Shooter this time I’ll be traveling unarmed to try to understand them from the Inside starting in Mexico I’ll make contact with the feared cartels more powerful than the State in Peru I’ll meet the producers at the bottom of the supply chain and in Colombia I see how the legacy of Pablo Escobar still runs deep this is a world where violence is a way of life and the criminals are the one is in charge if we were here without your
Permission what would you do with Us I’m in Mexico where the drugs industry is bigger more organized and more deadly than anywhere else on the planet I want to see how the notorious cartels operate from the inside I’ve been warned that my every move will be monitored by the narcos from the moment I arrive and if we get
On the wrong side of them even the police can’t save us but I found two men with deep contacts in the cartels prepared to help me hello hey Yul how’s it going wel to Mexico thank you very much I going to introduce you to my friend his name is Miguel Miguel hey
Foy about yeah likewise thanks he the local journalist that is’s going to help us in here because he has like a very good connections with the organization thank you welcome to K cradle of narcot traffic thanks very much kiaan is a stronghold of the sinaloan cartel from a small group of marijuana
Traffickers in the’ 60s this family run business business has grown to become the single most powerful and dangerous drugs cartel in the World it’s made their Hometown one of the richest cities in Mexico what was it like growing up here what’s it like to live and work around these parts and you know what’s the funny thing when you a little boy you want to be one of them cuz you see they
Drive this very nice luxury cars they hang out with the most beautiful women they have power they have money and you are like hey you know what I want to have that the caloan cartel employ more than 100,000 people and they far outnumber the local police what can you tell me about uh
Kouan and uh the sort of area we’re in how dangerous it is it’s a very controlled City and it’s this control that sometimes you’re going to see you can stop in any intersection and you’re going to see kids cleaning up cleaning up your windshield but they are in fact
Informers like Lookouts like you know watching who is driving you know the way you look you I can tell you are Foreigner and the first thing in the mind is going to be oh perhaps this is a DEA and once if they believe that you
Are a DEA we will have a tail the whole time on our backs the whole time he’s probably I mean he looks harmless enough but I’m sure said he’s probably going to [ __ ] phone someone up in a minute and tell them that there’s a dude with a camera or maybe he’s just a
Clown driving around the Striking thing is how normal it all feels but this is a state in the grip of the Naros brother it’s lovely nice a bit of color yeah yeah it’s cool I went to check in ask for the other one and I want to be
Next to you nice one Chase take care the man who built the caloan cartel is hen Guzman known as El Chapo for years Forbes Magazine ranked him more powerful than the president of Mexico so total was their control here that his family were openly taunting the authorities with displays of wealth and power
El Chapo was finally captured 2 years ago in this brutal firefight with Mexican Marines but his Empire continues without him and today it’s said to make about $3 billion every year my fixes have had a call from one of their contacts high up in the
Cartel they are willing to to meet me as they fear nothing and no one we are given instructions to go to a petrol station on the edge of town vetted by Cartel security we eventually get the clearance we need to continue on I want to see how they keep control of their territory
Which is under constant threat from rival cartels our destination is an area called the Golden Triangle our lives are now completely in their hands should I put it down soon about look to me stay in the car please it’s all a little bit edgy at the moment while we do the initial meet
Because uh these guys have never apparently done this before um they’ve never taken people like us out on patrol so we’re in the in that moment where we’re trying to sort of relationship build they’ve turned up on the other side of the river basically we’re on one side
They’re on the other we’re going to start off of a a boat Journey we’re here in the silone countryside in basically the cartel’s backyard it’s their their territory their land and uh we’re about to meet one of the patrols that keeps it theirs basically anyone that tries to get into their business get into their territory and they dish out the good news not
Dissimilar to some of the stuff I’ve done in the past you always meeting people that not too sure about who you are everyone’s packing guns everyone’s on edge so there’s always a there’s always a bit of sketchiness beforehand and then we go in smooth it over have a
Laugh and hopefully not piss them off the get shot buried in the middle of nowhere never to be seen again finally someone arrives to take us across what Good he needs to change his Spar plugs just gracious there you go B us foxy I’m greeted by the local Commander he’s in charge of several hundred soldiers in this area gracias thank you for letting me uh come along today see what you get up to so um um what happens if um
Say the army or the Marines or the police come what what what do you do what what does protecting the area mean if you do have clashes who’s it normally with so if if we were here without your permission and you saw us wandering around what would you what would you do
With us what would you say to us do you um do you enjoy your job how bad a [ __ ] are [Laughter] [Laughter] you me yeah the commander Slips Away to take charge of the situation and leaves us with a few of his men just sounds like they’ve got
Obviously got informants and guys on the ground all over the place they’ve just obviously heard there on the radio that the hel’s coming in I think I could just hear something then actually there you go they obviously do like hel patrols when they’re up there they sit up there
Looking for stuff that’s of Interest that’s [ __ ] close and it’s low it’s coming down it will come down that River if it does land and it’s near us you put that down because because from a distance it looks like you’ve got something on your shoulder like gun there it is it’s
There right in that dip see It I mean that’s [ __ ] close I mean I’ve I’ve been I’ve done hel patrols and um when you’re up there you [ __ ] you see everything it’s you you think you can hide but it’s it’s you can see everything your eyes are attracted to movement as well and they’ll be looking
For any excuse to have a [ __ ] scrap because they do you always look for an excuse to have a scrap the dudes have turned back up all is safe the Marines have [ __ ] off you seem very organized can you explain to us what happened then yeah yeah it’s clear how disciplined and and
Tightly organized these killers are run like a military unit and More in control of this area than the actual Military attempting to keep the public on their side the cartel tried to stop negative press they kill journalists who cross them you see the green balloon that’s oh yeah that’s where the memorial is reporter Javier Valdez was gunned down in broad daylight as a warning to Others and actually he was driving another car sto in front of him two armed guys yeah got the hands aimed aimed the guns to him he just get off the car and they start shoting he was a very well-known journalist he was my friend and colleague and you know this is another
Sign that no one is safe in this city he was shot 12 times he at 12 p.m. he works for Rio dos newspaper which the translation would be River number 12 so it was all over 50 years one month from one day he was 50
