Jewel thief Miles Logan (Martin Lawrence) participates in a $17 million diamond heist in Los Angeles. He does this along with his crew of accomplices: his right hand and best friend Eddie (John Hawkes), his getaway driver Tulley (Dave Chappelle), and Deacon (Peter Greene), who is the newly acquired member of the group. Miles successfully steals the diamond, but Deacon turns on them, killing Eddie by shooting him off of a tall building and causing him to fall onto a police car, before attempting to take the stone from Miles. As the police arrive, Miles hides the diamond in the ducts of a building under construction (he was in the under construction building as part of their escape plan, which had a rope connected from the top of their target building to the roof of the under construction one); as Deacon flees, Miles is arrested. Upon his release from prison two years later, Miles attempts to reunite with his girlfriend Janiece (Tamala Jones). She breaks it off for Miles lying about being a criminal, which prompts him to retrieve the diamond. Finding the building where he hid the diamond is now an LAPD police station, he goes inside, discovering the diamond is hidden in the ducts of what is now the Robbery/Homicide detective bureau, which requires a key card to access. Miles returns disguised as a pizza deliveryman, steals an access card and visits his forger Uncle Lou (Richard C. Sarafian). The fake badge and transfer papers allow Miles to enter the station, posing as newly transferred police detective Malone. While trying to access the ducts, he inadvertently foils a prisoner escape (Miles was trying to get into the AC duct via the women's bathroom and the prisoner had come in to hide there) and is teamed up with newly appointed Detective Carlson (Luke Wilson). What is supposed to be a quick in and out mission to retrieve the diamond ends up turning into a prolonged endeavor as Miles gets sent out on calls. His knowledge on criminal activity and ability to foil crimes makes him quite popular among his "peers," even getting promoted to detective in charge of the Robbery/Homicide division. He and Carlson are first sent on a burglary call, where Miles quickly solves it as fraud perpetrated by the owner. The owner is a car dealer who claims that $5000 worth of rims have been stolen, but Miles correctly figures that the owner had stolen the rims for insurance claims as their value had dropped on the streets. On the ride back, they stumble upon an armed robbery being committed by Tulley at a grocery store. Miles intervenes, arresting him before he's shot, but Tulley demands $50,000 to keep quiet about who Miles really is (Miles counters with $20,000 and a single night in jail, which Tulley accepts). Miles makes another attempt to locate the diamond (he gets into the vent but finds that the diamond is not at the place where he attached it to the vent wall with a duct tape. He finds that the whole vent was flushed due to a leaking issue and Miles has to search the entire floor to finally locate the diamond inside the vent), but is interrupted by Carlson, who has discovered Miles is not who he claims to be. Convincing Carlson that he is from Internal Affairs, Miles tries to get back to searching for the diamond, but they are sent out on another call. The airport reports a theft of museum artifacts, but Malone knows correctly that this was a drug heist, and the big boys got the drugs out before it hit customs. He knows that the drugs would be in a bonded truck (with a letter B printed on it), as bonded trucks can get into bonded warehouses. Carlson calls in air support to locate the truck, and They capture a truckload of heroin. Afterwards, Miles retrieves the diamond from the AC vent in the evidence locker and finally has it, but accidentally drops it into the load of heroin they seized. The FBI demands the heroin for testing. Meanwhile Deacon tracks Miles down through Lou. A panicked Miles suggests the FBI and his cop's unit use the heroin as bait in a sting. The plan is to deliver the drugs at the destination and wait for the owner of the drugs to appear, so he can be arrested. Malone arranges to be with the heroin in the delivery truck but is soon joined by Tulley (whom he had set free from holding and he got inside the drug delivery truck without being noticed) and Deacon (who had been tracking Miles outside the station); during the drug deal, Deacon exposes Miles as a cop to the drug runners. Deacon had already taken possession of the diamond inside the truck, when Miles had gone in to retrieve the diamond from the drugs pallet. While Miles and Tulley attempt to distract them, the police and FBI raid the deal. Miles saves Carlson from being shot down. Deacon escapes with the diamond in an armored truck and the police and FBI follow as he approaches the border to Mexico. The police and FBI are forced to halt their pursuit at the border, but Miles steals a patrol car and chases Deacon. Miles forces him to wreck the truck and offers him a deal: Deacon gives Miles the diamond and allows him to arrest him in exchange for Miles taking him back to the US and cutting him back in on the diamond. He agrees, and Miles immediately double-crosses him by handcuffing him to the wrecked truck for the Federales and begins to walk back to the border. Deacon draws a gun to shoot him but Miles turns and shoots him dead, avenging the death of Eddie. Miles walks back to the border where both the FBI and police demand explanations; he tells them he is an undercover Mexican officer and has to report back to his fellow Federales. A few inches over the border, Carlson and Hardcastle (William Forsythe) stop him, revealing they know who he really is, but do not arrest him as they are grateful for all of his help and see him as a friend. They also say the FBI can't reach him over international borders, as he is a few inches over the border. After they share a bittersweet goodbye, Miles heads off to Mexico with the diamond.
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