Again migrants. He did not pay his money, so the rebels and the traffickers beat them up. Four days later, he died. The migrants and the traffickers took him to the graveyard. I followed up. I counted more than 700 migrants. Greve Yard Garnett has been placed on an international watch list. Failing to meet targets to deal with human trafficking. These migrants are bound for Europe. They've come from all over west and Central Africa, crossing the Sahara in search of a better line.
But they will not all make it. Welcome to heroes behind headlines. I'm your host, Ralph Pazulo. Our guest today is an extraordinary young man from Ghana named Amanuel Azutang Ayarik, who in the spring of 2017, launched an investigation into the thousands of young West African migrants who continue to disappear every year on their way to what they hope will be a better life in Europe.
As a tank conducted his investigation on his own and with the help of a $34 pair of eyeglass frames that he bought from a local electronics store, which had a small video camera embedded in them, capable of recording low resolution images. What he captured with that camera was terrifying and shocking. Migrant women gang raped and sold to sex traffickers, and men robbed, taken hostage and sold as slave laborers to foreign construction companies. A fate that befell as a Tang himself.
His journey started from the two rooms, stone and dirt floor hut he lived in outside the capital of Okra. And it took him through Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali, across the Sahara desert to Algeria and Morocco, and finally into the hands of a good Samaritan who saved his life. And it proved that one man, a very modest means, with good intentions and a strong will and moral courage, can make a difference.
We're honored to welcome the brave a Manuel Azatang ayarink as today's hero behind the headlines. I always had ambition of becoming police officer, going into undercover work and other stuff, but my dad was also in the police service. I realized that when my dad was in the service, I could see that some of the streets officers were doing all sorts of bad activities, which I wasn't happy with.
It made me not have any interest or passion for the police service again, because people come to complain that their husband beat them up, someone has beaten their son or daughter. When they come to the police, officers will tell them to pay money to go and arrest. So it made me not have interest in the security service anymore. Right. Because they were asking for money from people who were coming with complaints. Yes.
Sometimes they beat the people in the police house just because they want this, they want that, some few things, and they always get a mind. Yeah. So lots of corruption. How did you become interested in investigative journalists? When I was even at the junior high school, when I was schooling. I did always love listening to radio. I always listen to current affairs. I always want to know what is going on in the world. So I was always laying in bed listening to radio to know what is going on.
And I was listening to International Media house, and they were talking about human trafficking. So I heard the reporter saying that people die in the desert, they run out of water, and some die in the Mediterranean Sea. So I said, no, this doesn't make sense to me. I would like to sit and do research and see if I can do investigations on that. People in Western Africa, young people, right, mostly, who are the future that they have in their countries is not good. Right.
So they're looking for better opportunities, mostly in Europe, correct? Yes. And tens of thousands are traveling every year across the Sahara Desert, in part to get to the coast, to catch boats and so on to Spain and Italy and find jobs in Europe, correct? Yes. So as I lay in bed, I asked myself those questions. Then I started to write down the route they use, as the generalist mentioned, on air.
And I read also on the internet, what are the dangers that one could find on his way into the Sahara Desert to those countries, the migrant Jews. And how many days to take a bus from Ghana to Algeria? Would there be a bus from Ghana to Morocco? Because they normally use these two routes. And do you remember approximately how many were dying every year in the desert? Thousand. 500, 800, 900 died. That was what I heard in the radio.
So after all this research, I gathered all my evidence on the Internet. I came down to the city, and I have to raise money. The little money Ghana News Agency was paying me, I was saving it. So you are going to do an investigation on your own? Yes. Of what's happening to these migrants who are moving north and why are they dying in so many numbers on the trip to Europe? Yes. So I sold some of my lifestyle.
I sold my goods, my sheep, my files, my check ins and other stuff, and I added the money up. Then I had a tablet already. I had 200 phones, and I went to buy a secret foaming camera, which, when I came down, I bought another one because the first one was seized by the rebels. So those are glasses with a camera in the frame? Yes, please. Yeah. Wow. And what is there a little card in there that you can download on the computer? Yes, please. There's a USB mini port.
So your intention was to record everything, wear the glasses and record everything? Yes, please. All right. So you have a tablet, you have a phone, and you have the glasses with the USB port in it. So now you plan your trip to go north? North. Were you were going on your own. This is like your own investigation. Had you been north before? Have you traveled through these countries that you were going to be traveling through, and which countries would you be traveling through?
