WEBVTT - Murder Brokers from Hot Money: The New Narcos 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:15.796 Pushkin. 0:00:18.396 --> 0:00:19.116 Hey, it's Jacob. 0:00:19.156 --> 0:00:21.196 I want to tell you about a new season of 0:00:21.316 --> 0:00:24.516 a show that Pushkin makes with The Financial Times. The 0:00:24.556 --> 0:00:26.036 show is called Hot Money. 0:00:26.316 --> 0:00:27.836 The new season is called. 0:00:27.596 --> 0:00:31.396 The New Narcos, and it's about It's about a lot 0:00:31.396 --> 0:00:34.436 of things. It's about the cocaine business in Europe, it's 0:00:34.436 --> 0:00:38.636 about international sanctions, and it is about murder. It's a 0:00:38.636 --> 0:00:41.636 great show. It's just coming out this week. You can 0:00:41.676 --> 0:00:44.276 get it, as they say, wherever you get your podcasts, 0:00:44.316 --> 0:00:46.516 and we're going to play you the first episode of 0:00:46.556 --> 0:00:47.836 the show right now. 0:00:48.196 --> 0:00:54.836 I hope you like it. I'm Miles Johnson and I'm 0:00:54.876 --> 0:00:58.036 an investigative journalist with the Financial Times. And the story 0:00:58.076 --> 0:01:00.396 I'm going to tell you it's not a love story, 0:01:00.836 --> 0:01:03.796 but it starts with a wedding. It's a wedding that 0:01:03.836 --> 0:01:08.036 takes place in Dubai in twenty seventeen. It's a hot 0:01:08.036 --> 0:01:11.196 summer's day. The Burj al Arab one of the most 0:01:11.196 --> 0:01:15.316 expensive hotels in the world. It's a skyscraper shaped like 0:01:15.356 --> 0:01:18.236 the sail of a ship, rising up from the glittering 0:01:18.276 --> 0:01:22.436 water of the Persian Gulf. Guests can arrive across a 0:01:22.436 --> 0:01:26.036 private bridge in the hotel's fleet of rolls, Royce phantoms 0:01:26.156 --> 0:01:29.676 or flyin landing on the helipad on the roof. The 0:01:29.756 --> 0:01:32.436 wedding party that day has been told to keep things 0:01:32.516 --> 0:01:37.516 discreete no photos and no social media. Security is tight. 0:01:38.796 --> 0:01:41.556 The groom is a young Irish entrepreneur and some of 0:01:41.556 --> 0:01:44.396 his most important business partners have come to celebrate his 0:01:44.436 --> 0:01:49.116 big day. But these aren't your average businessmen. Some of 0:01:49.156 --> 0:01:53.596 them hang priceless stolen masterpieces on their walls. They've got 0:01:53.676 --> 0:01:58.316 multiple passports with multiple identities, and they can order the 0:01:58.356 --> 0:02:04.036 assassination of almost anyone anywhere in the world. Because this 0:02:04.116 --> 0:02:08.076 isn't just a wedding, this is an international crime summit. 0:02:08.636 --> 0:02:10.716 It's a met of what will come to be known 0:02:10.836 --> 0:02:15.596 as the Doubai Supercartel, a shadowy criminal network that controls 0:02:15.636 --> 0:02:23.476 a multi billion dollar cocaine empire spanning the globe. Over 0:02:23.476 --> 0:02:25.876 the years, I've written about a lot of different things, 0:02:26.196 --> 0:02:29.156 but more recently you could perhaps describe my beat as 0:02:29.196 --> 0:02:33.116 the places where crime and business collide. I've written about 0:02:33.276 --> 0:02:37.196 Russian billionaires who control private mercenary armies and the Italian 0:02:37.236 --> 0:02:40.236 mafia laundering their cash through the City of London, have 0:02:40.396 --> 0:02:44.836 covered Vatican financial scandals, and spy rings that smuggle microchips. 0:02:45.396 --> 0:02:49.276 Because crime is a business, and modern organized crime groups 0:02:49.596 --> 0:02:54.516 they're increasingly run like multinational companies. They have thousands of employees, 0:02:55.076 --> 0:03:00.796 complicated logistical supply chains, and even investment portfolios. It's a 0:03:00.796 --> 0:03:03.796 big economic story, but you don't usually read about it 0:03:03.836 --> 0:03:07.916 in the business pages because reporting on international crime groups 0:03:07.916 --> 0:03:10.996 in the same way we'd report on a blue chip corporation, well, 0:03:10.996 --> 0:03:14.996 it's hard. Crime bosses they don't usually have pr teams 0:03:15.036 --> 0:03:18.356 you can bring up, and mafias. They don't publish audited 0:03:18.356 --> 0:03:22.596 accounts or glossy annual reports. But the money generated by 0:03:22.676 --> 0:03:26.956 organized crime is vast, and most of the time it's invisible. 