From Medellin’s elite clubbers to the cartel queens that run the underworld, all of a sudden everyone in Colombia seems to be snorting pink “cocaine,” also known as “tucibi.” It’s fashionable, it’s six times as expensive as regular “white” cocaine, it has its own genre of music called “Guaracha,” and it’s so popular that it has even spawned a whole new generation of “neo-narcos.” Cartels are expanding production into Europe, so expect to see this “magic pink powder”- if you haven’t already.
Tag Archives: smugglers
The Black Market for Eels
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.
Mexico’s Notorious Narco Pilots
Since the 1990’s Mexico’s Narco Pilots have risked life and limb transporting drugs for the Cartels. It’s a risky game but many are attracted to it by the upwards of $12,000 they can earn with every flight. In this documentary, we speak with these daredevils about the risks and rewards for a modern day drug smuggler.
Terror and Cocaine in the Peruvian Jungle
The cocaine industry in Peru is outgrowing its traditional region of production—the VRAEM—and expanding into other areas of the country like the Amazon lowlands and the Brazilian border. This is creating a new wave of violence for indigenous tribes who are refusing to work with the cartel.
We embed with local drug traffickers to see the cocaine refinement process firsthand, visit with an autodefensa militia group, and meet a local Amazonian community currently under attack.
Sahara (series)
Series Synopsis
For centuries colonialists have bypassed the Sahara. The largest sand desert on the planet was too hot and too impenetrable.
Now, Europe seems to have shifted its southern border to the Sahara in order to stop migration and combat terrorism. How do the inhabitants of the Sahara feel about this interference?
In Sahara, a new three episode series, Bram Vermeulen crosses the desert from west to east, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
He experiences the heat, the dangers of advancing jihadism, the desperation of migrants, the hidden world of slavery, uncovers human trafficking networks and he meets with locals in one of the most inhospitable places on earth.
Episode 1 – The Secret of Mauritania
In the far west of the Sahara lies Mauritania. Ten years ago, this country was a busy crossing for migrants from West Africa to the Canary Islands, but since the Spanish coast guard have taken up patrols, no one has gotten through.
Mauritania is one of those countries that has managed to escape the attention of the world press. A country of sand where the first cities were not built until the 1960s, but urbanisation has brought many desert customs to the city. Notorious is the habit of force-feeding young girls with camel milk and breadcrumbs dipped in olive oil, a banned custom intended to make them more attractive on the marriage market.
It turns out that there is much more happening in Mauritania that they would rather hide.
Officially, slavery was abolished in Mauritania in 1981, nearly a century after the rest of the world had banned it, but activists are still fighting every day to free tens of thousands of black Mauritanians who are owned by others. They have no rights. They do not get paid. Women who have children, often by their owners, have to give their children their owners’ last names, and the children are not entitled to an education. And the battle against slavery is hazardous for activists, lawyers and the journalists who report on it.
Episode 2 – Timbuktu at the Crossroads
Timbuktu was a dream destination for any traveller brave enough to cross the Sahara. Centuries ago, mythical stories were told about Timbuktu; the streets were said to be paved in gold.
In 2012 the city was taken by an alliance of Tuareg separatists and Ansar Dine Jihadists. They realised the dream of generations of Tuareg nomads: their own state, under the name of Azawad. Ancient tombs were destroyed and for nine months, Timbuktu lived under the strict sharia regime until the French army was brought in to free the city.
We meet the owner of the only bar in Timbuktu, the son of a mixed marriage between a Malian mother and a French soldier. It was this ancestry that saved his life on the day that the Jihadists took over the city. Everyone in Timbuktu has two identities. The local journalist who had to run propaganda for the occupiers to stay alive. The young women who were abused by the Jihadists, but then came back to celebrate and dance to a song that praises the ideals of their abusers.
Timbuktu it seems remains a dangerous city in the grips of an identity crisis.
Episode 3 – Niger: Stuck in the Middle
For centuries, the frontier desert-city of Agadez was the starting point for travellers crossing the Sahara; the hub between West Africa and the Mediterranean, but the European migration panic has had a huge impact on Agadez. Under pressure from Brussels and in receipt of substantial payments, the government of Niger has adopted a law prohibiting the transport of migrants.
The law has left over 6000 smugglers unemployed. Their cars have been confiscated, many have been arrested, and most of the migrants in Agadez have been sent back to neighbouring countries of Algeria and Libya.
Today, Agadez is an angry city. The EU had promised alternative employment, but of the 6000 candidates, only 200 jobs materialised. The former smugglers blame their own bureaucrats who charged fees to assist them in filling in forms, but then sat back and did nothing.
Some of the smugglers have moved to the goldmines in the Sahara, indescribably difficult work in the 45 degree heat, and a far cry from their lucrative former employment.
There is a volatile atmosphere in the streets of Agadez. Monday always used to be the day of departure for the smugglers. Can it be that the smugglers of Agadez have found a new way to circumvent the wishes to Europe and the blockades?
How I Smuggled Cocaine to Escape Student Debt
Like many millennials across the country, Luke graduated college owing thousands of dollars in student loan debt – $130,000, to be exact.
With no job and no money in the bank, Luke devised a desperate plan: he would smuggle cocaine from Panama to the United States to pay off his student loans.
Pirates of the Danube
In Serbia, we explore how pirates, mostly through deals made with international boat crews, illegally load off oil, ores or fertilizers that they later sell on black market. Such activities are often followed with great risks and violence between rival gangs is quite common.
The Danube flow through Serbia is 600 kilometers long and a lot of international transport goes along the river. Serbia has been blacklisted by a number of international companies because of illegal river trade or, more commonly said, piracy.