Years old I still kill him I I still up to this point I still can’t believe what happened is crazy sorry man thank you thank you fox I appreciate appreciate That I want to understand the mindset of the kind of person who killed Valdez after our first encounter passed with our incident the cartel agreed to let me meet one of their most ruthless Hitman we’re told to drive to the outskirts of town and wait for further instructions finally we get the call okay this is him uh he sent me a uh message I I need to listen to It’s lots of cops or Army around so they are trying to secure the area we
Need to we need to turn Okay follow this way we’re directed to a poor suburb on the edge of the city which told to stop filming before we’re guided to a cartel Safe House the man I’m about to meet is high up on the government’s Hit List he goes by the name
Guero 4 minutes okay gracias let’s get ready for this and everything is cool yeah 4 minutes yeah okay cool well there’s people cutting around outside by the sounds of it where mask On hey how’s it going uh foxy none of us knew it at the time but this would be the last interview Guero would ever give all good first of all thank you for coming to meet me today I I really appreciate it so do you feel that it was dangerous
For you to come and meet us here today and obviously it’s a risk to us as well for if you could describe your job what would you say it is okay can you describe to me what the lifestyle is like for you in the organization but do you enjoy it
What are you afraid of a few weeks later guero’s fears would come true when he was shot dead by the Army even in death the narco’s wealth and power is still very much on display this graveyard outside kulia can is the last resting place of the drug lords of caloa we pull in
Unannounced we have tombs you’re going to see tombs here that are worth over $700,000 us that’s a whole lot of money for just a grave for just the tomb so you why do they have like bulletproof glasses why do they have pled bars what they have this uh marble come from uh
Italy it’s just crazy the way it is and it’s a sign of power they want to show Power the castle massive you got bars on the windows that one’s got a balcony they have so much money they they just don’t know where to spend that
Money watch it watch it stop it put it down put it down let me just go out let me just go out and talk to them you can’t go far around here without being noticed he just don’t want us to keep filming here cuz they look very aggressive the reason the Mexican
Cartels have become the richest in the world is geography Mexico is the last stop for almost all the drugs from Latin America and the United States the world’s largest consumer is right next Door the big money in the drugs world isn’t from producing but from smuggling and the sinan cartel single-handedly smuggle half of all the heroin and cocaine consumed in the US they’ve agreed to reveal one of their simplest methods of trafficking and one of the hardest to stop we’ve been directed to a garage on the edge of Town B SZ foxy phip Philipe very nice to meet you okay what sort of stuff are we looking at what what we what are you going to pack tonight okay so what’s this we’ve got here can I have a look that’s quite a bit of a quite a bit
Of gear there to be honest it be interesting to see where they’re going to pack it so Felipe whereabouts did you learn these skills looks like a pretty good job but yeah it looks looks really good he’s squared it right away wouldn’t let it had been Touched so that’s uh $49,000 in heroin $23,000 in cocaine all packed in 10 minutes which was gracious This car will now be driven 600 mil North to the border with the US drugs triple in prices soon as they cross it at this checkpoint alone 10,000 Vehicles pass through each day an impossible number to search properly I bet right now someone here is loaded with drugs there I mean there’s
About a good hundred cars here chances are they’ll probably get it through I mean how thoroughly can you check what near 150 Cars hello hello all right there go that’s it we’re free we are in America easy control of the trafficking routes is the foundation of the cartel business but to achieve it has required industrializing violence and murder I’m on my way to a Texan prison to learn how the cartels force their
Members to become ruthless Killers I’m meeting a former Hitman who’s confessed to over 30 murders now serving a 70-year sentence he’s agreed to talk about the secretive training camps where he learned to kill hey how’s it going don’t you Jason he was just a child when he became involved in the
Cartel so during the time that you were you were doing the job you were doing did did your family know what was going on did they know what you were involved with I mean I’m I’m pretty sure there was a supicious of what was going on
Because I mean you you got a 13 14y old riding around in $100,000 car you you see him all the time with money the latest fashion you know something’s going on the first time I killed someone was in was I was 26 27 sounds about right yeah 26 27 and
That was in a gunfight that was in the middle of a gunfight and I remember it very well obviously what about you know when was the first time for you and how how did it happen happened I was going on 13 years old the first time
I took a life it’s just one day I mean got him got invited to Mexico I didn’t know what was going on at first and I see about six people kneeling down then the the individual the person in charge and they start laughing and uh I think they they saw that that
Scared Panic look in my face and asked me if I had ever killed somebody and uh I said I had knowing that I I had never took nobody’s life so he pulled out a handgun told me to kill that person the one kneeling in front of him and uh I just shot
Him and he said he was putting me on his payroll said don’t worry about it go back to school to whatever you’re doing and uh I’mma call you when I need you two weeks later call me back to Mexico but I I I had been built up and
Trained and ready to probably see some [ __ ] things for you it was like that you guys train show you how to shoot how to do everything yeah well the training I received it’s it’s almost all the same but you don’t practice with paper targets it’s it’s a
Constant war zone you practice with life targets I mean I know it sounds harsh saying it this way but it’s just the way it is the people we were using as targets were rival cartel members there used to be a 50 60 sometimes over a 100 people just like cattle for the
Slaughter house and um there was scenarios that they there’s a house they throw them in there they tell them look man if you can make it out of here alive we’ll give you your freedom so these people they’re fighting for their lives they throw you in there sometimes um it’s to them it’s
More you you you’ll give a knife to a person on a situation like that and you’ll be surprised of what a person can do with it mhm and uh you go in there and try to take him out and he’s going to try to take you out only one person
Is coming out of there alive did you have to torture people in in those training camps or or actually out on the ground I I didn’t honestly I didn’t like that job especially when it gets so so bloody MH but I I I’ve done it before yes I
Have I mean i’ I’ve done the simple stuff that everybody starts doing um pulling teeth out cutting fingers up slowly or start cooking them alive you know it’s just little stuff that they’ll get him to talk in a certain way I mean not do you think you embraced it do do