0:03:27.556 --> 0:03:31.276 It's like this ocean of shadow cash. We know it's there, 0:03:31.636 --> 0:03:34.796 but we can't ever really see it. It's trillions of 0:03:34.836 --> 0:03:38.596 dollars and it fuels things like weapons, trafficking and war. 0:03:39.156 --> 0:03:42.876 It can even topple governments. And the men celebrating in 0:03:42.956 --> 0:03:45.316 that wedding in Dubai. They've come up with a new 0:03:45.356 --> 0:03:48.796 model of organized crime, and it's become so successful that 0:03:48.836 --> 0:03:52.396 by twenty seventeen, police believe that they control a third 0:03:52.396 --> 0:03:55.996 of Europe's cocaine market worth billions of dollars a year. 0:03:57.716 --> 0:04:00.516 When I first came across to do By Supercartel, it 0:04:00.556 --> 0:04:04.316 seems like something from a film, something almost ridiculous, like 0:04:04.476 --> 0:04:08.076 Specter from James Bond. I needed to find out more, 0:04:08.356 --> 0:04:11.156 so I started talking to people. I met with sources 0:04:11.156 --> 0:04:15.436 in law enforcement, undercover agents, spies. I got hold of 0:04:15.556 --> 0:04:19.876 legal documents and investigative dossiers, and then I realized, this 0:04:19.996 --> 0:04:23.076 isn't just a story about crime. This is a story 0:04:23.316 --> 0:04:27.196 about a secret economic war. It's a story about who 0:04:27.236 --> 0:04:30.596 gets to control how money moves around the world, and 0:04:30.636 --> 0:04:33.636 where the Western governments can keep hold of that power 0:04:33.916 --> 0:04:37.876 as the rules based international order breaks apart. Because I 0:04:37.956 --> 0:04:42.396 discovered that the Dubai Supercartel, they're not just hiding from governments, 0:04:42.836 --> 0:04:47.356 they're working alongside them. But my first clue to understanding 0:04:47.436 --> 0:04:50.436 how this group of criminals became so rich and so 0:04:50.636 --> 0:04:53.836 powerful it took me somewhere that's a million miles away 0:04:53.836 --> 0:04:57.196 from the bling of a Dubai wedding, because one day 0:04:57.636 --> 0:04:59.756 I was speaking to a source and they told me 0:04:59.796 --> 0:05:04.156 something I just really wasn't expecting. They said, if you 0:05:04.276 --> 0:05:07.796 really want to understand how all of this works, you 0:05:07.836 --> 0:05:09.676 have to go and look at a murder in a 0:05:09.716 --> 0:05:17.796 small town in the Netherlands. This is Hot Money Season 0:05:17.836 --> 0:05:45.716 two the New Narcos, episode one, Murder Brokers. 0:05:46.916 --> 0:05:49.036 One of the good things about being a crime reporter 0:05:49.436 --> 0:05:52.396 is that you talk to everyone who wants to talk 0:05:52.476 --> 0:05:56.796 to you, very different people, and I like to do that. 0:05:58.436 --> 0:06:02.436 This is Paul Paul Volks. He's a reporter in Amsterdam 0:06:02.796 --> 0:06:05.116 and for more than twenty years he's been working the 0:06:05.116 --> 0:06:08.876 local crime beat for Het Parole, a daily city newspaper. 0:06:10.156 --> 0:06:13.196 Paul wears black t shirts and a leather jacket and 0:06:13.276 --> 0:06:16.436 has a gold hoop in one ear. He's old school. 