Supported projects

BRUSSELS - It is everywhere, yet invisible. Hawala, an ancient, trust-based money transfer system, moves vast sums of cash around the world every day, leaving almost no trace. No banks. No paper trail. Just a handshake and a code.

AMSTERDAM / MAE SOT - A message on Instagram: "Hi darling. I’ve been thinking about you a lot today… Are you thinking of me too?" It's a typical scam. But these scammers are victims themselves, often lured by false promises and imprisoned in scam centres in Southeast Asia.

KOSICE / CALABRIA - Convicted trafficker Antonino Vadalà, long seen in Slovakia as a powerful businessman, re-emerges in a new investigation linking him and partner Diego Rodà to subsidy fraud, ’Ndrangheta ties, and a disrupted cocaine route — all amid fallout from the Kuciak murder case.

YEREVAN – This investigation examines the role played by certain Italian agencies authorised by the Italian government and accredited in Armenia until 2022 in alleged cases of child trafficking from Armenia: Anpas, Arcobaleno Onlus and Famiglia Insieme Onlus.

ATHENS / DAMASCUS / FORLI – This investigation has uncovered the murky connections between the Greek airline Air Mediterranean and individuals and companies involved in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and other illicit activities in Syria.

FLORENCE - A joint investigation by The Insider and IRPIMedia has revealed that members of the Russian elite, including former KGB colleagues of Putin, Kremlin insiders, arms manufacturers, and sanctioned oligarchs, have quietly acquired at least 15 luxury wineries and over 2,000 hectares of land in ...

ZAGREB – This investigation examines the opaque business model of football agent Andy Bara and his agency, Niagara Sports. Bara is renowned for orchestrating high-profile transfers, including Dani Olmo's moves to RB Leipzig and FC Barcelona. However, his dealings have raised questions about 'bridge ...

VIENNA - An investigation has revealed that individuals within the global gambling industry are knowingly breaking national laws. Leaked documents show how illegal online casinos exploit gambling addicts and evade detection by the authorities in Europe.

LILLE/ROTTERDAM - This research explores the intersection of urban development projects and drug crime reduction, looking at the shortcomings and successful strategies of two cities.

BOSASO - After almost a decade of silence on Somalia's northern coast, piracy seems to be making a comeback. Driven by hunger and desperation, old smuggling routes are being reopened and strategic ports are being targeted. 'The sea beckons as never before.'The comeback of Somali pirates

MYANMAR – In Southeast Asia, entire cities devoted to online fraud are emerging along the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. While this phenomenon is relatively well-known in China and the United States, it remains largely unrecognised in Europe. 

BELGRADE - Cocaine production and trafficking has reached record levels, with organised crime groups from the Western Balkans playing a major role in the EU market, working with Dutch groups. The recent hacking of the encrypted messaging platform Sky ECC has revealed the inner workings of criminal ...

TALINN - AMSTERDAM- A new and powerful type of drugs is rapidly emerging in Europe: nitazenes. In this joint investigation with Bellingcat and Postimees, the team looked at where these drugs are coming from and who they’re affecting. 

WARSAW / BUCHAREST / CULIACÁN - Europe is facing a fentanyl crisis. In 2023, victims of this deadly substance have already been reported in a few countries. The team of journalists traces the path of fentanyl from Mexico to Romania and Poland, showing the complexity of the problem.

ZURICH - Baby number 12 is a global investigation into an adoption scheme that began in Switzerland in the ‘50s, and the trauma that haunt the victims today. The investigation aims to expose the responsibilities of the Swiss authorities and will ask for their action.

TIRANA / DURRES / BELGRADE / PRISTINA - Across the Balkans, particularly in Albania, a disturbing trend is emerging among organised crime figures and influencers: the ownership of exotic pets like lion and tiger cubs.

DAMASCUS - Trapped in the dusty cells of northeastern Syria are thousands of foreign IS fighters, all having come with one goal: to establish an Islamic caliphate. They come from 50 countries such as Iraq and Lebanon, as well as France, Britain and Belgium. Five years after the fall of IS, they are ...

MARTISSANT - "This is where I realise my days are numbered" Joselia, an old lady, confides. In her neighbourhood, one of Port-au-Prince's slums, gangs are fighting for control of the few economic assets the city still has to offer. Haiti, the eternal worry child of the Caribbean, is now truly a ...

MANCHESTER - Elite European football has been overrun with advertisements for Asian betting brands in recent years, despite many of these companies being connected to major organised crime figures.

TUNIS - In this story, a team of journalists based in Italy, Tunisia, and Germany highlights how waste gets illegally trafficked to countries with more competitive rates and lower environmental standards through mislabelling, fake documentation, corruption, and taking advantage of control loopholes.

ROLLE - Who's next? That's the question on everyone's lips. For over three years, not a week has passed without the media reporting a hacking incident. Cyber hackers have never been so powerful. They are everywhere, looking for human error and technical flaws in our hyper-connected world.

ERBIL / ISTANBUL / ATHENS - The increased complexity and dangers of migration routes to Europe, including the risk of being swindled by traffickers or robbed by security forces, have led to an increased reliance on an informal banking system based on the traditional money transfer system of 'hawala' ...

PRAGUE - Waste is illegally imported to the Czech Republic. Both the competent state authorities and representatives of NGOs agree that this is a serious and not well studied problem.

BRUSSELS – ‘Once upon a time there was a man...’ Thus begins the story I was told as a little girl. In the podcast ‘Monsters don’t exist’ I revisit that story together with my contemporaries who grew up in 1990s turbulent Belgium, just like me. While we were busy with homework and playing in the ...

SCHIPHOL - In Belgium and the Netherlands, Mexican laborers have raised a new branch of the drug industry: crystal meth. Arthur Debruyne portrays all those involved. 'Buying gloves? Just tell those mexi to work'.

LONDON - A highly-produced three-part, narrative podcast, it follows the dirty trail of British waste from dustbins in England and exposes a British system creaking under the weight of hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste - with illegal dumping happening with impunity both at home and abroad.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Vila Cruzeiro is one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slums. People are living in poverty surrounded by a drug war. After far-right president Jair Bolsonaro took office, shootings between police and traffickers are much more frequent. Violence in the neighbourhoods is only ...

BRUSSELS - 'Less police force' is a podcast that wants to make police violence in Belgium visible and unravel it through testimonies and interviews with experts. We want to find out why police violence - also in our country - is so common. This automatically brings us to the question: what are the ...

NIVELLES - State police commander Léon François starts using questionable investigative methods in the fight against drug traffickers in the 1970s, without legal regulation. Who are the gangsters and who is the police? The boundaries blur. Top cops and politicians, ex-premier Vanden Boeynants in the ...

BRUSSELS - Overcrowding, striking staff, dilapidated infrastructure... With regularity our prisons are in the news in a way that leaves little to the imagination. What is less well known is that each prison has a Supervisory Committee that watches over the welfare of the inmates. About 450 ...