Actually, that was my first time living Ghana. I've never traveled outside Ghana before, so I bought a bag, I bought a diary that I have to write down my important details. Then I went to buy my tickets in advance. Three days later, I set up. Human trafficking is a global problem, with an estimated 24 9 million victims trapped in modern day slavery.
Of that number, according to human rights 1st 16 million are exploited for labor, four 8 million are sexually exploited, and four 1 million are trapped into state imposed forced labor. So as we continue to learn about the horrible effects of 18th and 19th century slavery in our hemisphere, this debasement of our common humanity takes place today all around the world. Why is so little done about it? Because it's a huge business that earns profits of an estimated 150,000,000,000 a year.
What disturbed as a tank night after night as he listened to his transistor radio from his home in Ghana were the thousands of young Africans from Ghana, mali, guinea, Gambia, senegal, sierra Leone and Nigeria were dying as they tried to cross the Sahara desert on their way to north Africa and Europe in search of employment and a better life. According to one UN estimate, over 100 had perished in 2016 alone.
That number didn't include the tens of thousands of others who, like ezekieang himself, were forced into slave labor. As he began his investigation, he met two migrants at the bus station in okra who gave him the name of a human smuggler named Suleimana, based in Mali. Suleimana is a ghanian human trafficker and a smuggler. He smuggled migrants. Okay, so the day I set off, it was 15th day, 915 GMT. And you start heading north? Yes, please. Okay. And what was that like?
So when I was living, I just prayed to god that he would let me see through everything and come back home successfully. So I was a bit worried. I just told myself that I have to just take that risk to find out why migrants are dying in the Sahara desert. And what did you learn on the bus trip? How long was the bus trip out to Mali and what did you learn along the way?
So the process of, as I said, from Ghana, we continued our journey to the first border families in Ghana, the share border with Bokina FASU. When we go there, it was Adam. That is 315 345. They're about GMT. So we waited, and the immigration officers at the border to list that they would like to check our passport. So we all waited. When they break around six, seven, they came out, went through all our documents, then they wrote down the details. And from there we continued.
So when we entered Bokina for SEO border and they asked for our national ID passport, I showed them my passport. They told me to pay an amount of money. And I told the security officers that my passport is equal passport economic Community of West African State so all countries that gives you permission to go into any country in West Africa? Yes, please. And they told me if I don't pay, they are going to beat me up. That they were not colonized by the British or Americans.
They were colonized by the French people. So they started money from me. I paid the money, and believe you me, from the border they share with Mali, they were 17 security checkpoints. So each checkpoint, sometimes some of them will take 100, say far. Some will take 200, say far. So they keep on starting money, each checkpoint. At 17 checkpoints, you had to pay a fee to get through. Yes. So I paid, and I filmed some of them behind camera as evidence. They didn't know.
Then we continued the journey, and we entered Male border, 17 checkpoints again. So this is money that they're extorting from every one of the migrants that's going north. They're having the same experience as you are, right? Yes. And even with those checkpoints, what are you, a migrant? You are not a migrant. They will have to store money from you. And if you add your citizen, they reduce the money for you or they wouldn't take at all. So they're not really interested in security.
They're just interested in extorting money from the passengers. Yes, please. So we got to bamako. That was at midnight there, about. So that was when we arrived. And I called his nickname there is Taller because he's very tall and a bit fat. And when you get to Bamaco, how many migrants would you say? 100,000. The first bar stop, there were a few I saw there. When Suleimana took me to his house, I saw a lot of them there. And that same day, he took me to a different bar station.
And there were a lot of migrants, more than 400. And all the buses there that were setting off all those buses were full of migrants. Every five minutes, a bus was set off with migrants. I was like, Is this busy, like, international airport? Because I only know it to be like international airport that a flight takes off every five minutes or three minutes. Right. And these are all people from all various different countries in West Africa? Yes. Some are from Liberia. Some are from Sri LAN.
Some are from guinea. Some are from Gambia, Liberia, Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana. And they're all trying to get to Europe? Yes, please. Even Nigeria? Yeah. Wow. Okay. And Suleimana, does he help you? What does he do? So Suleimana took me to the next bus stop. So over there, Slimana told me that I have to do payment of some money to be sent to his boss at the north eastern part of Mali called Gal. So the money was given to him and he paid it told us to pay additional money, which I paid.
And when you are in Balanco, what they do is that migrants that are not having the yellow vast card, they tell them that they will do one for them. They will just go and print their own fake yellow card fever. These are Vaccination cards. Yeah, this one is fake. He should buy slimana. So he prints his own. He has his own operation, yeah? Yes. So they print all this and then we just write your name. I think it's original, but it's not.