0:06:16.796 --> 0:06:21.036 He's not posting hot takes on social media. When I 0:06:21.116 --> 0:06:23.676 first met Paul, he didn't take long before he showed 0:06:23.676 --> 0:06:27.916 me his bike. He rides it everywhere down cobblestone streets 0:06:27.916 --> 0:06:31.196 and squares and along beautiful canals, going to coffee shops 0:06:31.276 --> 0:06:34.316 and bars to meet his sources. But if that sounds 0:06:34.316 --> 0:06:36.996 a bit quaint, there's a fast, seedy aside to Amsterdam 0:06:37.236 --> 0:06:40.796 that keeps a crime reporter like Paul pretty busy. Because 0:06:40.836 --> 0:06:43.356 Amsterdam is famous for his beauty, but it's also well 0:06:43.396 --> 0:06:46.316 known for its red light district. It's relaxed drug laws 0:06:46.436 --> 0:06:50.356 and a vibrant criminal underworld, and that means Paul always 0:06:50.356 --> 0:06:55.956 has plenty to write about. Like all good crime reporters, 0:06:56.116 --> 0:06:59.716 Paul works his beat. He speaks to everyone. He talks 0:06:59.756 --> 0:07:04.396 to police officers, lawyers, the local prosecutor's office. But Paul 0:07:04.476 --> 0:07:07.436 is also always cultivating his underworld sources. 0:07:08.356 --> 0:07:11.916 I tried to build my network step by step because, 0:07:12.356 --> 0:07:15.276 as you might know, as a grime juellist, your colleague 0:07:15.396 --> 0:07:18.236 cannot give you his or her network. That's not possible. 0:07:19.196 --> 0:07:22.476 And he learns early on the criminals well, they care 0:07:22.476 --> 0:07:27.116 about journalistic standards too. A notorious underworld figure reaches out 0:07:27.156 --> 0:07:29.236 to Paul about a mistake he thought he'd made in 0:07:29.236 --> 0:07:31.636 one of his articles because he wanted to set the 0:07:31.636 --> 0:07:32.316 record straight. 0:07:33.316 --> 0:07:36.436 But the first time, of course, I thought where to meet, 0:07:36.756 --> 0:07:41.036 how to meet, how to keep it safe. I learned 0:07:41.236 --> 0:07:44.916 quite fast that some public space as a coffee bar 0:07:45.596 --> 0:07:49.476 is the best place to sit. Or atn airport, where 0:07:49.516 --> 0:07:52.076 everybody knows there are lots of cameras, there's a lot 0:07:52.116 --> 0:07:55.436 of security. Nothing will happen there. You'll know for sure 0:07:55.596 --> 0:07:58.916 that all eyes will be focused on you as a criminal. 0:07:58.956 --> 0:08:02.236 And I we don't fit in, so if something weird 0:08:02.276 --> 0:08:05.196 would happen, everybody would be a witness and they know 0:08:05.276 --> 0:08:07.076 it as well. 0:08:07.236 --> 0:08:11.836 Back in twenty fifteen, Paul is busy covering crime in Amsterdam. Muggings, 0:08:12.236 --> 0:08:15.316 rival gangsters trying to kill each other, batches of dodgy 0:08:15.396 --> 0:08:18.396 drugs that put people's lives in danger. These seem like 0:08:18.436 --> 0:08:20.676 the sort of things you'd imagine happen in any big city. 0:08:21.556 --> 0:08:25.316 Then one morning in December, he gets a call. It's 0:08:25.316 --> 0:08:26.516 from the police department. 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:30.116 A man in his fifties was shot with one bullet 0:08:30.116 --> 0:08:32.876 in the head and standing next to his fan. Going 0:08:32.916 --> 0:08:37.716 to work from Amsterdam, I went to Almira, which is 0:08:37.796 --> 0:08:38.756 twenty minute rides. 0:08:39.396 --> 0:08:43.516 Is it somewhere you expect there to be shootings, murders? 0:08:43.556 --> 0:08:45.596 You know what sort of areas there's There are lots 0:08:45.636 --> 0:08:47.156 of crime there. What's it like? 0:08:47.996 --> 0:08:50.756 The area and they live in in Almra is just 0:08:50.796 --> 0:08:55.196 a very normal neighborhood with normal working class people. Not 0:08:55.356 --> 0:08:56.516 much trouble over there. 0:08:57.636 --> 0:09:00.836 When Paul arrives, there's already red and white tape blocking 0:09:00.836 --> 0:09:02.916 the area and police have put up a tent to 0:09:02.916 --> 0:09:05.396 cover the body. He gets out of his notebook and 0:09:05.436 --> 0:09:09.036 starts to gather the facts. The victim is called alimtam 0:09:09.876 --> 0:09:12.316 He's fifty six years old and he's an engineer at 0:09:12.316 --> 0:09:15.596 the State Electric Company. He's got a wife, a son. 0:09:15.916 --> 0:09:18.356 He's a family man. But there isn't much else to 0:09:18.396 --> 0:09:21.356 go on. The electrician doesn't seem to have any connection 0:09:21.436 --> 0:09:21.876 to crime. 0:09:22.676 --> 0:09:27.676 All the sources I asked, nobody knew who was this alimotamet. 