You think you enjoyed what you did I didn’t enjoy it but um I tried to be the best at what I was doing if if I knew that I was going to survive in this life this lifestyle this world I had to be the Best the cartel still continue to produce a steady stream of killers from their horrific training camps which is why drugs violence in Mexico has claimed more than 200,000 lives more even than the war in Afghanistan I’m heading back across the border to a city overrun by Killers like wolf boy right now it has the second highest murder rate on Earth aapco in its 60s Heyday it was the go-to place for Hollywood stars and until recently hundreds of thousands of tourists flocked here from around the World but today its hotels are largely Empty unlike kiaan where a single cartel is in charge here more than 20 cartels are battling for control the police have been forced to travel in huge numbers on operations right now we’re following a tip off about a cartel Safe House we’ve got quite a big Force here I
Mean there’s three four four pickups we’re one of them there’s a 20 out Riders and then you’ve got an army backup a bit further back that are sort of a little bit more they’re like the heavy protection if it just massively kick off Apparently the toll booths for the um the tunnel and each each cop has got to individually pay to get through I thought they thought they might have a bit of a bit of autonomy They’ve got some guys that have just jumped off they’ve debus I mean you’d be foolish to take on this many guys to be Fair they’ve just done a room entry so there’s like a can’t even see how many people there were it was like six six to eight guys so they’ve gone in now they ran in stacked up with their hands on each other’s shoulders so they can basically communicate to each other
Without talking just by touching each other it turns out the occupants have already fled with cartel Lookouts across the city it’s hard to take the Naros by surprise what’s this mean uh is the holy de is the is a saint the many many criminals use to pray
For all their show of force the police are outnumbered and outgunned by the narcos and one man who knows this only too well is Hector Ramirez a crime scene Investigator hi how’s it going you’re right M yeah let’s go how often of The Killers courau busy you could almost never go home no you enjoy your job let’s go Hector has just got a call about another cartel murder the body’s been left in a public place as a gruesome Warning what information have you got about this body It’s It yeah The he’s he’s had his head and his AR both arms cut off but there’s a bag or something and then there’s a [ __ ] torso with a bag WRA around its waist so you can just see where his arms and his head have been chopped off this is actually been done by people
That mean some [ __ ] serious business it’s pretty gruesome suddenly a policeman shouts we’re coming under attack thank you hang on I won’t get behind get down around here if you’re going to get down anyway get down down there go go oh wait if anything comes from up
There this CL be cuz there’s a wall there all right is it a car accident yeah all right yeah but see how everyone gets [ __ ] that’s that’s that’s something in itself a car accident and all the cops go mad because there’s already been a [ __ ] murder which means it obviously goes off
A lot around these sort of things it could it could also be a come on these can be come on we have things called come on where there is a car accident or there’s something that arouses suspicion it draws people in and then just on the peripheries where no one’s actually
Looking something else [ __ ] happens someone ambushes you someone kills someone else so they get what they want but basically the best bit of cover was the best bit of cover was probably right near the body if rounds were coming from over there the police returned to the corpse to look for missing body
Parts here we go the first thing to come out of the other bag was his head they’ve rolled that into a position so they can take photographs they’ve got two arms so that’s a that’s a pretty big message I’d say there a that takes a lot
There was a lot of time and effort going into that Horrors like this are now a daily event here and life quickly gets back to normal Hector had just 30 minutes to investigate the crime scene before the area was reopened to the public can you tell me a bit about what what actually happened there what what how it
Came about and the cause of Death did you see any gunshot wounds no I mean that was uh that was quite a gruesome scene to to have dumped in the middle of a city actually it’s not you know it’s not every day Back Where I Come From that Happens I thought I’d seen it all in my time time in the Special Forces but this Rivals anything I’ve encountered on the battlefield this violent it’s like uber extreme violence the thought behind it is more gruesome than War because obviously you know there’s body parts people getting blown apart at War here
It doesn’t need to happen but it happens because people have set out with that mindset to do that to an individual to make a statement so it’s almost a lot darker it’s way darker people talk about Hope and how we can stop the violence but they’ve got hundreds of Marines hundreds of army
Hundreds of federal police hundreds of M Municipal Police and they’re a long way off from squaring this [ __ ] away and from what I’ve seen Mexico won’t be winning the war on drugs anytime soon how would you use the pistol how can you show me how you would use It I’m Jason Fox I spent 10 years in the Special Forces where I hunted down drug lords in Afghanistan yeah these are good these are what we used now I’m going to Latin America the dark heart of the global drugs trade going into the barriot now one of them’s got a
Shooter this time I’ll be traveling unarmed to try to understand them from the inside Starting in Mexico I’ll make contact with the feared cartels more powerful than the state in Peru I’ll meet the producers at the bottom of the supply chain and in Colombia I see how the legacy of Pablo Escobar still runs deep this is a world where violence is a way of
Life and the criminals are the ones in charge if we were here without your permission what would you do with Us I’m in Colombia continuing my journey across Latin America this is where the global narcotics industry began more dollars have been spent defeating the drug Barons here than anywhere else in this region yet Colombia remains one of the biggest traffickers of cocaine on the planet I want to find out how the
Cartels managed to ship such vast quantities of the drug to more countries on Earth than any other producer pleasure to meet you I’m Oliver you fix yeah nice to meet you how’s it going so foxy I hope you will have a an exciting trip down here in Colombia I’m sure we will
Yeah Oliver is a local journalist who moved here from Germany 20 years ago me we’re leaving in Cali and driving 70 Mi West to the Pacific coast our destination is the biggest port in Colombia bav Ventura almost half the cocaine that comes out of Colombia is smuggled
Through here and then shipped across the World so how uh just how dangerous is B Ventura well the city has been for most uh for more than 10 years one of the most dangerous places in in in Colombia um I would think uh I would say there are almost people being killed uh
Every couple of days at least um so there is still an ongoing war between different drug cartels trying to to gain control over over the city over the neighborhoods on barriers um from where where they get access to to the ocean after 4 hours we reach the outskirts of the