And because the security officials are also interested in money, they do not just take their time to check. When they see that yellow, don't ask you. So they're part of the whole corrupt operation? Yes, please. So I entered my bus and we were 75 people in that bus from all over West Africa. On all different countries? Yes, different countries. So they took us to a different region. I think it was multi or several, that bus. We were more than 100 in that bus. Believe you me.
I never sat on any feet until I got to go to this. So I was just standing in the bath and I was forming them. They were so happy, Jubilating, that they are heading to Gough. They'll be going to Europe and all other stuff. And the heat was unbearable. Wow. Because you're getting near the Sahara Desert now. Yes. So we continued and the security officers started money again from us. And I secreted from them. So we got to go first.
Border Checkpoint then, whilst we were communicating with Suleimana on the phone, I took Suleimana phone number, his time card, just to be communicating with him, to record him. So that when I come home, the security and intelligence will see how best would seem after arresting. So I have all those audios also with me. So we got to go. The brother, his boss, Mr. Sangari, he's the main boss. Human Traffickers Sangari? Yes, Musa Sangari. So they're part of the whole network.
So you think that these people are helping you, but they're really trafficking you? Yes. So I told them that I have to influence them before they give me this. I told them to please give it to me. I would like to send it to my brothers at home. They also like to come to use the same route. Right. But I just needed their contact when I come home to be arrested. So they gave it to me. But their main boss, Musa Sangari, hardly gives his complimentary card, but he only gives his phone number.
So I still had his phone number. So when we got to the border, he came and took us to his house. And as the driver, was bringing us to Gal. There were two female Nigerians in that bar too. So when we go to Gal, we go to Musa Sangari house. They separated the women from us to a different place and read the men somewhere in Musa Sangari house. And some were also sent to different place to sleep. When we got there, Musa Sangari, I saw him, it's very fair.
His fats, with a big stomach, with a round hair, with big eyes. So we entered his compound and just like I counted more than 450 migrants in his house just sitting on the floor or standing around, there were benches, some were sitting on a wall, some were sitting on a bench, some were sitting on the floor, some were sitting on a mat. So now after the money, the money was paid, I think that was $45,000 when we go to Mosa Sangari house. So when we've got there, everything in the house is for sale.
To bath, you have to buy the water. To eat, you have to buy the food yourself, despite you paid for all those things. And after everybody finished eating, there remaining leftover food in the plate. Mr. Sangari wife intentionally let their animals, their ship and go to Intention, come and leak the food in the gold before they wash it. After that, they use that same plate to sell food for the migrants to eat. So on that day reflects on the next day, mr.
Musa Sangari left and returned hours later with three more travelers, all females, and heading to Algeria. On April 2017, we were heading to Algeria and all the migrants were so happy that we are heading to Algeria. So when we left Musa Sangari house, he took a different house with a different vehicle. It was in the evening, around 1516 GMT, around that time. So we went to that big compound yard and I saw white people with pistol. They mentioned everyone's name.
If they mention your name, it means you have to enter the truck. So they asked me for my name. I told them my name is Mohammed and they wrote Mohammed. When I did the payment and the truck, we were 75 people, including two female Nigerians. Now you're in the desert, right? You're in the Sahara? Yes. Please. It must be extremely hot. Yes. So when we're setting up, they make sure that the security officers will not know that they are taking migrants out of the country. Okay?
So they always observe around that time and they use Unapproved. Okay. So there's UN security in the area. In Gal? In Gal. But they avoid them on purpose. Yeah, they avoid them. They are purpose because of the reboot in Malley. So they are there for peacekeeping. So because they are also into this kind of illegal activities, they try their best to make sure that nobody sees them when they are taking migrants. Because UN security officers are in Gow, so they have a time to do that.
And that was the time they made us to set off that day. So we started taking off and it was like everybody was happy that they are going to Europe. The migrants. Yeah, we're getting closer. They were so happy. They were singing, they were dancing. Some were playing different music at the background. As we're going, darkness started approaching. And before we took off, another track also took off with us. But that track used a different route and we also used a different route.
So when darkness started approaching them, we got there and it was like we saw people stopping the driver and we have to get down when the truck stopped. Just in the dark. In the complete dark. Darkness in the complete dark, yeah. So he drove like, a few hours, and it was not 2 hours and darkness had already fallen. He stops in the desert. Yes. So we stopped and I saw people wearing military uniform holding a K 47 raffles and pistols.