0:09:28.716 --> 0:09:31.116 To Paul, it just seems to be a random shooting. 0:09:31.636 --> 0:09:33.596 So he heads back to his office and files a 0:09:33.596 --> 0:09:37.836 short story. A few weeks later, his editor asked him 0:09:37.836 --> 0:09:40.196 to write a roundup of the most notable crime stories 0:09:40.276 --> 0:09:42.676 of the last year, and the murder in our mayor 0:09:42.836 --> 0:09:45.916 it doesn't make the cut. Paul goes back to riding 0:09:45.916 --> 0:09:49.676 around on his bike and meeting his sources. But in 0:09:49.716 --> 0:09:52.436 the months after, Paul finds that he can't get the 0:09:52.516 --> 0:09:56.236 Matamid case out of his head. That thing when you 0:09:56.276 --> 0:09:58.236 write a story and you have a nagging voice in 0:09:58.276 --> 0:10:02.716 your head, maybe there's something that I'm missing. Paul's covered 0:10:02.716 --> 0:10:06.236 a lot of murders, but this one it seems weird. 0:10:07.036 --> 0:10:09.756 He can't shake the feeling that something does doesn't quite 0:10:09.756 --> 0:10:14.596 add up. The first thing is the style of the killing. 0:10:15.156 --> 0:10:18.116 It wasn't a sloppy job or a wild act of rage. 0:10:18.876 --> 0:10:22.396 The thing was that one shut through the heads. It's 0:10:22.476 --> 0:10:27.636 not the familiar way of assassinating people. In other assassinations, 0:10:27.956 --> 0:10:32.676 automatic rifles are used, many bullets are shut. 0:10:32.836 --> 0:10:35.516 And then there was the motive. One theory is that 0:10:35.636 --> 0:10:38.796 Mtammed was part of some family feud or had argued 0:10:38.796 --> 0:10:41.836 with a friend. Most of the murders, Paul writes about 0:10:41.876 --> 0:10:44.516 that kind of thing, or criminals killing each other over 0:10:44.596 --> 0:10:48.796 money or tough settling scores. But that didn't really fit 0:10:48.916 --> 0:10:51.716 with the matomic case. So there were other theories. 0:10:52.436 --> 0:10:56.356 Oh, maybe electricians, So maybe he was in hemp business. 0:10:56.796 --> 0:10:59.116 The hemp people they need illegal electricity. 0:10:59.956 --> 0:11:03.236 Hemp is another name for weed, and some weed grows 0:11:03.276 --> 0:11:07.236 in the Netherlands steel electricity to power their operations. Matamed 0:11:07.316 --> 0:11:10.276 was an electrician. Maybe that was his connection to crime. 0:11:10.996 --> 0:11:13.556 Maybe he was a wrong person. That was an idea. 0:11:14.436 --> 0:11:18.396 This seemed like the most plausible explanation, a terrible case 0:11:18.396 --> 0:11:23.356 of mistaken identity. Paul keeps thinking about it as he 0:11:23.396 --> 0:11:27.036 drops into cafes to meet informants about other stories. He 0:11:27.116 --> 0:11:28.436 mentions Ali Muhammad's name. 0:11:29.116 --> 0:11:33.356 Criminals didn't know him policemen didn't know him. I tried 0:11:33.356 --> 0:11:35.996 to do some research, but I didn't get a clue. 0:11:36.076 --> 0:11:39.636 To be honest, as a reporter, you can have dozens 0:11:39.636 --> 0:11:43.276 of meetings that lead to nothing, but once in a while, 0:11:43.796 --> 0:11:48.316 you get lucky. And that's what happens to Paul. Out 0:11:48.316 --> 0:11:50.556 of nowhere, he gets a tip. 0:11:51.676 --> 0:11:57.556 I was talking to some source I knew very well, 0:11:58.476 --> 0:12:01.716 and this source told me just at the second cup 0:12:01.756 --> 0:12:05.116 of coffee and he said, well, you remember this story 0:12:05.116 --> 0:12:08.796 of Ali Modamett. You're working on that still, Yes, you 0:12:08.796 --> 0:12:11.276 should go on and go on and dig and dick, 0:12:11.356 --> 0:12:15.196 because there's a very weird, big story behind this murder. 0:12:30.356 --> 0:12:33.116 Paul wasn't the only person thinking about what happened in 0:12:33.156 --> 0:12:34.036 al Mayor that day. 0:12:34.916 --> 0:12:40.676 I remember this, this shooting December fifteenth. Your really nice 0:12:40.716 --> 0:12:43.236 neighbor got guilt. Nobody knows why. 0:12:44.476 --> 0:12:47.356 At the time, Ula Eliam was involved with the local 0:12:47.396 --> 0:12:48.116 city council. 