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Experience some of the worst prison stays, with travelers who found themselves on the wrong side of the law far from home.
Krista Barnes and Jennifer Davis are two American women arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru.
Jim Miles and Paul Loseby, two British teenagers, are arrested in Venezuela for trying to smuggle drugs back to the UK.
Piers Hernu, a dual British-French traveller, is arrested trying to smuggle 28 kilos of gold bullion from Hong Kong to Nepal.
Colombia, the kidnapping capital of the world, is where Glen Heggstad was taken captive by the National Liberation Army. After five weeks of torture, beatings and marches, Glen was released and sits down to tell his story.
The true account of a British couple who were sentenced to 10 years in a Mexican prison after having been caught trafficking drugs from Costa Rica to Amsterdam.
An international drug deal gone wrong ends up sending a young couple to prison in Sydney for smuggling of cocaine.
Three American citizens who were held in a Venezuelan prison for six years after smuggling cocaine, discuss their experiences and the conditions they endured.
A young British woman in Thailand agrees to smuggle an addicts personal stash of heroine to Tokyo to raise money for her trip home.
Scott Campbell and Lucy Baker are British travellers who were arrested in Mexico trying to sneak cocaine from Costa Rica into Amsterdam.
Mark Knowles is arrested in Sydney after attempting to smuggle cocaine from the U.S. to Australia.
Two Britons, Donald MacNeil and Denis Wale were arrested off the island of Margarita, Venezuela after being pressured to collect an enormous shipment of cocaine worth £30 million.
Sandra Gregory is arrested in Thailand trying to smuggle heroin into Japan.
Safari guide Mark Ross and his tour group are kidnapped by Hutu rebels in Uganda.
Jon James and Camilla Carr move from England to contribute to a children's centre in war torn Chechnya... only to be kidnapped for ransom.
Rhys Partridge and Béla Nuss are kidnapped by British terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh while travelling in India.
Gracia and Martin Burnham, Christian missionaries in the Philippines, are kidnapped by members of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim fundamentalist group.
While vacationing in Malaysia, Monique and Callie Strydom are kidnapped by a Muslim militant group and held hostage for four months in the Philippines.
The story of a vacationing South African couple who were kidnapped by Muslim militants in Malaysia, and how they spent four months in the Philippines on an island.
A former South African military attache, McGill Alexander was taken hostage by one of Taiwan's most notorious criminals, Chen Chin-hsing, on November 18, 1997.
An American who was arrested taking cocaine from the country talks about his stay at a one of the notorious prisons in Ecuador.
Simon's trip to Peru is initiated by his friend Sarah Jackson who convinces him to smuggle drugs. Things turn bad for Simon when he is handed a lengthy prison sentence.
Lia McCord, an American teenager, is arrested in Bangladesh for trying to smuggle heroin.
Scott White is arrested in Kuwait for selling hashish, then escapes from jail during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Amardeep Bassey, a British journalist on the way to Afghanistan for an assignment, is accused of being a spy and arrested in Pakistan.
Russell Thoresen, an American traveller, is arrested in Peru for trying to smuggle cocaine.
Taiwan's most-wanted criminal breaks into the house of McGill Alexander, a South African army colonel, and takes Alexander and his family hostage.
Daniel Van De Zandrewe gets arrested for trafficking cocaine in Ecuador after one of his accomplices gave his name to police.
Cullen Thomas, working with his girlfriend "Rocket," is arrested trying to smuggle hashish from the Philippines to South Korea.
Scott Taylor, a Canadian war correspondent, recalls being kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents as he covered the Iraq War.
Zara would leave England to go to Ecuador to smuggle cocaine back home. However, she would get caught in Barbados, and shortly after would find out she is pregnant.
A freelance journalist is duped into carrying on her friend's bag onto a plane which was full of cocaine, causing her to be apprehended in an Ecuadorian airport.
Major Phil Ashby tells his story of being in the war-torn Sierra Leone as a UN Peacekeeper, and being ambushed by rebel forces. He under went four days of physical and psychological abuse, before making a daring escape through the jungle.
A couple agreed to accept $5,000 and a free vacation if they would smuggle marijuana from Jamaica, but wind up in an overcrowded Kingston jail after being caught in the airport.
A woman from London is sent to India's Tihar Jail, one of the world's largest prison, after she sends hashish to Europe to earn some fast money.
David Evans is arrested trying to smuggle drugs from Venezuela to Amsterdam.