And they told us to line up in two different lane and line up. They started searching as, telling us to pay money. So each person paid the amount they want, and we did. But I hid my money and told them, I don't have again. My grand took a Quran, begged the rebels, and they kept him on the ground, used a metaphor to hit his chest, and blood was coming from their mouth. Then everybody was laying out those who are not, who couldn't pay.
They seized my back because I did not pay, leaving only my pullover with me. So I have to use my pullover as my back. Two female Nigerians were gang ripped and there were seven rebels gang raped. Yes. Oh, my God. Yeah. Over the seven rebels gang rape the two female Nigerians. These are Aswat rebels.
Azawad rebels? Yes. When Azatang arrived in Mali in 2017, that country was in the throes of a violent civil war that it started in 2012 and pitted the Malian government in the south against the Turik people in the north who were fighting to establish an independent homeland. They called the region they controlled Azawat and the armed organization fighting to defend it, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.
Some Azowad rebels wanted to build a secular, independent state in northern Mali. Others were affiliated with ISIS and determined to unite Mali under Sharia law. As Azatang learned, they now controlled a large swath of northern and central Mali and made money robbing migrants and selling them to sex traffickers or into slave labor. When Azatang had left Ghana in April 2017, he took his life savings with him, a little over one, $200.
Now, one week later, he had spent more than 300 in bribes to pass through over a dozen armed checkpoints, 75 for a fake vaccination certificate, and was now being asked for another 400 for the bus ride north. The smuggler he was working with Suleimana warned him ominously. Prepare for your cash to run out and to call home to ask for more. The road is all about money. So after the gang ripped, we entered the truck and we continued again. So we continued to the second checkpoint.
And also before the second checkpoint were going. And I started to think of music in my mind. And I was playing Don Williams song in my mind. Example. Country boy don Williams. Yeah, Don Williams. Because I liked his songs. His songs a lot. Yeah, I like his songs. And I started to play music in my mind. And everybody was quiet because of what happened. They're probably scared. Yeah, everybody's scared. Yeah, everybody was scared. And we started doing the second rebel checkpoint.
That was when we realized that they mounted Algeria flag. The vehicles they were using were burned. Algeria number, registration number, please. I was like, So who gave them the vehicles to operate here? Because this Algerian registration number, please. You see? And they were holding Tucker devices. Wow. So they had good supplies. They had supplies, yes. So the second reverse checkpoint, we saw that they cut human beings had mounted them on sticks, and you could see house flies.
The second railway checkpoint, they were gang raped. The two female legends were gang ripped. Again, the access to pay additional money. Again, it continued to the third checkpoint. And it took us two days from Gal to Alkali. So when we go to the third rebel checkpoint, most of the rebels came close to us, and they were with motors on Motobikes, we saw vehicles. They were holding pistols. They were holding April for seven raffles. We saw camels there.
And they were like, everybody has to pay this amount of money. If you do not pay, you are going to be killed. So everybody has to pay that amount of money. And they told us, Algeria is not far from where we are, so we shouldn't worry. We were going and we got another community, like a village. And the driver drove around one house three times, and he stopped at once, and there was dust. So we heard people screaming coming, and they were happy.
We got down and they separated the females from s. And it was like they took us to one room, and it was very horrible. A lot of migrants were already there, were dead were there. They were there. And they sent through our backs. So because of that, I hit my spectacle camera somewhere else in my private part because Muslims hardly search would like to touch your site. Then I remove my memory card, kept it in my mouth. So they flew through everybody's items.
They did not see any importance in there. Just took the money. So over there, if you don't pay $100, $200 on us, you will not be allowed to leave Alkali. Alkalia the share border with Bourdain Muktan. Mukta is a town in Algeria, which is located at the Sahara. Part of Algeria, right. The edge of the Sahara, yeah. Yes. And the share border street, Malikalyo. So we were there. They gave someone number.
The money have to be paid into the person's account by our families before you could enter Algeria. Boge. Wow. So you're basically hostages. Yes. They helped everybody in hostage, and the money has to be paid before. So I have to commit myself to them so that they like me. I washed their clothes, affect water for them. They trusted me. I had access to the rooms to see what they were doing.
And the money that was paid to I called home and I just wanted the person's bank account detail so that they'll be arrested. So May 17, the money was paid to them and you had left on April 15, right? Yes. So it's more than a month later. Yes. This trip had taken all that time. So I was in Elkali for almost three weeks. Almost a month.
We were there, and two weeks later, four migrants who had no money to escape in the night, and the rebels caught them, killed two people, brought the two dead and the two living and said is a lesson to everyone who tries to escape. Reaching the town of El Khalil on the border of Mali and Algeria.