0:12:48.756 --> 0:12:53.156 So yeah, I remember it was like this mystery for 0:12:53.276 --> 0:12:54.916 people like, well, what happened? 0:12:55.876 --> 0:12:59.636 Uler say, he's this intense guy who locks you into 0:12:59.676 --> 0:13:02.956 his gaze, and he's a sharp dresser. When we meet, 0:13:03.076 --> 0:13:06.356 he's wearing this charcoal suit and a black unbuttoned shirt 0:13:06.436 --> 0:13:10.596 down to his chest. When Alimtamada murdered, Ulis is just 0:13:10.636 --> 0:13:14.116 getting into local politics. He's a spokesperson for safety and 0:13:14.156 --> 0:13:16.836 public order in our mayor where Ali Mttammad was killed. 0:13:17.476 --> 0:13:22.596 What was strange in this case there was nothing and 0:13:22.756 --> 0:13:28.276 this was fueled by the National Police. 0:13:27.676 --> 0:13:32.116 The police appealed on national television for any information that 0:13:32.156 --> 0:13:33.316 the public could give them. 0:13:33.796 --> 0:13:35.836 You have any tips, do you have any suggestions. We 0:13:35.956 --> 0:13:37.236 put out this reward. 0:13:37.316 --> 0:13:41.716 But no one came forward. A year goes by, still nothing. 0:13:42.796 --> 0:13:45.356 I thought, this is getting this is getting a bit weird. 0:13:45.916 --> 0:13:49.036 So we don't have any clues to find the shooters. 0:13:49.556 --> 0:13:53.116 There's no information about the circumstances of the of the shooting. 0:13:55.156 --> 0:13:58.756 Ulissa is particularly interested in this case because Alimtomed, it 0:13:58.796 --> 0:14:03.116 turns out, was born in Iran and Ulersay's own family 0:14:03.276 --> 0:14:05.796 also moved to the Netherlands from Iran around the same 0:14:05.796 --> 0:14:06.956 time that Alimtammid did. 0:14:07.756 --> 0:14:12.236 I'm named after Odysseus, you know, the Greek king, because 0:14:12.276 --> 0:14:16.716 my father he was reading Odysseus and my father was like, okay, 0:14:16.756 --> 0:14:18.756 I lost my home. I don't know where my home 0:14:18.796 --> 0:14:20.996 will be, but I'm sure this baby will find a 0:14:21.036 --> 0:14:21.476 new home. 0:14:23.036 --> 0:14:26.596 Ulissa's father was a critic of the hardline theocracy imposed 0:14:26.636 --> 0:14:29.756 by the new regime in Iran after the revolution. He 0:14:29.836 --> 0:14:32.716 knew his life might be in danger if he stayed. 0:14:33.316 --> 0:14:37.076 He had to go into hiding very fast. He never 0:14:37.116 --> 0:14:39.636 had the chance to say goodbye to his mother, for example, 0:14:39.836 --> 0:14:41.276 because it was too dangerous. 0:14:41.916 --> 0:14:44.836 First his father moved to Afghanistan, where Ulisse was born, 0:14:45.636 --> 0:14:48.116 and then they moved to the Netherlands, eventually settling in 0:14:48.196 --> 0:14:51.436 Al Mayor. Ulysse grew up in the same sleepy suburb 0:14:51.436 --> 0:14:53.396 where Ali Mtamad lived and died. 0:14:54.236 --> 0:14:56.676 I've been living there for twenty years now. And the 0:14:56.716 --> 0:14:59.316 funny thing is, or the special thing, it also relates 0:14:59.356 --> 0:15:02.516 to my history, you know, like it's a new city. 0:15:03.316 --> 0:15:06.636 The province. One of the nicknames is like new Land 0:15:06.716 --> 0:15:10.996 because it's built from water. Yeah, and my family came 0:15:11.116 --> 0:15:13.956 to a new land. It started a new life. So yeah, 0:15:14.116 --> 0:15:15.516 it all connects really nicely. 0:15:16.756 --> 0:15:19.996 Ulisses father became a law professor and he kept speaking 0:15:19.996 --> 0:15:23.036 out against the Iranian regime from his new home. But 0:15:23.076 --> 0:15:26.156 there was a cost, and this became a reality when 0:15:26.196 --> 0:15:29.476 the family moved to Our Mayor. His father started getting 0:15:29.516 --> 0:15:31.556 serious threats at. 0:15:31.436 --> 0:15:36.916 That time, my father received a massive security protection. I 0:15:36.956 --> 0:15:41.956 was young. You're still focused on things you do when 0:15:41.956 --> 0:15:45.436 you're at that age, you know, playing football, trying to 0:15:45.556 --> 0:15:49.596 enjoy life. But yeah, when you see your dad being 0:15:49.636 --> 0:15:55.916 transported with multiple bodyguards, yeah, of course your life changes. 