Church volunteer Greg Williams is kidnapped and tortured by members of Abu Sayyaf.
Jake Libbon gets arrested in Mexico for selling marijuana, then is falsely accused of shooting two police officers.
Hollywood "party animal" Brendan Cosso and three friends are arrested trying to smuggle cocaine out of Brazil to Hungary.
A random encounter with a family friend at the Bali airport was all it took to land Chris Parnell in jail and arrested on charges of smuggling 12 kilos of hashish.
Alex Silva grew up in the ghetto of El Paso Texas. Son to a single mother who didn't care he wasn't going anywhere. A small job at an auto shop got him involved in smuggling drugs from Mexico.
When Kahlilah met big-shot music producer Roy, she didn't expect that her life would change forever. Just months into their relationship, Roy forced her to smuggle 18 pounds of cocaine.
Journalists Scott Taylor and Zeynep Tugrul are kidnapped by insurgents who accuse them of being American spies.
British teen Zara Whittaker is arrested at an airport trying to smuggle cocaine out of Barbados.
An unsuspecting woman, Zoe McGarry, is given a suitcase full of cocaine and is arrested when attempting to board a plane with it.
During a U.N. peace mission, a minor incident sparks nationwide fighting, leading Major Phil Ashby to flee his disarmament camp and chance survival in a daring escape through the jungle.
T.K. White and her girlfriend are sent to Kingston's notorious central prison after attempting to smuggle marijuana.
Clare Matthews quits her job and travels to India. But when money gets tight, she gambles for a quick payout: sending hash illegally to London via parcel. It works the first time, even the second. But the third time, her luck runs out and she ends up in one of the world's largest jails.
In intimate detail, Locked Up Abroad reveals Billy Hayes' real-life experience behind the Oscar-winning 1978 film, "Midnight Express."
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Tom Lynch and his fellow contractor John White decided to get out of Iraq while they still could, but were captured by Iraqi soldiers and taken to a notorious prison in Baghdad, where they must listen to inmates being tortured to death.
After accepting an offer to work as a hostess in Japan, Jackie Nichols meets a charming Israeli drug smuggler and agrees to smuggle hashish with him. She gets away with it four times, but the fifth time, she's not so lucky.
A 28-year-old English teacher named Tim Schrader agrees to smuggle eight kilos of heroin into the U.S. to solve his financial problems. Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist.
With his girlfriend pregnant, American musician Michael Morey needs money and agrees to smuggle cocaine from Quito to Spain. He barely makes it through Ecuadorian customs, but when he lands and goes through Spanish customs, he's not so lucky.
A jungle adventure turns sour when American backpacker Mark Wedeven and his travel companions are taken hostage by armed guerilla soldiers in Panama.
In order to see her daughter, American Kahlilah Saleem is forced by her boyfriend to smuggle cocaine through Cuba.
Scott Taylor, a Canadian war correspondent, recalls being kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents as he covered the Iraq War.
Zara would leave England to go to Ecuador to smuggle cocaine back home. However, she would get caught in Barbados, and shortly after would find out she is pregnant.
A freelance journalist is duped into carrying on her friend's bag onto a plane which was full of cocaine, causing her to be apprehended in an Ecuadorian airport.
Henry Hill--who inspired the movie Goodfellas--relays the true story of his rise and fall as a drug dealing wiseguy in the New York mob.
Scottish chef Gordon Malloch arrives in Saudi Arabia to start a new life as a catering manager, but quickly finds himself a profitable sideline as a bootlegger.
Briton David Scott tells the story of finding his soulmate in the Philippines, and risking a 14-year prison sentence for adultery.
After heading to Mexico with a suitcase of fake money to buy drugs, California bodybuilder Jeremy Khinoo finds himself behind bars and in big trouble.
After being caught with a kilo of heroin in Mauritius, Brigene Young faces 45 years in jail unless she can help catch the drug traffickers. Young eventually served 7 years in prison.
The tale of Chris Chance, whose daredevil life smuggling cannabis into the U.K. concealed in a rubber body suit leads to a nasty prison sentence at Carabanchel Prison.
Stephen Sutton gets caught up when he is offered $15,000 to transport cocaine disguised as gold, leading to an 11-year prison sentence.
Company director Robert Pringle is sentenced to seven years in a violent South-American lock-up after being pressured by his dealer to smuggle drugs.
Vivian Carrasquillo faces a crash diet in jail after an attempt to raise funds for gastric bypass surgery by becoming a drug mule backfires.