Azatang and the other migrants were completely at the mercy of Azawad rebels and human traffickers who controlled the town and were armed with AK forty seven s. This desolate collection of mud brick buildings on the edge of the Sahara was turned into an emporium of all manner of illegal trade and cigarettes. Drugs. Petrol. Sex slaves and humans. There, Azatang was forced to turn over all his documents and was packed into a stifling hot room with other migrants and ordered not to leave.
He offered to do chores for the smugglers and secretly film them through his spectacles as they phoned migrant families and demanded ransom payments via Western Union and Orange money. Week after week, as he was trapped there, more migrants arrived. Those whose families couldn't pay escaped into the night only to be hunted down and killed in the desert. It's only God is your father, the God is your mom, god is your everything. No trees, no food, no water, so no security personnel to protect you.
And from there to Boge is far, but if you are to use a vehicle, it's a bit short because in the 9th, when you went Elkali, you see the light of boat. Okay. And that's the closest city. It's close to a town. It's not a city, it's like a small region. And it's further in Algeria, correct? Yes, it's parts of Algeria, and that is northern Algeria. So now, with that distance, everybody pays. Then around evening, five, six, then they will smoke.
The migrants who have paid through the desert on approval to a certain stage, they have some people who lead the migrants into Borge in the 9th. So while we are going, this is what they do. When you get to certain stage and you are entering Algeria territory, the geographical landmark, they are police and military, always patrol. So when they see their vehicles moving in their mind, they tell all the migrants to bow on the floor so that they don't see anyone.
So when the vehicle passes far away, then the hotel has to get up and continue because the front light of every vehicle always brightens. Well, then the backlight then when we enter, it's very sad. We entered Budge and they will distribute all the migrants. They will share everybody to their colleagues. They have another group of team, traffickers and smokers involved. So they have to share everybody among all of them. And 95% of the houses in Boardwalkta are
being rented or owned by traffickers and smugglers. Wow. So the whole town is run by smugglers? Smugglers and traffickers. 95%. The 5% is just like 2% individuals and then the 3% is the security offices. Yeah. Crazy. And this is in Algeria. It's in Algeria. So we get there and now they will tell you after all the money we paid in Gal, we paid in Bamako, the middle of the desert, repaired in Alkali, believe you me, all this money, when you get bored, you tell me that it's rubbish.
They did not receive any money. Oh, wow. So now it's a business. They know each other. When Suleimana and his team and girl takes the money and buy the ticket, they take their share. They hand you over to Musa Sangari. Musa Sangari and quote, takes their money. They will tell you to pay additional money. They hand you over to the railroads in the Sahara Desert. They also take their money.
When you get to academy, when you get to board, they will tell you that if you don't have the money, you have to work for them before you move to their nest. Yeah. So now you're slaves. Basically you are slaves. So you have to work for them somewhere, working at the restaurants, washing of dishes, baking of bread and all those stuff. So I have to run both taking videos. I have the videos with me. I have to film, I have to take pictures and a whole lot. And I gathered my evidence.
I went to some of the rooms and the houses and it's not easy, even in Alkali, biscuit and whatever was my food. And in Bolge I ate twice there, which was rice, the rest always biscuits, water, biscuit and we continued. One day I saw one guy called Mohammed. Mohammed came and I asked him where is his brother? They are all Marlins. And he told me their brother did not get money to pay for the rebels, so he's now working for them. I said what do you mean? So I said, wow, I would like to go.
And see for myself. So I have to take the risk back to Alkalil. Oh, God. If truly their brother is working for them. So now I went to buy rice and they gave me granite soup with the rice. They tied it for me. Then I had a bottle of water. Then I started working. I wanted to use the main route. So I got to the Algeria immigration checkpoint. And when I got there, they asked me when I said, I'm going to Elcalo, I'm going to Male. So they were a bit confused because I mentioned Alecalio.
And I said, no, if I don't take it, something may pop up. So I said, I'm going to Malik. And they were like one of them told me to go back to board. So I tried using the different routes to go and he whistled. So I turned my back and he did his hand like this, pointed at me that I should go straight to board. So I entered the building there and I drank the water because I already had experience of how the hill Portland is.
I forced and drank all the water because I saw a pipe that has been damaged. It has best in the water just pouring on the ground. I forced and drank the Voltic bottle water, the 500 milligram side, the bigger side. Then I faked some of the water into the plastic bottle again and I continued to a different place. So when I continued, I used a different room. And then I entered the desert and I saw the amateur vehicles. This type of military vehicles with one door.