0:15:56.876 --> 0:15:59.396 So decades later, when an Iranian man is shot in 0:15:59.436 --> 0:16:03.516 his hometown, it gets ulysses attention. Even more so when 0:16:03.516 --> 0:16:06.916 police finally share what they've pieced together from CCTV footage, 0:16:07.476 --> 0:16:09.836 it shows that the idea that you Assen's made a 0:16:09.836 --> 0:16:14.516 mistake looks less and less plausible. This was a meticulously 0:16:14.516 --> 0:16:21.796 planned operation. The police report is a difficult read. It's 0:16:21.836 --> 0:16:26.596 a chilling account of a cold, premeditated murder planned over weeks, 0:16:27.596 --> 0:16:31.156 and it reveals that the killers made two failed attempts 0:16:31.196 --> 0:16:36.116 in the days before Alie Mtummed was shot. On December eleventh, 0:16:36.236 --> 0:16:39.316 twenty fifteen, at around quarter past six in the morning, 0:16:40.356 --> 0:16:43.996 a blue BMW drives slowly down the dark suburban street. 0:16:45.396 --> 0:16:48.716 The driver stops outside one of the houses and turns 0:16:48.756 --> 0:16:54.196 the car's headlights off. Inside, Alie Mtammed is getting started 0:16:54.236 --> 0:16:58.116 with his day. Usually he leaves his house a quarter 0:16:58.156 --> 0:17:02.316 to seven, but today he has a job nearby, so 0:17:02.356 --> 0:17:06.076 he leaves later at eight thirty am. At about eight am, 0:17:06.316 --> 0:17:08.756 the driver of the BMW turns the car back and 0:17:08.836 --> 0:17:15.076 leaves the street. A few days later, Monday, December fourteenth, 0:17:15.516 --> 0:17:20.076 the BMW arrives again at around quarter past six. It's 0:17:20.116 --> 0:17:22.796 a regular work day, and Mohammed walks out of his 0:17:22.836 --> 0:17:26.276 front door a little before seven. A neighbors also leaving 0:17:26.316 --> 0:17:28.796 their house at the same time, and the driver of 0:17:28.836 --> 0:17:36.316 the BMW spots him and Mhammed and drives off. Tuesday, 0:17:36.436 --> 0:17:41.996 December fifteenth, the BMW appears at six o'clock. Matammid's wife 0:17:42.076 --> 0:17:44.636 and teenage son are asleep upstairs as he steps out 0:17:44.636 --> 0:17:47.796 of his house and shuts the front door. That is 0:17:47.876 --> 0:17:53.716 dark outside. No neighbors around this morning. As the electrician 0:17:53.756 --> 0:17:56.276 walks towards his van, a man walks up behind him 0:17:56.476 --> 0:17:59.356 and shoots him in the head. Mahammed slumps to the 0:17:59.356 --> 0:18:02.156 ground and the shooter gets back in his BMW and 0:18:02.196 --> 0:18:03.156 the car speeds off. 0:18:07.676 --> 0:18:10.996 They hit him directly left with the car, I think, 0:18:11.236 --> 0:18:16.076 if I remember correctly, BMW five. They went to the 0:18:16.116 --> 0:18:19.996 specific spot in another part of olmyr burned a car 0:18:20.196 --> 0:18:20.756 and they leave. 0:18:21.716 --> 0:18:24.836 The BMW was found burned out a few miles away, 0:18:25.316 --> 0:18:27.636 and witnesses saw two men walking off. 0:18:28.396 --> 0:18:32.236 There's all the signs of professionals in the criminal circuit, 0:18:33.156 --> 0:18:35.476 so that made it even more strange, like, okay, this 0:18:35.556 --> 0:18:38.956 is really professional, and still we don't have any idea 0:18:40.156 --> 0:18:40.996 why who. 0:18:43.476 --> 0:18:45.996 This is the point that I started to see the 0:18:46.036 --> 0:18:49.476 first liquor, to realize what a murder in a small 0:18:49.556 --> 0:18:53.196 Dutch town could have to do with the supercartel and 0:18:53.276 --> 0:18:56.236 what that could mean. Because Paul has kept on digging 0:18:56.596 --> 0:18:58.916 and he's made an unbelievable discovery. 