City so those are the barriers on the left side yeah bav Ventura has many slums people live in these Rick wooden stilt houses perched above the water but right next door is the international multibillion pound PK complex somehow the cartels managed to get their drugs from the Barrios onto these huge container Ships we turn to the left the next one please where this way there this one yeah just follow those Oliver has arranged for us to stay inside the port area it is surrounded by armed Guards looks quite fancy doesn’t it boom oh it’s all right considering the place outside is very deceiving wasn’t expecting this concering what we’ve just driven through Next morning I want to see how the smuggling operation works but this means heading into the Barrios these are noo areas for Outsiders let’s go come On one of Ventura has been described as a national shame the cartels regularly use torture dismemberment and murder to control those living here exposed to such extreme violence every day I want to get a sense of how Ordinary People manag to survive we’re meeting someone who’s
Lived here all of his life okay I can see him it’s the guy over there on the right side all right in the brown T-shirt yeah yeah in the brown t-shirt foxy yeah what’s thisio like we have to take down the camera please he says we can’t be filming here it’s too dangerous
Please jav is taking us to the street where he lives in Kennedy Baro it’s safer to film here he spends much of his time trying to stop kids from joining the gangs and that and then that’s why they get involved with the cartels and the Gangs this is pooie a friend of Jaies come on come on all right he’s a former gang member turned singer and musician all right can we listen listen to some of their music can we listen to some of Poo’s music solo man poie are you able to talk to me about what sort of work you did for the
Gangs and the cartels in the drugs industry how how difficult is it for young people living in the Barrios to not get drawn into the violence of the gangs and the cartels and and the drug industry as a Whole the gangster culture is cool if you hadn’t have got involved in the music project with havy where would you have been now in the sort of cartels gangs and the drugs trade As night falls Oliver gets word that a cocaine Smuggler has agreed to meet me under the cover of Darkness he’s going to traffic 100 kilos out of the Barrio and onto a container ship if this load reaches the UK it will be worth a staggering 10 million the next phase in this little
Bit is uh ditching the cars and then we’re going to be going on foot for approximately 2 to 5 minutes down the walkway where uh we’re going to meet the guy Smuggler watch your camera Mane so we get off here okay cars will stay here at the end of the cemetery yeah and
Then it’s down that road is it yeah on left side cheers bro okay good luck man you yeah a couple of the smuggers men are taking us in it says we need to to buy something so people wouldn’t be thinking something about us just go to shop buy Something the Barrio has become too dangerous for the police to enter and the drug gangs have Lookouts everywhere nothing happens here without them knowing this is the house being used by The Smuggler we’re just waiting for the dark house come in and we could have done with the timing being a little bit
Better so we just got here and it was good to go cuz we don’t want our R too much suspicion it is really sketchy here just there like the GU over there yeah the longer we’re standing around I know we’ve only just arrived and we’ve already been spotted by a group of young
Men everyone’s on edge and the only way out is back past them or to swim for it I wouldn’t stay here too long we’ve already because basically unless you want to get wet that’s the only [ __ ] way out and they’re all [ __ ] stood there the drug Smuggler wants us to call him Pedro he’s waiting for a call from his boss the cartel have to line up everyone else involved before they can move the drugs Pedro um can you just let us know what’s going on at the moment are you able to tell us which Cartel that you’re you’re working
For but how how do they contact you and let you know that tonight is the night that you’re going to set off with the 100 kilos I think that’s the C could be the C hello see see yeah see uhhuh okay P Pedro what about what what are
You going to be doing in 5 minutes can I come with you mate No with Pedro heading off we need to leave here as quickly as possible right mate where’s there’s someone coming over there there’s someone over get rid of that now right should we go yeah should we let’s go mate let’s go our route back is through the Barrio [ __ ] we were getting a [ __ ] shitload of uh attention from young guys guys that were just hanging on the street corners hanging outside some of the casses which was uh unnerving then Pedro got the cor and he had to go to another cassa he’s probably now on Route if not
There picking up the the the cocaine and and heading on his merry way to drop it off the Colombian cartels are experts in the industrial exportation of Drugs nearly half of all the cocaine that comes out of the country is smuggled out of this port area we’ve heard that last night Pedro successfully offloaded the 100 kilos of cocaine onto a container ship all under the noses of the authorities and the shipping companies we’ve arranged to meet him in
The mangroves surrounding the port to find out how he did it if you look over there in the mangroves quite close to the port you’ve just got see see how the water it goes in it’s like little tributaries and little Bays that just in into the mangrove though it’s perfect if
You’re getting chased or you need somewhere to hide that’s it you’re in there and you’re gone and no one’s ever going to find you a police Coastline here is just is n impossible oh Pedro there he is one of stairs who whoa whoa whoa who I can T-Bone the pool
So um Pedro can you explain where it was you went and what sort of procedures you had to carry out to get pick it up and then move it let’s go I’m my arms Pedro is going to show me the route he took in his canoe to smuggle the cocaine onto a container
Ship Okay so we’ve just come up through the mangroves and uh it looks like we’re now approaching where the docks are you can see all the containers in the cranes with all the hustle and bustle and how busy it is it would be so easy just to just canoe up with your
Load get it lifted up on the opposite side onto any one of these ships and that’s it offloaded and good to go so the ship the shipping was here yeah yeah and do they ah it’s pulling it Up you’d never think that a small canoe would rendevu with a huge Oceano tanker you’d think there’d be something in between it makes perfect sense the small canoe with without an engine is almost impossible to detect at night and the this is the perfect place
To do it it’s a busy Port all that everyone’s interested in is happening on the other side of the ship because of health and safety the lights and the noise everything’s focused on people not dying on the other side when actually what everyone’s interested it should be
Interested in is the fact that 100 kg of cocaine’s just been HED up the side of a massive Oceano vessel This port is the most valuable smuggling route out of Colombia but it’s the Barrios where all the planning and Logistics take place the cartels run them with an iron grip using Hitmen known as sarios who have grown up on the streets here oh we should sorry we should go left here sorry sorry
Sorry so now please turn to me right Oliver has arranged for us to meet one at a petrol station not far from the port what time did he say it’d be here um 5:30 supposed to be here 5:30 he’s Hitman fing I think that’s all okay hey Min
Foxy the Hitman wants us to call him Pepe he’s going to show me how he carried out one of his many hits off on the uh route of the hit crazy banir okay so we’re going into the bario now and into where it gets a little bit sketchier less movement going on less
