3. Highway 10

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.

Presenters: Yemisi Adegoke and Colin Freeman

Producer: Charlotte McDonald

Additional production: Aliaume Leroy, Cristine Kist, Nick Norman-Butler, Chiara Francavilla, Matt Precey, Julian Sturdee and Julio Rodrigues

Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Actors: Edison Alcaide (Rodrigo) and Antonio Fernandes (Daniel)

Sound design: Tom Brignell

Executive Producer: Joe Kent

Podcast Editor: Matt Willis

Commissioning Senior Producer: Kat Collins

Commissioning Editor: Jon Manel