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[music playing]
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[speaking spanish]
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I'm not going to lie, it's always a rush getting access
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to these clandestine worlds.
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The cocaine pit, the starting point
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for such a storied black market trade ranks up there.
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But as the reporter high wears off,
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I realize that the whole process boils down to brute labor
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and simple chemistry.
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[speaking spanish]
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So they've been doing this for three days,
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and now this is the final step, which they mix it with salt.
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It takes 400 kilos, almost 900 pounds, of coca
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leaves to make one kilo of cocaine.
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They're soaked in water, acid and bleach, which draws
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the drugs out of the leaves.
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And now it's ready to be moved on to smaller
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containers to the lab.
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[speaking spanish]
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[music playing]
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Here in this makeshift lab, they'll
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start the purification process.
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[speaking spanish]
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Researchers discovered how to extract cocaine from coca
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leaves over 150 years ago, and Americans got their first taste
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of the drug in Coca-Cola back in the 19th
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century before it was banned by the federal government in 1914.
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It's a really, really intense smell.
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[speaking spanish]
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To purify cocaine in the middle of the Peruvian jungle,
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they figured out how to extract the drug
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using simple household chemicals and a whole lot of gasoline.
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In this lab, each batch requires 70 gallons.
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[speaking spanish]
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Ammonia, bleach, cement, lime, gasoline.
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With each toxic additive, the drug becomes
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more and more concentrated.
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So what they're doing is that they're removing the top of it,
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which is the fuel, and the bottom,
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there's a clear sort of liquid, and
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that's where the drug remains.
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Do you see it's pretty dark?
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And that's all the gasoline, and the clear part now underneath.
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[speaking spanish]
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So yeah, that's the drugs right there.
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So they call that clear liquid, they call it the soup.
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[speaking spanish]
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[laughter]
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They asked me if I wanted to try it.
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[laughter]
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I said no.
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[speaking spanish]
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Oh, check this out.
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This is amazing.
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It's crazy to think that only weeks from now,
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this jungle soup will disappear up some American's nostrils.
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Now it's time for the final step, a splash of ammonia
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to solidify the drugs.
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[speaking spanish]
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OK, they have to speed it, we have to speed it up, OK?
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With so many livelihoods depending on this lab,
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Civichia's friend is taking a massive risk giving
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us a peek behind the curtain.
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So when the chemist disappears for a moment, I begin to worry.
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[speaking spanish]
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OK, guys, we have to go right now.
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[speaking spanish]
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[tense music playing]
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Let's go, let's go.
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His crew was spotted by somebody up on the road.
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They say that we have to get into the car get out of here.
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OK.
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We have to go fast.
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No, no, no.
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[speaking spanish]
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Are they all inside?
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[car engine]
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[tense music playing]
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Thankfully we escape without incident,
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but the drugs long journey north is only just beginning.