One door is like a pickup Toyota. The military sometimes use them. Sometimes they mount their machine gun at the baskets. So I saw them. Patrol and then I bent down and when they finally left, I took off. Then I saw camel bones. I continued and I was going. Then I was feeling tightness and lumpness and I was like, wow. I had already gauged the map of where Oxalate is. So I keep on going. So I got to setting stage and I saw the building of houses there. And I said, I'm sure this is Alkali.
So I sat down, divided the food into eight half and left half. Then I drank just a little of the water. When I got to El Kaliya, it was true that Mohammed was working with the traffickers and the rivers. I did not say anything. That time I got there, they were ready to smuggle some migrants out of Alkali, those who have paid. And then they set off. The raster stole me and asked me, why am I coming back? Why am I coming back? I was like, I finished what I came to do.
I came to just do some little job and I'm okay with the money I have, so I'm going back to my country. And they said, okay. I slept the next day all my feet were swollen, I couldn't walk well. I was like, I have to leave. So it was that Second Coming to El Kalilo that deceased my spectacle? Yeah, yes. So the Second Coming, there were other things going on. I firm them. So when I was filming and I wore the spectacle camera, this was how I wore it.
So when I wore it this way and then one of the rebels saw me, it was nice. He rushed on me. So when he was coming, I quickly removed the memory card, kept it in my mouth, and then he took the spectacle camera away. One night, more than two weeks into his stay in El Khalil, a group of human traffickers took Azatang's glasses from him as a prank, knowing he was a dead man if they found the camera embedded in the frames. He ran and hid in an outhouse.
He swallowed the memory card and escaped into the night, where he thought he heard ghosts. Walking north along the road through the Sahara Desert, he became convinced that he was going to die. Cars and trucks passed without stopping. Just as he was about to pass out from the heat, a truck driver stopped and gave him a ride to the Algerian border outpost, a Borge Baji Moktop. The truck driver saved his life. So I waited. It was nine, I hid in another house.
Then it was around 220 GMT, almost going to 23 GMT, maybe drain time, and then green roomage time. And I waited. Every place was quiet where I was then I stood up. I could see the rebels and the trafficker. They were partying, dancing, jubilating, shooting their guns into the sky, the bullets into the sky. You could hear different sounds, practical, that kind of sounds in the sky. And I swallowed the memory card. And I crawled on the desert, like 100 meters and above.
And I stood up, I brushed my sole dust on my shirt and I started working, working, and I saw camels. I got to setting stage and I could hear people talking. When I turned my back, I don't see anybody. And I was scared. And as a Catholic, I took my rosary and I started praying. Helmet full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst men and blessed the fruit of down, Jesus. I keep on praying. I nailed down, I stood up, I did not see anybody. And I saw airplanes passing by in the sky.
And I could see the light blinking like stars. Then panic begins, fear me and I thought I lost my life. And I started crying, I started sharing tears and I thought that was going to be the end of my life. I got to the main road the next day. Looking at the distance, I started walking. I got to the main rule the next day, five GMC, five amplifier. And I saw a military truck on a convoy heading towards a different town that was similar. I stopped them. They did not stop.
They rather threw bottle of water from that track for me. And before that thought any of them could shoot me from the are you in Mali or are you in yes, I was still in Malikalyo territory. Okay, so you haven't got north enough to get into Algeria yet? Yes. But you're trying to return? Yes, I was trying to return to BOJ. So I got to the main road there and they did not stop. A different truck came. I told him, he did not mind me. He gave me bread. The second one gave me water.
None of them take me the last truck, which is a smokey truck, one door took me to where they were going. They were going to upload a bag of smith after they uploaded the bag of smith and they brought me to board. So I came to board and I saw one of the migrants and I asked him what is wrong with him? Because I left them long ago at Alkali when I was coming. And the other brothers told me he did not pay his money on time through the rebels and the traffickers beats them up.
And his own was serious. You could see blood coming from the nose, the mouth. He was admitted at Boy Government Hospital. He was even limping, he couldn't walk well. Four days later he died and that was Sala. This is sailor again. Migrant. They killed him because he couldn't pay? Yes. During the beatings they beat him. He couldn't survive. So four days later he died. The migrants and the traffickers, they came together, took him to the graveyard for barrier. I followed up.
I counted more than 600 migrants graveyard even smaller than 700 in rough badges. No good demandation for migrants if they die. They just buried them like that. By the time as a tang reached forge, he had no papers, no money and no spy glasses. His investigations seemed to have reached a bitter end. He slept with other migrants in a tiny crowded apartment and earned pennies working on construction sites.
