Trafficked: Underworlds with Mariana van Zeller — Season 1
About this season
Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller investigates new emerging underworlds, including the trade in body parts, hired assassins, sextortion and the smuggling of people across the U.S.-Mexico border, to meet the players and learn the business.
Episodes (10)
1. Assassins
Aired 17 January 2024 • 45 min
What drives a person to make a living out of killing? Mariana goes inside the dark world of contract killers.
2. Sextortion
Aired 24 January 2024 • 45 min
Mariana investigates a new blackmail scam called "sextortion", in which compromising photos are used to extort victims and often leads to suicide.
3. Body Parts
Aired 31 January 2024 • 45 min
Mariana exposes how black market operators are profiting from the sale of stolen human remains on secret marketplaces in the U.S. and beyond.
4. Black Market Meds
Aired 7 February 2024 • 45 min
The high cost of prescription drugs has pushed millions of Americans to the black market — and into hands of criminal syndicates looking to cash in.
5. Apes
Aired 14 February 2024 • 45 min
Mariana heads to the Congo to investigate the illegal trade in wild apes that have them on the brink of extinction.
6. Migrant Smugglers
Aired 21 February 2024 • 45 min
Mariana heads to Mexico to investigate the billion-dollar business of people smuggling to the US — a system fueled by cartels and corruption.
7. Hash Smugglers
Aired 28 February 2024 • 45 min
Mariana tracks the illicit path of hashish from Morocco into Europe — a world of shadowy dealers, lightning-fast smuggling boats and endless wealth.
8. Illegal Gambling
Aired 6 March 2024 • 45 min
Mariana investigates a nefarious scam that tricks elderly Americans into becoming unwitting drug mules.
9. The Drug Mule Scam
Aired 13 March 2024 • 45 min
Mariana investigates a nefarious scam that tricks elderly Americans into becoming unwitting drug mules.
10. Caught in an African Coup
Aired 20 March 2024 • 54 min
Mariana's investigation into how gold mining is funding terrorism gets interrupted by a military coup that strands the team in Niger.