0:18:59.476 --> 0:19:02.556 And I remember reading it and I think it was 0:19:02.876 --> 0:19:06.796 on a sunny Monday morning, and I immediately I knew. 0:19:07.276 --> 0:19:09.556 I felt in all my body, I know, wow, this 0:19:09.756 --> 0:19:11.356 is crazy. 0:19:12.636 --> 0:19:16.476 In twenty eighteen, Paul breaks a big story and it's 0:19:16.516 --> 0:19:20.156 not about the murderers, but it's about the victim. 0:19:20.556 --> 0:19:23.796 I found out that Ali Motamet was not Ali Motamet 0:19:23.876 --> 0:19:28.276 the electrician. He was an electrician, yes, but he lived 0:19:28.276 --> 0:19:31.036 in Holland with a false eye identity. 0:19:32.996 --> 0:19:37.996 Ali Matamed was, in reality and assumed identity the electrician 0:19:38.036 --> 0:19:41.036 from our mayor had been living a secret life, one 0:19:41.156 --> 0:19:44.156 so secret that even some members of his own family 0:19:44.276 --> 0:19:45.556 didn't know who he really was. 0:19:46.756 --> 0:19:51.116 Ali Motamet was Mohammed Reza colahis so many and when 0:19:51.116 --> 0:19:53.756 he was twenty three years old, he plays the bomb 0:19:53.996 --> 0:19:59.756 which blew up seventy four people of the Islamic Republican 0:19:59.796 --> 0:20:00.716 Party in Iran. 0:20:03.116 --> 0:20:08.916 This happened in my city, quite close to where I live, 0:20:10.116 --> 0:20:14.356 and probably the regime, you know, the whole reason I'm 0:20:14.436 --> 0:20:20.116 in Holland. They were able to find someone who they 0:20:20.116 --> 0:20:23.876 were looking for for like at that time, like thirty 0:20:23.876 --> 0:20:29.276 five years, who was like one of their prime targets 0:20:29.316 --> 0:20:34.276 because they wanted to revenge My dad always wanted me. 0:20:34.956 --> 0:20:39.716 They're dangerous, you know, they found him. These are not 0:20:40.156 --> 0:20:42.676 bedtime stories. This is getting real. 0:21:00.276 --> 0:21:04.036 Sometimes you get a glimpse of something, the edge of 0:21:04.076 --> 0:21:06.916 what seems like it might be a much bigger story, 0:21:07.436 --> 0:21:09.956 and it leads you into a whole new place, a 0:21:09.996 --> 0:21:12.796 place where you're not quite sure what's going on, and 0:21:12.836 --> 0:21:16.236 it's hard to know even where to start. That's where 0:21:16.276 --> 0:21:19.436 Paul finds himself after he learns about Ali mctummitt's past. 0:21:20.556 --> 0:21:24.396 I had no sources at all in Iran. I had 0:21:24.396 --> 0:21:27.676 no sources at all in geopolitical world. 0:21:28.996 --> 0:21:31.596 This clearly isn't a local murder case in a small 0:21:31.636 --> 0:21:34.956 town anymore. Paul has been pulled into what looks like 0:21:35.076 --> 0:21:38.836 a targeted assassination plot in the heart of Europe, but 0:21:38.916 --> 0:21:43.716 he doesn't have any proof, just a strong theory. Ulusa 0:21:43.876 --> 0:21:46.676 is looking for answers too. He posts online about the 0:21:46.676 --> 0:21:50.156 case and wonders does anyone know more about Matamad or 0:21:50.316 --> 0:21:54.156 how the Iranian regime might have found him? And Ulusa's 0:21:54.196 --> 0:21:56.276 posts they catch Paul's attention. 0:21:57.156 --> 0:22:01.356 Paul called me, I saw your questions. Let's let's talk. 0:22:02.116 --> 0:22:04.996 After I broke the story, Ulus Elian and I met 0:22:05.276 --> 0:22:08.356 in our mare, had coffee and we tried to make 0:22:08.596 --> 0:22:11.996 plans to find the mystic pieces of the puzzle. How 0:22:12.036 --> 0:22:15.156 can we get more insight in the backgrounds of this. 0:22:15.276 --> 0:22:19.956 Aul the man his neighbors knew as Alimtomid moved to 0:22:19.956 --> 0:22:23.356 the Netherlands in nineteen eighty five, he wouldn't have particularly 0:22:23.396 --> 0:22:25.916 stood out. It was a time when many Iranians were 0:22:25.916 --> 0:22:30.916 fleeing Iran, just like Ulysses father. But Alimtomid wasn't just fleeing, 0:22:31.516 --> 0:22:34.676 He was hiding. He was accused of carrying out the 0:22:34.716 --> 0:22:39.436 biggest terrorist attack in modern Iranian history. This is a 0:22:39.476 --> 0:22:42.956 big deal this bombing in nineteen eighty one. It killed 0:22:42.956 --> 0:22:47.156 a senior Ayatollah, four cabinet ministers, and reportedly dozens of 0:22:47.196 --> 0:22:51.316 other top Iranian officials. Matamd fled Iran after the bombing, 0:22:51.436 --> 0:22:54.236 but was found guilty in absentia and sentenced to death. 