Military veteran Kim Hood faces life behind bars in a squalid Thai prison after being caught smuggling 14 kilos of heroin with a friend, Lisa Taylor.
A young man travels to Pakistan and sets off with his estranged dad, unaware that his dad is a veteran cannabis smuggler with plans to bring 20 kilos of the drug into China.
The lure of easy money leads an out-of-work father to smuggle cocaine from Nicaragua into the U.S.
An Orthodox Jew from London becomes a key player in an international cocaine-smuggling ring based in São Paulo, Brazil.
An American woman is charged with fraud after trying to acquire a birth certificate and a passport for her adopted son.
A California man is arrested during a drug deal in Chile and sentenced to five years in prison. He and a fellow prisoner decide to escape and flee the country on foot.
Two British backpackers attempt to cross from Panama to Colombia via the notoriously dangerous Darién Gap, but are captured and held hostage by Colombian guerrillas.
Life inside Venezuela's notorious Los Teques Prison is detailed by an Irish man who was arrested at the Caracas airport for trying to smuggle cocaine back to Dublin.
Freelance journalists Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout describe how they were kidnapped by a criminal gang while covering the war in Somalia in July 2008, and the subsequent 15 months they were held captive.
Life in a notorious Bangkok prison is detailed by a woman who received a life sentence for attempting to smuggle heroin out of Thailand.
In 1976, at the height of the Cold War, an American is caught smuggling heroin from Kuala Lumpur to Russia. He details his incarceration in a Soviet prison camp and his eventual escape during a power outage.
When young actor Erik Audé discovers that he was tricked into smuggling opium out of Pakistan, he must fight to stay alive and clear his name.
Travelling magician Mark Greening juggles a young family with a budding hash-smuggling business after moving to Japan, but he soon gets caught.
Lucy Wright is a nursing student when her life goes from bad to worse to hell. Her boyfriend leaves, she becomes addicted to crack, and the bills keep piling up.
Adventure-seeker Thomas Hamill takes a job driving trucks in Iraq, leading to a terrifying time in captivity after being kidnapped by insurgents.
Dwight Worker is busted in Mexico for smuggling coke and attempts a daring escape from one of the country's most notorious prison.
Ruthie Lambert, a middle-aged mother of three, decides to smuggle drugs to make ends meet. She is imprisoned for years but eventually escapes by bribing a corrupt official.
British nurse Stephen Comiskey, who takes a job in Saudi Arabia to support his family, draws the unwelcome attention of the Saudi religious police after a series of illicit gay affairs.
Erez Eltawil and Reini Weigel are among eight backpackers who are snatched by guerrillas during a trek in remote northern Colombia.
David and Jayne Bladen's dream of a new life overseas turns into a nightmare journey of drug smuggling and violence culminating in 20 months behind bars.
Iraqi soldier Latif Yahia describes how he was summoned to Saddam Hussein's palace and forced to become the body double of the dictator's eldest and most notorious son, Uday.
Scott Campbell goes travelling in China with his estranged father, only to find out that his dad is a professional smuggler carrying 20 kilos of cannabis.
Duane Wollum is about to make some easy money smuggling cocaine, until an airport security check reveals that he is concealing a package.
Orthodox Jew Samuel Leibowitz dreams of making millions as a drug kingpin in Brazil, leading to a terrifying term in the deadly Carandiru Penitentiary.
When Susan's Haglof's adoption goes wrong, she ends up in an Egyptian jail, facing a charge of human trafficking.
The gripping story of Tom Hanway, who flees a Chilean prison with a fellow prisoner, taking a dangerous and fatal escape route across the desert.
The shocking story of Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder, two British backpackers who are ambushed and held for ransom by a guerilla group while crossing the notoriously dangerous Darien Gap.
Desperate to keep his family afloat, Paul Keany agrees to smuggle six kilos of cocaine from Venezuela back to Dublin, but it turns out to be the worst decision of his life.
Thrown into a notorious Bangkok prison for attempting to smuggle heroin, Angela Carnegie has an epiphany while nursing a fellow inmate with a drug addiction.
The terrifying story of photojournalist Nigel Brennan and reporter Amanda Lindhout, who are held hostage for 15 months by a criminal gang in Somalia.
It's 1976 in Cold War Moscow, and American Jerry Amster finds himself in the worst situation possible: busted for smuggling drugs from Kuala Lumpur to Russia.
