New Channel 4 series Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos is not for the faint-hearted.
The three-part series focuses on the drug trade in South and Latin America, exposing how and why cocaine is exported from places such as Mexico, Colombia and Peru to the rest of the world.
Former military hard-man Jason Fox is the face of the show, as he delves into the world of drug cartels and illegal smuggling.
Here are seven unbelievable facts from Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos…
Meet the Drug Lords: 5 SHOCKING facts about presenter Jason Fox!
1. 100 Kilo Per Load
Presenter Jason met drug-smuggler ‘Pedro’, who showed him the method to smuggle large amounts of cocaine out of Colombia via the Buenaventura port.
Pedro simply floats his small canoe down the river at night, before hauling the drugs onto a large ship container.
But it wasn’t the ease of the operation that was most shocking, it was the value…
2. Dismembered Bodies
Another shocking revelation about Buenaventura is how violent the city is.
If you thought that dismembering bodies was something left in the Medieval era, you were wrong.
Gang members who were caught on the wrong side of cartel leaders often had their legs, arms and even head butchered off.
3. A Worldwide Business
As Jason Fox stated in Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos, cocaine is now shipped to every country around the world, with Colombia exporting around 866 tonnes per year.
And it’s a business that is worth a lot.
Jason said: The cocaine business is worth around 90 billion dollars per year.”
4. Hitman Price
A hitman called ‘Pepe’ explained his life to Jason, where he is regularly tasked with taking other people’s lives.
While ‘Pepe’s’ way of life is in itself horrifying, the cost to carry out such jobs is unbelievably low.
5. Cartels Build Their Own Submarines
Jason was both shocked and fascinated after finding out that drug cartels build their own submarines.
Despite living in hidden, small areas of the jungle, and with few resources, the gang members have been building their own submarines for more than 30 years.
The regime started in the 1980’s under Pablo Escobar, and drug traffickers have since been shipping huge amounts of cocaine in home-made submarines from Colombia to the U.S.
Not all make it back alive, with the journey taking up to four days.
6. A Fraction of the Price
One former drug smuggler revealed what it means to live as a ‘gangsta’.
He explained the culture as highly desirable, and logical when it came to making ends meet.
Why not earn one month’s wages in one day?
7. Pablo Escobar’s Men Live On
Meet the Drug Lords: Inside the Real Narcos episode two finished with a segment on Pablo Escobar.
Jason met one of his most loyal accomplices, chief assassin Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez. He has killed – and more disturbingly, has remembered that he has killed – exactly 257 people.
Despite shooting police officers, judges and innocent bystanders, the man they call ‘Popeye’ is back on the streets of Colombia after serving just 23 years in prison.
WATCH MEET THE DRUG LORDS: THE REAL NARCOS ON CHANNEL 4 ON THURSDAY 9TH AUGUST, 9 PM.