In South Africa, murders are being committed over rhinoceros horns. The country is home to 80% of the planet’s rhinos, a critically endangered species. This war is fuelled by demand in Asia, where the horn, believed to possess miraculous medicinal properties, fetches the same price as cocaine.
We follow the trail of one of the godfathers of rhinoceros poaching, Joseph Nyalunga, better known as “Big Joe”. For over ten years, the South African police and courts have been on the heels of this dangerous man. A former police officer, Nyalunga served in the area around Kruger Park. Now, he is the target of a manhunt involving infiltration operations, militarised arrests and bloody settling of scores.
Against a backdrop of social deprivation, horn barons like “Big Joe” are able to buy the loyalty of local populations and exploit the corruption that runs all the way to the courts and national parks. Their heavily armed gangs sow terror at every turn. One need only observe the fate of the rangers and police officers murdered for daring to stand in their way to save an iconic species.
Kruger Park, where “Big Joe” operates, has lost 8,000 rhinoceroses in the last ten years.
On the Asian black market, a dead adult tiger is worth around $50,000. In this exclusive investigation, we track down the kingpins of a powerful tiger cartel stretching across Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and China and infiltrate their clandestine factory farms where tigers are factory-farmed like livestock. A high-risk investigation across Southeast Asia.
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It’s estimated that 1500 monkeys are smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo every year in a trade worth millions of dollars. When a crate of 40 monkeys coming from the DRC was intercepted back in 2023, it provided a window into how corrupt officials, working with poachers, operate with impunity.
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They’re the criminal masterminds killing our planet. This season focuses particularly on wildlife trafficking. The trade in rare and endangered animals is now one of the main threats to the world’s biodiversity. An illegal animal market thriving on social networks.
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