Smugglers are getting rich from the world’s slimiest black market: baby eels. The fragile state of freshwater eel species, like the critically endangered European eel, has driven a multibillion-dollar international trafficking trade. We look at the crackdown on eel crime around the world, including Interpol’s war on smuggling in Europe, and the growing attempts to save a species on the brink.
Tag Archives: ilegal
Inside Japan’s Dolphin Trade
In Taiji, Japan, the dolphin hunting industry has shifted from killing dolphins for their meat to a more lucrative, but equally controversial industry—the capture of live animals for overseas “dolphin shows.”
In this video, we travel to the town made infamous in the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” with Ren Yabuki, the director of Life Investigation Agency, a Japanese animal rights NGO and the only group tasked with monitoring this year’s dolphin hunts.
Cartels in West Africa
Over the past decade or so, South American cartels have found a new way to get their product into the vast European marketplace – West Africa.
The region’s porous borders, endemic poverty and weak law enforcement make it an easy target for international organised crime. But now drug use is spilling over into local markets, and the corruption inherent in the War on Drugs has begun to warp entire societies, leading to the emergence of Africa’s first real narco-states.
We examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe. Everyone loses – except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.
Billionaire Loopholes: Living Above the Law
Let’s break down how the rich live above the law, set up systems to do it, and **** over the rest of us.
Welcome to Offshore.
The Abortion Hotline
In Chile, where abortion remains illegal and punishable by imprisonment, we follow a group of young activists who run an underground abortion hotline. Our protagonist Mafe is backed by a group of trusted volunteers who dedicate their evenings to answering calls and advising pregnant women in distress. Their goal: to inform callers about Misoprostol, a pill used to treat ulcers that can also induce abortion.
But change is in the air. After a heated election campaign, new President Michelle Bachelet has promised to loosen certain laws related to abortion. As the debate intensifies we witness first hand the trials and tribulations of the hotline as they find themselves taking centre stage. Election promises become diluted, allegiances are formed and broken with opportunists profiting from illegal abortions and the countries deep divisions are laid bare.
Can the hotline survive personal differences, will they remain safe from the authorities or will progressive reforms render the abortion hotline obsolete?
The Abortion Hotline from Sideways Film on Vimeo.
The Undercover Cop Exposing Police Corruption
A former undercover cop speaks about his experiences working on cases involving drugs, firearms, homicide, paedophilia and internal police corruption.
The Prison Black Market
The UK prison system has a rich and thriving black market, with its own micro-economy based on tinned fish. Drugs, food, iPhones, and games consoles are everywhere – if you know where to look (and who to ask). We speak to former prisoner and filmmaker Chris Atkins, author of ‘Time After Time’ and ‘A Bit of a Stretch’, about how prisoners get contraband and chicken stew inside their cells.
The Rise of Contaminated Weed
Banks (not his real name) earns tens of thousands of euros every month distributing weed to dealers in a small town in central Germany. But he wants to stop, because he says his product has become poison.
The weed he sells is so laced with synthetic cannabinoids that it has become a new drug entirely: something extremely potent, addictive – and possibly lethal.