People cutting around keep our wits about us now as we’re getting further in don’t think we’ve got far to go now before we get to the place where um Pepe conducted the hit so is this it how many bullets make sure to make sure that’s where it was right there on the corner
Underneath the sign yeah yeah see let’s get the [ __ ] out of here Pepe grew up in the Barrios he lives alongside the people the cartel order him to kill can you tell me about the last time that you were actually contracted to go and do a
Hit when I’ve had to do my job and I’ve ended up killing people sometimes it’s been in front of um maybe family members children and that is the the thing that has bothered me and it’s some something that I’ve lost sleep over in the past uh
I was wondering if you’ve ever had the same situation where you’ve had to kill someone in front of family members and how you feel about that for but that’s obviously that’s just what happens when it’s the job that you either you chose or you had to do and
And that’s what you got to deal with I suppose do you go from a hit straight back home straight into normal life or do you go somewhere to maybe take a bit of time and chill out do you think that because of the job you’ve got do you feel that you can lead
A normal life or do you think it doesn’t quite work you’re doing this job and it makes you feel like like this and you miss lots of things why why do you do It Pepe must kill when ordered or be killed he’s trapped in a Relentless spiral of violence like the many victims he prays on apparently the going rate for a Pepe hit is $800 I mean if you look at this area that’s probably quite a lot of money but
Then in the grand scheme of things is that how much a life’s worth but then it also shows you how much power the gangs and the cartels around here have due to the fact that they they are able to dictate the price of a life the authorities seem powerless in their
Fight to control the drugs trade of the total amount of cocaine smuggled across the world last year a quarter of it came through this port area I want to see how the Colombian Navy are trying to stop the Traffickers it looks like we’re going to be um sto stopping this boat here to give give it a random check and make sure it’s not carrying any drugs you got the two guys at the front with weapons so they’re going to offer protection as they go on and they’re
Going to obviously board it’s only a small boat so it only needs two of them so you can probably just have two guys jump on the boat and then he’ll have a bit of protection from the back they might have a few more BLS get on board empty beer bottles
They’re [ __ ] pissed the amount of Mt be bottles in the [ __ ] so you got one bl’s checking the um documents making sure that the boat is legit and that it’s it’s owned by these guys and then you’ve got a guy there that’s starting to rummage through the cargo looks like it’s just weekly
Visit to the bottle Bank by the looks of it there isn’t a set boat that they’re looking for it can be any boat we’ve SE I mean we’ve seen lots of different boats cutting around the the bay you’ve got a canoe over there you got sort of slightly bigger boats than the canoe
There you can have goast you can have boats that are not dissimilar to this say there’s a mixed array the traffic coming in and out of bonov Ventura in this Bay is is there’s a lot of it and there’s just one of them at the moment out here bobbing about
Just down the coast from the port is the Malaga navy base I’m meeting the commander Captain lre hey how’s nice to meet yeah I’m good thank you how’s it going nice to meet you too yeah he’s going to show me an extraordinary method the cartels now used to traffic their Drugs they build the their own Submarines I’m intrigued to know what it’s like inside it has an engine room as you see it has to have a cockpit it’s not comfortable as it’s very hard to be on it there are always four people in inside of it there’s a couple of engines
Guy there’s the one that drives it and the one that owns the the the cocaine always over there is is watching of of what are you going to do with the cocaine it can’t be nice inside them I’ve been I’ve been in a proper submarines and they’re not comfortable
At the best of times these must be horrendous yes yes in terms of of heat in terms of humidity uh what they breathe is very hard how long are the journeys that they’re doing normally three days four days inside of these kind of ships these kind of artifacts can’t be too safe
Either it yes it is it is a big risk it’s worth a lot of of of guts to go in come inside of these things you know you’re going to go out you don’t know if you’re going to come back it is very hard I I wonder where they make them you
Know they made it inside the Jungle everything everyone even though that one is the big the biggest one that we have you got to admit it’s quite clever yes yes I mean can we have a look in any of them let’s see if we can we can go in
Inside the last one over there it’s a slippery over here I tried it you tried this one yes let have a go that’s a hot H it’s all right tell me if there’s a a CH hot yeah it’s chained up it’s locked is it locked yeah it looks stinking in
There they’ve even got like the toughened glass you know I mean it’s it’s amazing cuz if you think about how we make submarines back home there’s like big docks dry docks it’s it’s you know there’s hundreds of Engineers and scientists and they’re all building it and yet they managed to build this in
The middle of the Jungle I mean are you impressed with their Ingenuity yes yes it’s hard not to be impressed yeah it’s it’s it’s something that we we wonder uh how come they can they can do these things for bad matters otherwise we could had some very
Uh in inovations for for for the for the good Yeah this Coastline around bonaventura has become a breeding ground of Narco Innovation over the years but it was one drug lord in particular who first pioneered ingenious ways to traffic vast quantities of drugs Colombia’s number one enemy at this moment is the terrorist Pablo Escobar whose criminal organization Kan Kingpin
Pablo Escobar is still at larged he escaped from a prison near meden yesterday Pablo Escobar singlehandedly transformed the drugs business into a global Industry with Pablo Escobar came the birth of the modern day D drug trafficker um gangster and Hitman all rolled into one really he turned Colombia into a globally known cocaine State I suppose and it’s it’s kept that reputation it hasn’t got rid of it I doubt it will get
Rid of it for a long time I’m heading north to the town of medine from here Escobar built an Empire that controlled most of the world’s cocaine Supply I want to meet one of the men that helped him do it in the80s meding was reported to be the most dangerous city on
Earth Escobar’s cartel gave rise to the modern Global drugs industry they controlled 80% of the cocaine supply to the us we [Applause] Are I want to see how Pablo Escobar is regarded Today I’ve come to a Barrio that he turned into a fortress against the police it provided a safe haven for his cartel members to hide out and operate in the man showing me around was a close friend of Pablo Escobar popey here on the right with Escobar helped build the medine cartel
Into the most powerful drugs organization in the world he was recently released from prison after serving 23 years why is it that you’re such a celebrity around this this barrier so papy what is it that you did do for these people in the barrier for today this bario is still a dangerous
