smuggler is a documentary television series that depicts the work of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) law enforcement officers at multiple United States airports. Violations include fraudulent visas, human trafficking, and transportation of contraband items. To Catch a Smuggler is featured on National Geographic.[1]
| To Catch a Smuggler | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary Reality |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 74 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Lucky8 |
| Original release | |
| Network | National Geographic |
| Release | October 8, 2012 – present |
A typical episode presents several incidents of the following types:
- Interviewing travelers from abroad and examining their documents (passports, visas, etc.), in order to determine whether or not to allow them to enter the country.
- Examining passengers' luggage to find suspected contraband, such as drugs, undeclared currency, or prohibited food items.
- Searching the bodies of individuals suspected of concealing contraband, using methods such as pat-downs, detection dogs, and X-ray scans.
- Detaining individuals suspected of smuggling and turning them over to law enforcement agencies for possible prosecution.
- Investigating criminal smuggling operations (drugs, weapons, counterfeit merchandise, etc.) with the goal of arresting the perpetrators.
The channel features several sister series under the same title, which focus on law enforcement activities at airports and facilities in other countries, including Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, and the Dutch Caribbean.
The series has been produced by Lucky8 since 2020. National Geographic's site aligns seasons with Lucky8's production.
Episodes
editSeries overview
edit| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 5 | October 8, 2012 | November 5, 2012 | |
| 2 | 8 | January 1, 2020 | February 19, 2020 | |
| 3 | 15 | January 20, 2021 | May 19, 2021 | |
| 4 | 12 | February 9, 2022 | April 27, 2022 | |
| 5 | 10 | September 14, 2022 | November 16, 2022 | |
| 6 | 8 | May 10, 2023 | June 28, 2023 | |
| 7 | 6 | July 26, 2023 | September 13, 2023 | |
| 8 | 8 | April 24, 2024 | June 13, 2024 | |
| 9 | 8 | September 2, 2024 | October 23, 2024 | |
Specials (2012)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Courier to Kingpin" | October 8, 2012 |
| 2 | 2 | "Cavity Courier" | October 15, 2012 |
| 3 | 3 | "Hidden Heroin" | October 22, 2012 |
| 4 | 4 | "Coke in the Coat" | October 29, 2012 |
| 5 | 5 | "Search & Seize" | November 5, 2012 |
Season 1 (2020)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | "Internal Investigation" | January 1, 2020 |
| 7 | 2 | "Club Drugs and Party People" | January 7, 2020 |
| 8 | 3 | "Suspicious Suitcase" | January 15, 2020 |
| 9 | 4 | "Cocaine Crackdown" | January 21, 2020 |
| 10 | 5 | "Smuggle Once, Smuggle Twice?" | January 29, 2020 |
| 11 | 6 | "Drugs, Guns and Money" | February 5, 2020 |
| 12 | 7 | "Cocaine Sausages" | February 12, 2020 |
| 13 | 8 | "Decoys, Diversions and Drug Busts" | February 19, 2020 |
Season 2 (2021)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Mama's Meth" | January 21, 2021 | |
|
CBP deals with an unruly passenger. | ||||
| 15 | 2 | "The Coke Inside" | January 28, 2021 | |
| 16 | 3 | "Party Drugs" | February 4, 2021 | |
| 17 | 4 | "Endangered and Smuggled" | February 11, 2021 | |
| 18 | 5 | "Hidden Compartments" | February 18, 2021 | |
| 19 | 6 | "Stash House Takedown" | February 25, 2021 | |
|
HSI disrupt a transnational meth ring and CBP seize a huge shipment of illegal shark fins. | ||||
| 20 | 7 | "Coke, Cakes and Cash" | March 3, 2021 | |
| 21 | 8 | "Dark Web and Liquid Drugs" | March 11, 2021 | |
| 22 | 9 | "Cocaine Shoes" | April 8, 2021 | |
|
Hidden among the millions who enter the U.S. through JFK, MIA and ATL is dangerous contraband. DHS will stop at nothing to catch these smugglers. | ||||
| 23 | 10 | "Lockdown Lockup" | April 15, 2021 | |
| 24 | 11 | "Fentanyl Within" | April 21, 2021 | |
| 25 | 12 | "Mobile Meth" | April 29, 2021 | |
| 26 | 13 | "Express Delivery Ecstasy" | May 6, 2021 | |
| 27 | 14 | "Mega Millions Meth Stash" | May 13, 2021 | |
|
While inspecting commercial cargo from Mexico, Laredo CBP discovers liquid meth concealed within paint buckets. In Atlanta, HSI conducts a controlled delivery of an air conditioner filled with 2 kgs of meth. | ||||