Sitting on the street one day he saw a young migrant from guinea named Saku who he had met in El Khalil. Saku was limping badly and told Azitang that he had been beaten by smugglers and left to die in the desert. Azatang helped him to a hospital. Four days later, Sakut died and Azitang watched as smugglers buried his body in a migrant's graveyard at the edge of town. There were no gravestones or markers and the bodies had been buried haphazardly in sand.
As a tang quickly counted more than 700 graves. At this point he was completely on his own. No one, not even members of his family knew where he was. So that day they came together. They dark degree. They use a white cloth material to wrap stellar body. Then they brought him with a match then they laid him slowly into the graveyard. They covered him with a sand. And I was like, the parents may think he's in Europe, but he couldn't make it. He died because of selfish, greedy people and wicked.
And he's just trying to find a better life for himself, for himself. It was just like that. And he was not the only one that died. And he's one of hundreds that died in this town. Yes. That were probably the same thing happened to them. They didn't have enough money. They were beaten to death and just left to die. Yes. Yeah. And all the women are all probably raped and put into sex trafficking, right? Yes. So at Boch, one of the traffickers there, I took his ID.
He's from Mali. How did you get that? He just left it on his table and I took it because I needed it as evidence. So he'll probably be searching for it. He wouldn't find it. And without this, he's going to pass through a lot of challenges when he gets to some security checkpoint. So I took it, and the next day I went to the Internet cafe and I copied all my files, my videos, onto my Google Drive account, and I set off for August. So from boat to August, it was three days. June. Wow.
On foot? Yes. By bus? Yes. The same traffickers will smuggle you again to a different route to Reagan, from Regan to address. So when we got to Reagan, they left us to walk some distance to the bus station, made phone call, someone took us with a bus, a mini bus to Addra, then address a big bus to the capital city, Odges from Boge. Again, when they are asking you to go, even after payment, they will sell you to construction companies in orchestras. Right.
So forced labor. Yes. So you go there, you think that all the money you paid now you've had jobs, but they've sold you out again for money, and that's what happened to you, correct? Yes. Yeah. You were sold to a construction company. Company. So I was there for me, doing my research up and down. And I met a Gannian, my granddad, and I asked him questions, and I found out what he said was true. They have this Turkish construction company.
Then what they do is that before the employee tells you, they want to check your blood before to see if you have any sickness with you and other stuff. But their intention is to sell the blood to other hospitals for money. Oh, wow. Yes. And I was told and my brand died out of that, so I was there. I went through everything where the construction company was routed. So if you go to Algeria, Map, and you search for close to the C, okay. It's a big construction project. Yes, construction project.
So they put up buildings for the States, and the States would then rent in the form of apartment to individuals who have money to live in. So that is what the type of buildings they were putting up. So after gathering all those evidence, I made sure that I followed the same migrants traffickers in OJS. They have another group in OJS. They were transporting another group to Morocco. I followed again. They wanted to enter Spain. I followed again to know how to enter Spain.
So their second capital is Oran. Or we got to Oran, they used a different route and we entered Morocco. Morocco. I was there. I saw how they were going to smoke with them to Spain. Either they use the main road at Morocco. When you get to Morocco, there's a road that leads to a big bridge that crosses to Spain. And they can also use the forest side, which you have to climb the fence, the wall. So I hid myself and I returned to Oches. After that, I actually wanted to come back to Morocco.
But the nature of the story and my first story back at home in Ghana, I decided that no, let me come back to OJS and see how best Ghana embassy could hold me back home. Because I've actually run short of money out of money too. So I picked a taxi and I got to Ghana. Embalytos in early June, smugglers informed as a tank that cars would be leaving in a few days for Algiers, 1500 km away.
He hurried to an internet cafe, downloaded the footage from the memory card, emailed it to himself and then wiped the files from the hard drive. 3 hours later, he was crammed into a Toyota Land Cruiser with 14 other migrants, then transferred to a minibus that took them to a Turkish run construction site in Algiers, where they were forced into unpaid labor after a month of hard work.
Starving and exhausted as it Tang escaped the construction site and did something he hoped he would never have to do beg on the streets for money and food. Most people ignored him or pushed him away. He was even turned away from his own Ghanian embassy. They wouldn't even give him water. He was turned away at the British Embassy too. On the verge of starvation, he approached a young Algerian law student named Hussein and told him about his journey, secret spectacles and investigation.
