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Season 5: Finding Mr Fox. Investigating a plot to smuggle around a hundred million dollars’ worth of cocaine.</p>Also: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape.</p>And: The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie &amp; Fitch.</p>Delve into a World of Secrets: the global investigations podcast from the BBC. Uncovering stories around the world and telling them, episode by episode, with gripping storytelling.</p>Latest season: Finding Mr Fox. Investigating a plot to smuggle around a hundred million dollars’ worth of drugs from Brazil to Europe and the miscarriage of justice that followed. But where is the man Brazilian police believe to be at the centre of it all?</p>As the Rich Harvest yacht set off from Brazil to Europe, the sailors on board thought their transatlantic crossing would be the trip of a lifetime. When they stopped for repairs on the African tropical islands of Cape Verde, the lives of the Brazilian crew would be changed forever.</p>Yemisi Adegoke and Colin Freeman retrace the boat’s journey along “Highway 10.” It's a true crime story of smuggling, scandal, narcotics, police raids and injustice, with one question at the centre of it all… where is Mr Fox?</p>Previous seasons of World of Secrets:</p>Season 4: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed – then owner of Harrods, one of the most famous shops in the world – is accused of rape and attempted rape by women who worked for him. Now they refuse to be silenced any longer.</p>Season 3: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. In piecing together this story, we expose the disturbed past and racial injustices of South Africa itself.</p>Season 2: The Disciples. The cult of Nigerian prophet TB Joshua. A story of miracles, faith and manipulation, told by people from around the world, who gave up everything for one of the most powerful religious figures of the century. Lured by TB Joshua’s claimed healing powers, they live as disciples in a guarded Lagos compound, cut off from family and friends.</p>Season 1: The Abercrombie Guys. An investigation into claims of sexual exploitation made against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie &amp; Fitch. He and his British partner were accused by several men, recruited for sex events they hosted around the world. #WorldofSecrets</p>
Colin and Yemesi track down Fox's former crewmate, fresh out of a Brazilian jail and seemingly ready to talk. He travelled with Fox to Brazil on the Rich Harvest yacht and spent months there overseeing the first stage of its renovation, before the police raid and the arrests. So what can he tell us about his former employer? And what does he say about the drug smuggling and the sailors?
A police chief in Brazil investigates Fox. He spends months overseeing surveillance of Fox’s yacht, then months more investigating how more than a tonne of cocaine ended up on board.
For Andre Gonçalves, it begins with a tipoff from Britain’s National Crime Agency. He’s determined to fix what he sees as a grave injustice for the sailors after their arrest and harsh sentencing.
The sailors are imprisoned in a country known as a “motorway service station” for cocaine cartels. Among certain police forces and crime agencies, the shortest sailing route from Latin America to Africa is known as drug traffickers’ Highway 10. Cape Verde lies at one end of it.
The West African nation is used as a handy stop off point for smugglers to refuel or swap boats ahead of their journey on to Europe. For Daniel and Rodrigo though, it was somewhere to enjoy the beaches and the surf. But they can’t do that now they’re locked up in jail.
Colin and Yemesi learn more about the wider destructive impact of drug dealing and the international narcotics market, boarding a police boat as local cops patrol the ocean.
Daniel and Rodrigo’s dream voyage soon becomes a nightmare. Days into their Atlantic crossing, the boat’s motor stops working, one of their crewmates becomes too sick to get out of bed and cabin fever sets in. They’re forced to make an emergency stop in Cape Verde, the archipelago of islands off the coast of West Africa known for its natural beauty and its beaches. But they don't get the welcome they’re hoping for.
Two Brazilian sailors prepare for a transatlantic voyage that will change their fortunes forever in ways they can’t imagine. Daniel and Rodrigo sign up for a life changing opportunity to crew a yacht from Brazil to Europe and gain the experience they both crave. But before they even set off, police and their sniffer dog raid the boat and spend hours searching for cocaine, which they think may have been hidden on board.
Sailors, smugglers and millions of dollars of cocaine. A transatlantic trip of a lifetime goes wrong and lives change forever. It’s a journey from Brazil, which ends up in Cape Verde and prison. The question is: where is Fox? The new season is coming soon. Subscribe or follow now, so you get Finding Mr Fox and new episodes of previous seasons automatically.
"Anyone who thinks they can exploit others by using the so-called casting couch system... prepare to trade that couch for a bed in federal prison."
Prosecutors in New York send a stern message, as The Abercrombie Guys, Mike Jeffries and Matthew Smith, are arrested on charges of sex trafficking and interstate prostitution, along with their alleged fixer Jim Jacobson. They've denied wrongdoing.
Reporter Rianna and producer Ruth head to New York to watch the court proceedings unfold, just a stone's throw from Mike Jeffries' Hamptons mansion.
Many more women have made allegations of abuse and rape against Mohamed Al Fayed – including Margot, who was hired as his children’s nanny. We hear her story and find out about developments in the investigation since we published the first five episodes. Harrods says it is in the process of settling over 250 claims from women who say they were abused by its former owner.
Shaimaa Khalil speaks to series consultant Keaton Stone, Erica Gornall the director of Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods, and Hannah Price from the BBC News Investigations unit.
This episode contains graphic details of sexual assault, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
This episode was updated on 25 October 2024.
Mohamed Al Fayed sells Harrods and retreats into a world of luxury villas and yachts. But will the women continue to stay silent about their allegations? Their stories weren’t all heard before his death but now they come together to speak out. Would the past catch up with a man who had now been portrayed in The Crown, the drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II?
This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Security cameras were everywhere - in Harrods and in a luxury apartment used by staff. There’s an atmosphere of paranoia. Vanity Fair magazine was investigating the rumours swirling around Mohamed Al Fayed. Would the truth about him be exposed, even as potential witnesses say they were intimidated?
This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Presented by Cassie Cornish-Trestrail and Shaimaa Khalil, and produced by Neal Razzell and Sally Abrahams. The editor is Matt Willis. It’s a Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service.
Special thanks to series consultant, Keaton Stone, director Erica Gornall and executive producer, Mike Radford.
Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian.
A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest.
But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know.
She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and
captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world.
Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda’s
blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable road to uncover Amanda’s secret.
Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but
all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and
left a community in shock.
Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret.
New episodes every Monday.
Follow Scamanda on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Amanda’s blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
