Discovery’s newest show that revolves around Customs and Border Protection agency, Contraband: Seized At The Border, is an interesting series that provides an insight into what these border police officers find in a normal day of their job. From things like hidden pills and drugs to smuggling a whole baby, CBP does come across some of the strangest situations ever.
The show first premiered on the platform on May 23rd, 2023, and each one-hour-long episode feature a series of discoveries made by the Customs and Border Police. Dan Nachtrab serves as the narrator behind Contraband. He has previously worked with Discovery for its Murder Mystery series.
The US-Mexico border is one of the largest borders in the world, and almost 350 million people try to cross it each year. While there are legal ways to cross it, most people who come into the US do it illegally. The show revolves around the border police trying to figure out if these people have come through legal ways.
Asides from this, the main aspect of Contraband is, as its name suggests, to seize any contraband that these people might be having. The most common contraband caught at the border is narcotics and other stimulants. These smugglers that we see on the show try to come up with unique and surprising ways to hide their drugs from the police, and that’s what makes Contraband such an entertaining and informative show.
Where Is Contraband: Seized At The Border Filmed?
The show seems to take place in Texas, United States. When coming to the selection of state by the show’s producers, it’s very understandable that they would go with Texas even though California, Arizona, and New Mexico also share the border with Texas. That’s because it’s the only state that shares the largest portion of the border with Mexico.
Since the show is filmed in Texas, the city that Contraband takes place in is likely El Paso. This city stands on the Rio Grande-Texas border, with most of its population being Hispanic. El Paso is filled with historically significant places and Spanish museums, theatres, and art places. Aside from this, the city also has the tastiest Mexican cuisine and mariachi bands, plays, and operas.
People from Mexico often try to cross the border and live in cities like El Paso, as the US has more educational opportunities for them. Some students live in Mexico but come across the border every single day to study and then go back.
Since the cost of living is much higher in the US, some of the families shift to the Mexican side, even if they’re American. The downsides of living in El Paso are its extreme climate and limited amenities.
Since it’s easy to shift between US and Mexico through Texas, the Customs and Border Control, officers have to be very careful with what they allow across the countries. Mexico is known for its cartels, and these drug dealers try to hide their contraband in seemingly innocent-looking people to transfer drugs between El Paso and Rio Grande.
Contraband Seized At The Border: About The New Series
The Discovery series started its first-ever season with an unbelievable case that had a woman trying to smuggle a baby across the border. The border officers then find packets of addictive drugs stuffed inside carrots. Such practices often have a highly skilled smuggler working behind the scenes, hinting that these carrot drugs were from some kind of gang.
In another instance, we see an officer discovering a dangerous firearm being smuggled through the border. These kinds of firearms are expensive and are only used by powerful drug lords. Interference in such cases is necessary, but as rewarding as the job of a Customs officer is, it’s also very dangerous as they come close to drug cartels and other nefarious gangs. Extremely fatal drugs like Fentanyl are caught by one of the officers in another episode of this series.
The 10-episode-long show will be documenting many more intriguing things being discovered by the CBP officers. At present, Contraband: Seized At The Border will be available to watch on Discovery Go and Apple TV.
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