'Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller' is back!
Award-winning Portuguese journalist Mariana van Zeller through ten new episodes takes us even deeper into the underworld where trillions of dollars are turned every year.
A new series by Portuguese journalist Marianne van Zeller, whose 2016 investigation into "Death by Fentanyl" resulted in the discovery of secret sources of deadly opioids, will soon start on the National Geographic Channel. In the premiere episode of the second season of "Mariana Van Zeller: In the Jaws of the Black Market" the author follows the path of methamphetamine production - from a laboratory hidden in the forest of the Mexican province of Sinaloa known for drug cartels to everyday American addicts.
"Monitoring illegal trade during the global pandemic was a big challenge, but last year there was an explosion of trillions of dollars of black markets, so we concluded that the series has become more significant than ever before," said Mariana, who received awards for her work.
Through ten episodes of the second Emmy-nominated season, van Zeller explores how increasingly popular romantic scams work, goes on a wild journey through California's marijuana black market, follows the smuggled route of stolen cars from America to shipping containers in West Africa, explores the secret world of renegades motorcycle gangs and the dark side of plastic surgery, where imposed beauty criteria encourage users to perform very dangerous cosmetic surgeries in hotel rooms. The author also deals with the problem of white supremacy, which is becoming more dangerous than any narcotics or firearms because it is responsible for mass murders around the world.
Thanks to the great success of the series and the positive changes she encouraged with her discoveries, National Geographic gave the green light to film the new, third season.
Methamphetamine
Mariana van Zeller follows the path of methamphetamine production - from a large laboratory owned by a cartel in Sinaloa, Mexico, to drug smuggling across the border to the lives of American addicts. Her guide is one of the distributors who introduces the author to her customers and everyday life in which met is an obligatory ingredient. Among them are people from higher strata of society such as lawyers and successful designers to those who have lost everything due to addiction or unfortunately ended their lives.
Black market operation
Mariana van Zeller explores the dark areas of plastic surgery on the black market, where sex, greed, and social networks encourage patients to have deadly surgeries in hotel rooms. In cheap operating centers in Miami, she discovers a surprising connection between criminals, greedy doctors, and patient mortality.
Stolen cars
More than 750,000 cars are stolen in the United States each year. That means one every 42 seconds and most of them cross the border. Despite recent arrests, state law enforcement agencies are warning of an increase in car thefts smuggled to West Africa, where they are fetching higher prices. Mariana hunts down the players who profit the most from this amazing transcontinental supply chain.
Black marijuana market
In 2016, California began a huge social experiment: the legalization of marijuana. After four years, the black market is three times bigger than the legal one. Mariana van Zeller wants to find out what happened, who is profiting, and who is in the race to meet the growing demand. Following the underground supply network from growers to dealers, Mariana travels through the wild west of "grass".
In the world of cocaine smuggling, the favelas of Rio and the mountains of Colombia are sacred grounds. What appears to be an investigation into smuggling networks is actually a journey with attention devoted to a particular topic. Drugs are not the only ones that have gained Mariana's attention. The new drug lords from the shadows are gaining more and more power - they are las jefas, ladies bosses.
Amazon Mafia
Mariana travels to the heart of the Amazon rainforest to discover the network responsible for a series of recent murders and devastation of the jungle. Along the way, he tries to expose the Amazon mafia, which profits from mining "dirty gold" and illegal logging.
Pirate fishing
Few Americans realize that only 30 percent of seafood is caught legally. Mariana goes on a global hunt for pirate fish, which make millions every year while destroying the oceans. Her journey takes her from Boston and Vigo in Spain to the West Coast of Africa, all to get into the minds of criminals and understand why they are doing it and why it is so hard to stop them.