This good Samaritan bought Azatang food and water, drove him to a bus terminal and gave him 35,000 dinars, roughly $300 to return home. So I got home, I gathered all my evidence. I saved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I serve. Ghana Immigration Service. I serve all the right units in Ghana that are into human trafficking issues. Believe you me, none of them did nothing. So you're back in Ghana, you go to the Ghanian authorities and they're not helpful. They never helped.
It was only IOM. International Organization for Migration. I served them. They also did inform those people I saved them, especially the British National Crime Agency and the US officials. And I even went to Minister of Foreign Affairs when I saved them for follow ups, they told me that documents have broken them, she bring another one. I did not mind them. Crazy. So what happens now?
So you've got the documents, you've copied all these packets of documents, you're serving them to the different people, the Guy government is not interested in the case and you must be losing hope at this point. I really lost hope because I really went through a lot to even save the documents, until the British Embassy, the Security Intelligence, the British National Crime Agency called me to meet them at the office. I met them and I spoke to them. There were two people.
We have Neil Boat and Freddie Koper. They were nice to really meet them. I sat down, they asked me if I could take water and I said yes. They asked me if I would like to take tea or coffee. I said, any of them, I like it. So they served me all this and they added biscuits. And after that, they asked me questions. How I found the project, who sent me, why I did it. And they told me that what I'm presenting to them, they want the truth and nothing else but the truth.
If it's a lie, it's going to create a lot of problems. And I told them that it's the truth. If they want, they can let me be with them until they finish the investigations. If it's not true, they can join me. And Neil and his colleagues smiled and said, no problem to work on it. So they told me to mail them a copy of my scripts. I also gave them the videos I had to Le Mana, Musa Sangari, Tyson, Abu Bakarikoning, all the gang, human traffickers and smugglers. And they went through them.
They called me again to the office and when I went, they had the most important key part and they told me the project is progressing. They worked on it, they went to Mali, went to UK, made their officials and the team up. And God being so good, one day I was there and they called me to come to the office. How much later is this now? Five, six months later. Wow. So it took them a long time to do the investigation. It took them a long time and they called me. It was Freddie Copper who called me.
Copper called me and I went to the office. But then Neil had left for UK and I went and he told me he's having a good news and a bad news for me. And he even told me Neil will be in the office that day, he will be returning from UK and he'll be in that day. So we spoke and he told me, the good news is that they've arrested the traffickers. So I have to be very proud of myself for what I've done. That's fantastic. The bad news is that he, Freddy Copper, will be transferred to Washington DC.
Note that he doesn't like Ghana. Yeah, he was just being transferred, so he'll be going to Washington. So once I do communicate with him on his mail and I do communicate with him on WhatsApp fantastic. But the traffickers were arrested. Yes, he told me they were arrested and they were sent to jail and they told me to work on my statements. Senior Marlin police Officer becoming for my statements and other stuff. So this was how they taught me to do it and I worked on it.
You can see prosecution, so I worked on it. This is for the Malian officials? Yes, for the Mali to make a case against Suleiman and these other people? Yes. When I did this for them, I gave it to them. The British National Crime Agency prepared the statement on their own logo file with a logo on it. UK government official reports dockets bearing their logo and their details and they handed everything to them and the arrest was made.
They were looking up quotes and all those stuff and then finally everything went through and they jeweled them in. Jewel. Once back in Ghana, Azatang made copies of the evidence he had collected video footage, tape recordings with human traffickers, meticulous journals and records and put them into packets that he hand delivered to various UN offices in Okra, Ghani and Ministries and UK and US Embassies. He waited months and had almost given up hope when he received two calls in the same week.
One from the US Embassy and one from the British National Crime Agency, whose job was to help local law enforcement agencies, police major crimes like drug smuggling, modern slavery and human trafficking. BNCA officers Neil Abbott and Freddie Kalper spent weeks carefully going over Azatang story and all his evidence.
Three months later, they summoned him back to the BNC office to report that his evidence had resulted in the arrests of several human traffickers and had sparked investigations in Algeria, Mali and Burkino FASU azatang was elated. His investigation, which had lasted 120 days and covered over 6000 miles and almost cost him his life, had not been in vain. We thank Azatang for his good heart, superhuman courage and for sharing his amazing story.
We're extremely honored to call him today's hero behind the headlines. Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Ralph Pazulo. Our producers are myself, Frank Hobbs, and Apex Media. If you haven't already, please download, rate, review and subscribe and check out some of our past episodes, such as Black Hawk Down and The Battle That Never Ends. And don't forget to tune in to the next episode of Hero Response. Hi.