Place with drugs and violence a regular part of daily Life it’s clear Escobar has left a lasting impact here but of all the narcos I’ve met on my travel so far no one has perpetrated more violence and horror than popey and on Escobar’s most wanted poster you don’t have to look very far to find Him popey carried out this assassination of a presidential Candidate he killed judges police innocent B standers all on the command of Pablo Escobar poy the families of the victims they must be sickened to see you treated like a celebrity despite this popey never likes to be out in the open for too long so he’s taking me back to his apartment
O po gracias how many people did you kill to receive 23 years in prison you still have to believe you have to believe what you’re doing is right and you obviously have to somehow sell to yourself what you’re doing is the right thing did your family know what you did
How did you become a hitman what why how how would you use the pistol how can you show me how you would use it so uh I never really counted how many people I killed for me um for me it was just part of a job to get something done
Where I was employed by the military like you said you know working for the Constitution uh for me it was actually just me protecting myself and the people around me doing a job that I did love doing Fox foxy popy wasn’t the only one who gave his undying loyalty to Pablo
Escobar Escobar saw how to use poor communities who felt abandoned by their government and put them to work for his own good I’ve seen how in the Barrios of bonan sh the Naros still prey on those who have no one else to turn to when Escobar was finally shot dead by
The police in 1993 25,000 people attended his funeral for many it felt like a national day of mourning When night time falls in medine popy comes out to visit the grave of Pablo Escobar 25 years after his death he still cast a spell over those who knew him Pablo Escobar’s Legacy is a global drugs industry the world is powerless to stop cocaine is now consumed in every country on
Earth it’s become a business worth around 90 billion a year it’s all exactly the same as what I’ve seen in the past but on a slightly smaller scale in this type of scenario i’ would have probably been kicking that door in if we’d had the right intelligence and
Telling them to get on the floor now I’m best mates I’m Jason Fox I spent 10 years in the Special Forces where I hunted down drug lords in Afghanistan yeah these are good these are what we used now I’m going to Latin America the dark heart of the global
Drugs trade going into the barrier now one of them’s got a shooter this time I’ll be traveling unarmed come on to try to understand them from the Inside starting in Mexico I’ll make contact with the feared cartels more powerful than the state in Peru I’ll meet the producers at the bottom of the supply chain and in Colombia I see how the legacy of Pablo Escobar still runs deep this is a world where violence is a way of
Life and the criminals are the ones in charge if we were here without your permission what would you do with us I’m in Peru on the final leg of my journey across Latin America this is one of the world’s biggest cocaine producers much of which ends up in the UK I want to see what life is like for those at the bottom of of the supply chain growing and processing the drug
Before the cartels traffic it around the world hi hey mate how’s it going how are you I’m Luan good L nice to meet you you right mate welcome to luchano is a local journalist and he’s taking me to an area where almost all the cocaine in Peru comes
From the FR is a treacherous Valley in the Andes Mountains about the size of Island the narcos have turned it into a lawless Place Outsiders aren’t welcome so Lucio I’m assuming that some of the threats to us could be uh Ambush kidnap the other main risk is um when
Being with the narcos if their competitors or their neighbors get to see us H and if they call the whole population the whole town meaning having 40 50 or 100 people around us and that is going to be big troubles because they can kidnap and then they can apply what they
Call popular justice so they decide what to do with us basically communities here they don’t believe much on the government and you’ll see why when we get There but the danger isn’t just from the drug gangs the route into the valley takes us down some of the most perilous roads in the world these mountains create a natural Fortress for the cocaine producers looks like it might have been a landslide or something has there been a landside does it look
Like it’s the shittiest place to break down yeah totally this lump here it looks like it’s chiseled away anyway if that goes and and it and say the the back of the vehicle’s on it one of the rear tires and it loses itself then we’re going to
End up falling down the [ __ ] cliff is we but you know this happens here all the time it happened a week ago a track like this with beer fell down the problem is we’ve got to get down before we lose any more light if it’s dangerous during daytime imagine
How it would be at Night I be I be more here yeah Careful okay you can stop Now In the last 20 years cocaine production in Peru has exploded as America spent billions of dollars trying to shut down Pablo Escobar and the Colombian cartels Peru stepped in and supplied the demand the frame now single-handedly produces over 20 billion pounds worth of cocaine every year that’s more than the annual income of Facebook after 6 hours we’re finally entering the valley we’re getting into Mente this is a checkpoint for the police is this the only checkpoint in and out of the valley yes this is the only one uh and if you look they usually check more the cars that are going out
So this is pretty normal you know they look for almost every car that that goes out huge amount of cocaine come come out of Ry I mean the guy there with a car he looked quite thorough um is quite a heavily man Checkpoint on the other side of this checkpoint live around half a million people most of them earn their living in some way from cocaine production where are we now we’re getting to San Francisco this is this is San Francisco yep it’s a lot different to the last
Time I went to a place called San Francisco this is the bridge this is like their Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco is a narco stronghold in the valley we’re going to base ourselves here nor Hotel looks good mate thanks how about the sofa takes me back to St at my
Nan but my Nan’s house doesn’t have signs like this no no weapons allowed fortunately I didn’t bring one you don’t even need a light on in it you deliberately see me off with the worst room take a look at the View considering its key role in the global drugs trade San Francisco feels surprisingly poor I’ve not seen any lavish homes or signs of wealth yet the town is completely surrounded by its chief export the cocoa plant the key ingredient in Cocaine everywhere you look there are massive plantations the plant is legal to grow in Peru and is used in many traditional medicines but processing the leaves to make cocaine is a crime so the Naros hide their Labs deep in the Jungle I want to see how so much cocaine gets out of the valley despite military checkpoints and impassible roads okay so it’s 5: to 3: in the morning and we’re getting up we’re getting ready to uh basically head off for about 45 50 minute drive uh we’ve
Been instructed that we’ve got a wear all black all this to just basically detract away the attention at going up into that area is really dangerous luchano has heard from a contact that tonight there will be a large shipment of cocaine being smuggled Out moving the drugs is the most dangerous part of the operation it’s done by locals that know the terrain and who are willing to risk their lives the amount of cocaine that these guys are carrying is enough to set them down for a long time EX in the region of
