Border Wars

National Geographic's ripped-from-the-headlines Border Wars special, Murder on the Lake, explores Mexico's drug war and confronts one of the most serious threats to American security today. Our cameras return to the scene of David Hartley's murder on the otherwise placid looking Falcon Lake, and retrace his final hours through the eyes of his grieving widow Tiffany. Expert interviews explore how David's suspected murderers, the Zeta cartel, operate along the Texas/Mexico border, funneling drugs and illegal immigrants northward-ready to kill anyone who strays into their path. David's murder has brought into focus the growing fear that the violence may be heading north.

Drugs, guns, cars and money are just some of the items confiscated on a typical day by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But what happens to this contraband after it is seized? In a special episode, Border Wars reveals what happens to all the loot. Everything that CBP confiscates at the border must be handled with care: stored, accounted for and transported with the utmost security, and disposed of in a safe and legally mandated manner.

Border Wars follows the agents that protect the 2,000 mile long U.S./Mexico border against smuggling, terrorism, and illegal immigration.

In Nogales, AZ, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents dismantle a smuggler checkpoint in the remote desert section of Ajo ,seize a vehicle carrying weapons and nearly $800,000 into Mexico and implement new strategies to keep up with a new, almost foolproof method of smuggling drugs.

Cartels and illegal immigrants have found weak spots along the U.S.- Mexico border. Four feet beneath Nogales, Ariz., agents crawl through a claustrophobic drug-smuggling tunnel, knowing they could come face to face with heavily armed criminals. Trains, with a myriad of hiding places, are also becoming a favorite place for cartels to stash drugs. If the officers aren't careful, they could easily miss a load.

In a remote corner of Arizona desert, Border Patrol agents use night vision technology to track a group of illegal immigrants. Employing a Blackhawk helicopter and ATVs, agents arrest a suspected smuggler backpacking drugs into the U.S. Meanwhile, officers at a port of entry stop an unlikely but increasingly common drug smuggler -- an elderly woman.