| 28 | 15 | "Meth Lab Takedown" | May 20, 2021 | |
Season 3 (2022)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 1 | "Smuggled and Muzzled" | February 9, 2022 |
| 30 | 2 | "Jungle Stash" | February 23, 2022 |
| 31 | 3 | "Bunked in a Trunk" | February 23, 2022 |
| 32 | 4 | "Smorgasbord of Smack" | March 2, 2022 |
| 33 | 5 | "Killer Ketamine" | March 9, 2022 |
| 34 | 6 | "Guns of New York" | March 16, 2022 |
| 35 | 7 | "Gas Tank Meth" | March 23, 2022 |
| 36 | 8 | "Powdered Rims" | March 30, 2022 |
| 37 | 9 | "Million Dollar Ride" | April 6, 2022 |
| 38 | 10 | "Dope on a Rope" | April 14, 2022 |
| 39 | 11 | "Six Million Dollar Seizure" | April 21, 2022 |
| 40 | 12 | "Drug Boat Bust" | April 27, 2022 |
Season 4 (2022)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 1 | "Cocaine Snapper" | September 15, 2022 |
| 42 | 2 | "Talibani Treasure Trove" | September 22, 2022 |
| 43 | 3 | "Tunnel from Tijuana" | September 29, 2022 |
| 44 | 4 | "Dark Net Dragnet" | October 6, 2022 |
| 45 | 5 | "Blow Overboard" | October 12, 2022 |
| 46 | 6 | "Coke on the Water" | October 19, 2022 |
| 47 | 7 | "MDMA on the Move" | October 27, 2022 |
| 48 | 8 | "Meth in the City" | November 2, 2022 |
| 49 | 9 | "Guac and Coke" | November 9, 2022 |
| 50 | 10 | "It's Raining Meth" | November 16, 2022 |
Season 5 (2023)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | 1 | "Boatloads of Coke" | May 10, 2023 |
| 52 | 2 | "Hot Drugs" | May 17, 2023 |
| 53 | 3 | "Popped for Pills" | May 24, 2023 |
| 54 | 4 | "Bananas and Blow" | May 31, 2023 |
| 55 | 5 | "The Coke Eater" | June 7, 2023 |
| 56 | 6 | "Dope in the Hood" | June 14, 2023 |
| 57 | 7 | "Freeway Meth" | June 21, 2023 |
| 58 | 8 | "Ice Cold Cocaine" | June 28, 2023 |
Season 6 (2023)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date [2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | 1 | "Junk in the Trunk" | July 26, 2023 |
| 60 | 2 | "Asleep on Lots of Coke" | August 2, 2023 |
| 61 | 3 | "To the Grinder" | August 9, 2023 |
| 62 | 4 | "Money Dog" | August 16, 2023 |
| 63 | 5 | "Fentanyl Express" | August 23, 2023 |
| 64 | 6 | "Gold Diggers" | August 30, 2023 |
| 65 | 7 | "Meth Magnets and Dirty Money" | September 6, 2023 |
| 66 | 8 | "Cocaine Rides in the Crew Cab" | September 13, 2023 |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 1 | "Cocaine Leaks and Ancient Greeks" | April 24, 2024 | |
|
H | ||||
| 68 | 2 | "Not My Meth" | May 1, 2024 | |
| 69 | 3 | "Pots of Coke" | May 8, 2024 | |
|
H | ||||
| 70 | 4 | "Coke and the Kids" | May 16, 2024 | |
| 71 | 5 | "New Drug on the Block" | May 23, 2024 | |
| 72 | 6 | "My Big Fat Weed Run" | May 30, 2024 | |
| 73 | 7 | "Coked-up Oatmeal" | June 6, 2024 | |
| 74 | 8 | "Flesh, Bones, Ketamine and Drones" | June 13, 2024 | |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | 1 | "Unholy Guacamole" | September 2, 2024 | |
|
HSI tails a cargo truck to LA and uncovers cocaine hidden in frozen avocado pulp. CBP finds psychedelic mushrooms and disrupts a stolen car ring. | ||||
| 76 | 2 | "Weed In, Weed Out" | September 4, 2024 | |
|
Border Patrol scans the interstate for smugglers and stops a suspect who flees arrest. CBP seizes large amounts of inbound and outbound marijuana. | ||||
| 77 | 3 | "Blitzed at the Border" | September 11, 2024 | |
| 78 | 4 | "No Rest for the Wicked" | September 25, 2024 | |
| 79 | 5 | "Spiced and Loaded" | October 2, 2024 | |
| 80 | 6 | "Drugs, Bugs, and the Big Buy-Bust" | October 9, 2024 | |
| 81 | 7 | "Drugs, Bugs, and the Big Buy-Bust" | October 16, 2024 | |
| 82 | 8 | "Meth Inside the Machine" | October 23, 2024 | |
References
edit- ^ a b "Hidden Heroin". Nat Geo TV. National Geographic. 2 February 2010. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
- ^ a b c d "To Catch a Smuggler on National Geographic Channel". The Futon Critic. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
- ^ "Smuggling Stings: HSI's Pursuit of Smugglers on 'To Catch a Smuggler' | Homeland Security". www.dhs.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
External links
edit- Official website
- To Catch a Smuggler at IMDb
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- Homeland Security Investigations
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