Between 1 and 3 million street value uh our driver is being guided to the meeting point by the Smugglers but they’re worried we might be spotted by rival gangs anyone driving at night around here could be a threat Okay ready guys let’s go let’s just get off this [ __ ] road make sure you got your kit and then we’re [ __ ] going yes [Applause] this we’re told the traffickers are going to meet us at an abandoned Shack this is a place this is a c this is a c There’s some guys coming up now one of them’s got a shooter trust that [ __ ] shoot yes all right The Man In Charge tells us to call him Paco he’s a local cocaine chef who makes batches of the drug himself P how much have we got here got the 18 kg if
If he if you get caught with this hel me what is the sentence s [ __ ] hell that’s a big risk big RIS there a kilogram brick right there uh it’s been wrapped up I think this is his logo trademark I suppose tonight these Backpackers no Moos will carry Paco’s cocaine on foot
Through the jungle and out of the valley uh how did you get into becoming a moo mhm um how does your family feel about you doing this what they think you do and what what else do you think you would like to do if you could and I’m I’m interested in is there
A little bit of you that enjoys doing this do you do you feel get excitement from it sometimes no not one bit the job that I used to do has some [ __ ] enormous risks but I did actually enjoy it and I got something out of it where and I thought there
Might be a little bit of that here that’s why I asked that question but there isn’t and unless he’s unless he’s deciding not to tell us but I don’t know there there’s there’s just not one ounce of satisfaction in it at all no adrenaline just fear They got some fish normal food snacks some fluid to take on but they’ve also the interesting thing is they’ve got paracet just so they can Tide themselves over if they get feverish on the way watch that [ __ ] shooter I don’t trust that [ __ ] shooter hanging around
This is us here we go everyone ready here let’s go the Melos now face a 60m trek over mountainous terrain they’ve allowed me to walk with them for the first Few tonight hundreds of them will be making similar Journeys their backpacks heading for clandestine air strips all over the rain we’re actually passing through a coka plantations as well on the slopes here basically the stuff’s everywhere if it’s not in your backpack it’s really what you’re walking through obviously not in my back Night yeah I’ve worked in the jungle quite a bit as a rule you don’t normally move at night in the jungle because it’s just too dark too dangerous normally hunker down lie up for the night get in your hammocks and all the work that you do in
The military in the jungle done in the day there are exceptions and and to be honest these guys have no other option ready so circumstances dictate a night Move the ridg line is as far as I can go with with them Beyond it the chances of being ambushed by rival gangs is too great goodbye goodbye all this for just £150 Each growing Coco in through is legal because the plant does have legitimate uses and it’s always been part of the culture for many peruvians the leaf is sacred and connects them to their incor [Applause] ancestors when the government recently threatened to eradicate the cocoa plantations there was outrage for I’m heading to a cocoa Leaf Plantation the owners like most farmers in the valley depend on the money this crop brings In foxy you have to pull over in here there’s a Nice to see you Angelica and her brother Juan inherited their Plantation from their parents and provide work for 30 locals so you’ve got you want me to work for you you teach me to be a Coca farmer I need paying okay then how do we do it no further instruction needed cuz I
Obviously picked it up from the off pretty much done that one so what times of the year can you harvest it so you are you are better off as a farmer to farm Coco what would your lives be like if you didn’t sell coca to the cocaine trade
The government if the cocaine trade wasn’t here then they would have to support this area themselves do you know what I mean so they the cocaine trades doing them a favor it’s like one less area they have to pump money into look how poor this Valley is anyway they’re
Not rolling around in Bentley and whatever you are they considering they’re in the cocaine trade have [Laughter] done [Laughter] Hanan and Angelica seem like hardworking decent people but they are knowingly fueling the cocaine business back in San Francisco go I’m getting the sense that people are starting to notice Us this whole area is people are either directly or indirectly involved in the cocaine trade so they’re very aware of PE outside is coming in and they don’t particularly like us which is understandable but also I mean I can I keep looking at the window keep seeing
People clock us and then perhaps getting on the phones could be completely Innocent but it could also mean that they’re it’s all paying attention to what we are and what we’re doing should we start loading up that will save time everything’s in luchano has heard that Paco the
Cocaine Chef I met before is making a new batch he’s agreed to show us the conditions in which he has to work to survive uh we’re basically putting our lives in the hands of people that essentially move in a very dark world it’s quite exciting takes you back a
Little bit reminds me of going out on missions before although slightly different there’s a few bits of Kit I’m missing that I normally have just on the last part of the the route in now which is um less than comfortable it literally looks like we’re heading into the middle of nowhere
Actually into the into the sort of Peruvian jungle everyone’s phones are on silent yeah this is Paco and his assistant nice toet you they’re making cocaine a crime which could get them 10 years in jail the process starts with crudely distilled cocoa paste which they’ bought
From local producers can I pick one up yes it’s like chalk but wet chalk is and this is what’s known as base is that right that’s that’s uhhuh what’s this I like the heart shaped bolt made with love now Paco has to remove the impurities to produce pure cocaine it’s
A complex laborious process which will take about 8 hours of hard work Pac what is it what is it you’re now doing it’s all exactly the same as what I’ve seen in the past but on a slightly smaller scale the presses I’ve seen massive massive presses they’re obviously a lot more worried about
Being found out discovered so they keep it on on a smaller scale out in Afghan they had they pretty much had the layer of the land and sort of free reign to maneuver so they were making it on mass in this type of scenario i’ would have
Probably been kicking that door in if we’ had the right intelligence telling them to get on the [ __ ] floor now I’m best Mates fearing they’ll be discovered Paco and his assistant are constantly on edge every time there’s a noise they rush outside to take a Look 4 hours in and now comes the most dangerous part Hao heats up sulfuric acid to speed up the process but he overdoes it it’s us being forced outside we could be spotted but the fumes are too much to stay in the lab how how long have you been doing this Job so uh how how did you become a cocaine Chef did she know that you were a cocaine chef imagine um your your child is growing up in the valley and they decided to do the same job that you were doing would you would you recommend That And finally they measure out a kilo brick of cocaine ready to smuggle out of the valley how pure is That is how much profit do you make on this brick which is $150 Paco may be content with what he earns but it’s a pittance compared to its street Value in the UK this brick would be worth a thousand times as much suddenly we can hear people approaching outside Gu luchano decides we need to leave immediately we probably lagged it about I don’t know 100 m 200 M bundled everything in the back along with us and then we’re just hiling that out there before anyone notices cuz if we get pinged in this area by any of the locals