0:22:56.076 --> 0:22:58.076 We don't know much about his years in the Netherlands, 0:22:58.276 --> 0:23:00.716 but we do know that he adopted a new identity 0:23:01.036 --> 0:23:04.036 and built a new life. He married a woman who 0:23:04.116 --> 0:23:07.676 was originally from Afghanistan. They had a son, and Matamad 0:23:07.716 --> 0:23:11.356 got a job at the local electric company. For years, 0:23:11.636 --> 0:23:14.636 he led a simple suburban life. He went to work 0:23:14.676 --> 0:23:17.396 at the same time most days. His neighbors thought of 0:23:17.436 --> 0:23:21.436 him as punctual, trustworthy. No one really knew much more 0:23:21.436 --> 0:23:25.956 about him, but secretly, Mahammed knew that the Iranian regime 0:23:26.036 --> 0:23:31.076 was still looking for him, so he was incredibly careful. Reportedly, 0:23:31.436 --> 0:23:34.236 he didn't even tell his wife his true identity until 0:23:34.356 --> 0:23:37.996 a few years before his death, and his son had 0:23:38.036 --> 0:23:42.276 no idea about Matummed's past. I keep thinking about the 0:23:42.316 --> 0:23:45.876 loneliness and the isolation of someone who's bearing this huge 0:23:45.876 --> 0:23:48.236 secret from the people in their life who they're closest to. 0:23:49.076 --> 0:23:52.156 Someone who spent almost his entire adulthood trying to stay 0:23:52.196 --> 0:23:54.236 one step ahead of people he knew were trying to 0:23:54.316 --> 0:23:58.436 kill him. Mahammed was careful to avoid his photograph appearing 0:23:58.436 --> 0:24:01.916 on social media, but not long before his murder he 0:24:01.956 --> 0:24:05.036 seemed to have slipped up. A single photograph of him 0:24:05.036 --> 0:24:08.676 went up on Facebook celebrating his teenage son's high school graduation, 0:24:09.756 --> 0:24:13.036 and months later a BMW pulled up outside his house 0:24:13.236 --> 0:24:19.076 early in the morning. So this is a story I've 0:24:19.116 --> 0:24:21.796 been told to look at the murder of a man 0:24:21.996 --> 0:24:25.396 living a secret life, a man on the run from 0:24:25.396 --> 0:24:30.236 a powerful regime. At this point, I can't see the 0:24:30.276 --> 0:24:34.956 connection between this murder and the Dubai supercartel. But then 0:24:34.956 --> 0:24:38.276 a few months later, something happens that takes us one 0:24:38.276 --> 0:24:42.676 step closer to understanding how all of this works. In 0:24:42.716 --> 0:24:46.636 April twenty sixteen, two Irish detectives arrive at a residential 0:24:46.676 --> 0:24:50.436 address not far from Dublin City Center. They have a 0:24:50.476 --> 0:24:52.836 search warren because they've heard that an apartment in this 0:24:52.916 --> 0:24:55.876 building is being used as a safehouse by Ireland's most 0:24:55.916 --> 0:25:02.396 powerful and dangerous criminal organization. But inside there are no irishmen. Instead, 0:25:02.476 --> 0:25:05.076 the officers find a short man with a large belly 0:25:05.156 --> 0:25:09.436 who speaks only broken English. It's clear the man is rich. 0:25:09.556 --> 0:25:14.036 He's wearing bright blue designer sneakers covered in studs. When 0:25:14.036 --> 0:25:17.276 the detectives searched the flat, they find thirteen thousand euros 0:25:17.276 --> 0:25:21.476 in cash and two Rolex watches. What's less clear is 0:25:21.476 --> 0:25:26.676 his identity. He has two different IDs, one Dutch one Belgian, 0:25:27.116 --> 0:25:28.276 each with a different name. 0:25:30.236 --> 0:25:33.316 I remember the morning on which he was arrested, and 0:25:33.356 --> 0:25:35.316 I can tell you nobody knew who he was. 0:25:36.196 --> 0:25:40.276 Shamus Boland is Detective Chief Superintendent in the Irish Police Force. 0:25:40.596 --> 0:25:42.396