Then our screen goes aren’t welcome and we’ll probably end up getting at the minimum getting our heads kicked in Miss I mean that was surprising he he’s essentially been doing it for six years I don’t think he’s that old and as with people that we met to dat in Peru
There’s nothing else that allows them to make enough money to supply for family put roof overhead pay bills you know do all the stuff that we all worry about he doesn’t make a lot of money out of it either the the markup profit margin is is is ridiculous compared to
The risk involved is just outrageous I mean we spent the whole day the whole night being on edge and he does that day in day out night in night out it’s mad oh wait said I see him cook it but who knows good a Besta just a few miles from Paco’s lab the valley is celebrating the sacred traditions of the cocoa Leaf the communities in the VIN have been dependent on the coca leaf for thousands of years cocaine is a relatively recent use M what’s all this about she’s singing to ca Leaf not only to ca Le but to everything that CA Le represents she’s also singing about how
CA Le has been criminalized oh right okay and she’s asking the authorities on this song to defend and protect the co Le so they’re basically honoring the cocoa leaf and all it stands for they’ve used it for especially to get more strength you know they shoot the coca leaf so they have more strength to work on their Farms on their crops but they also made um use the coca leaf for
Religion so this is the message of this Festival that CA Leaf is not a drug There are many legal products on sale here that use the coca leaf from teas to painkillers it’s even supposed to be a good cure for altitude Sickness this is too late for me only one what is it cocaine cookie no coca coca cookie that’s what you know what I meant graas cheers cheers to ca Leaf I wonder how uh how it would be to be drunk with this beer you want to find it Out as the days pass it seems the narcos have this region to themselves there’s little evidence of law Enforcement so I want to find out what it’s like to please this Valley I’m heading to a base just outside San Francisco where that white car is turn to the left there’s the entrance in here very nice meet you uh just like to say thanks for
Having me thanks for having us along I’m looking forward to spending some time with you guys and getting out on the ground as well before going out Armory hey nice to meet you right yeah these are good this is what we used pretty comfortable with it misusing
It sort of glasses G3 C3 yeah yeah yeah used these before used to use them from helicopters H baton 40 mil grenade looks like something else the colonel is Keen to impress but many of his men are young and [Applause] Inexperienced so they’ve all they’ve all they’ve all fully recovered now and they’re going to be coming back soon a yeah going in how many we got how many 12 12 okay okay by the time I first saw active combat I’d had N9 years in the military most of these guys have only
Basic training and two months preparation for combat he needs some Dentures should have hit it from there anyway but yeah classes the unit has just received a tip off about a cocaine lab in a remote location our ride a huey on loan from the US Air Force similar to what was used in
Vietnam the plan to fly 32 heavily armed police in three assault helicopters to destroy a single lab this is a massive Strike Force considering our Target is probably just a few guys like Paco and his Assistant Our Landing site a cocoa Leaf Plantation there’s a bit of an air of what the [ __ ] next no we don’t know what’s behind us no I mean if theoretically I’d have these BLS [ __ ] Shake shaken out basically covering all our arms so’ be a shitload of BL I’d push them into the
Undergrow as well there’s no there’s no point looking into that you can’t see anything and then once you’re in the undergrowth you can start looking through it and you’ve got no one [ __ ] covering our ass don’t really want to slate them there’s there’s a distinct lack of urgency foxy Yeah bit too bunched up some I liking I notice you’re pausing quite a lot just as you move through close undergrowth you should close up and then across that wide open space you should be spread out apart if you close up someone with a machine gun tell you that in two Seconds we finally reach our destination a processing pit where cocoa leaves are turned into cocaine paste there we go there’s a working mation pit obviously not working now cuz they bug it off but it’s still doing the business there all cocoa leaves in there you can smell the gasoline you can
Smell all the chemicals that they use people do live here and it hasn’t long been sort of vacated you got you know loads of different things you’ve got batteries for a little bit of power light there tells us that they work at night so they’re working all the time 24
Hours a day so I mean yeah I mean you can just look around you can there’s signs of life there’s just no life here here do you want to see some more signs of life or maybe a pair of pants it’s the inside intelligence telling them where they are foxy just be staring
Uhhuh It’s hard not to feel like this is a bit of a pointless exercise pits like this cover the valley going to all this effort just to destroy one seems like a token gesture this is this is a show of force by the by the by the authorities I’d say
When it comes the War on Drugs people are more interested in the higher echelons this is just a means of hitting the source causing an embance to the traffickers and mainly to the farmers that are sort of working these mation pits cuz all they’ve got to do once this place is
Gone is they’ll find another location not dissimilar to this there’s enough Rivers out here that’s going and get three or four blos from women guys kids from Village X get them down there pay them some Pitt cash get them to dig another another Mash ocean pit done Here in the vame the Naros and the local communities rely almost completely on each other to survive the police are mostly unwanted visitors more often than not damaging the livelihoods of those who have little to begin with come on then let’s go because it’s about to blow up they set
The fuses off I think they forgot to tell us that every man for himself now watch head up head up I think it’s a forgotten area there’s no Investment you know you go to the other places around the country I mean don’t get me wrong it’s a poor country but this is a forgotten about Place almost like I mean I don’t know do they do they want cocaine to be exported do they want to be known for
That I think people here they see themselves as individuals that they they haven’t got the luxury of choice and they have to do what they have to do so yeah it’s a crime but they’re not Criminals during my travels across Latin America and the world of the Naros I’ve seen how in Mexico the cartels are now so powerful they control vast areas of the Country while in Colombia the cartels have industrialized the trafficking of drugs across the Globe today more drugs are being produced trafficked and consumed than ever before it’s become apparent that I think the War on Drugs is being fought in the wrong way and we’re plowing a lot of money into weapons and and and armies and navies when actually the War on
Drugs is actually it’s a war on poverty cuz the people that do all the ground work are from poty stricken backgrounds they’ve got nothing else going for them they’ve got no other prospects or opportunities so they just go with what’s in front of them and that’s working for the cartels and the Gangs