Two American soldiers who were kept as POWs during the Vietnam War: Ernie Brace, who was held captive for almost eight years; and John McCain, whose plane was shot down over Hanoi.
Shaun Attwood moves from England to Arizona to become a stockbroker. However, he gets caught up in drugs, and eventually starts dealing ecstasy. After some intimidation from a mafia boss, he goes back to being a stockbroker, but he gets a visit from the police and ends up serving more than six years in prison.
Tom Crutchfield is a reptile smuggler under investigation during Operation Chameleon. He gets close to being caught in the United States, so he flees to Belize, where he ends up in prison until being deported back to the United States.
Roy Hallums is an American contractor who was kidnapped in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.
Five Americans attempt to smuggle more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana to the United States. After they are caught and placed in a Mexican prison, they plot a daring escape, excavating a 20-meter tunnel under the prison walls.
This episode is the true account of the "Canadian Caper" during the Iran hostage crisis, the story that inspired the movie Argo. American diplomats are rescued in Iran by the Canadian Embassy and the CIA after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Eddie Padilla is living the high life in Maui, surfing, partying and drug smuggling to support his cocaine addiction. But a run-in with the Peruvian police on a smuggling trip lands him and two friends in a prison called The House of the Devil. The guards say they expect them to try to escape, but if they don't make it they are killed. Even so, they decide to do whatever it takes to get out. Eddie shares his story of being Locked Up Abroad and the terrifying events that led to his freedom.
Frank Cullotta is a mobster in Las Vegas who becomes well known for robberies. He is caught by the FBI thanks to an informant, becomes a witness against the mob and enters witness protection.
19-year-old street racer Rick Cedar is from Spokane, Washington. When he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, he's overwhelmed. Short on cash, Rick decides to use his knowledge of cars to scam people online into buying engines he'll never send them. His con catches up to him when one buyer comes knocking down his door with threats. To pay him back, Rick decides the only way out is deeper into crime.
When British schoolteacher Howard Marks agrees to help an old friend finish off a drug deal, he has no idea that it will be the start of a new career. Attracted by the easy money and the thrill of being a smuggler, he is soon running a huge transatlantic operation.
In 1972, 19 year old American Jim Pap Rocki, a college graduate is convinced by his brother-in-law to join him on a drug run to Southern Mexico. All goes to plan until the cargo catches fire and they are forced to crash-land.
In 1993, 25-year-old Australian Martin Garnett is earning good money at a car dealership in Sydney, but he's hungry for more. He's caught smuggling 4.7 kg of heroin to Bangkok and is set to become Australia's longest serving prisoner overseas.
The story of 28-year-old Canadian Tabitha Ritchie, whose life took a terrifying turn when she was caught smuggling drugs out of Colombia.
The shocking story of South African couple Debbie Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari, who were kidnapped by Somali pirates and held captive for 20 terrifying months.
Captured by Gaddafi's men while fighting with rebels in Libya, Baltimore-born Matthew VanDyke spent nearly six months in solitary confinement.
The traumatic story of an American schoolboy and his mother, who were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf, a jihadist group, in the Philippines and held for ransom in the jungle.
The story of convicted drug dealer Pieter Tritton, whose organization used camping tents to smuggle cocaine from Ecuador to Europe.
Rookie photographer Matt Schrier travels to Syria, where he is captured by Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian Al-Qaeda. Matt was held hostage for seven months with journalist Theo Curtis before escaping.
Simone Blignaut travels to Bolivia, where she is double-crossed and forced to smuggle liquid cocaine.
When Journalist Phil Cox returns to Sudan in 2016 to investigate allegations of illegally deployed chemical weapons, he is kidnapped by a government-backed militia.
Southern California resident Steven Peterson is arrested and imprisoned in Tijuana after attempting to smuggle 120 kilos of marijuana from Mexico to the United States.
U.S. Naval Officer Lemar Burton is caught attempting to smuggle five kilos of cocaine from Colombia to Italy.
Jimmy gives up his job as a postman to open a bar in Thailand, but quickly starts dealing meth. The police get wise and in a dramatic takedown bust him and send him to prison.
David embarks on an epic road trip, where he attempts to smuggle hash from Afghanistan to Germany. He is caught in Greece and imprisoned on an island.
Unemployed Michael Singh tries cocaine smuggling to make money. But after 7 successful runs, Michael is caught and left to rot in a Dominican prison.
In Mexico, Carlos Quijas is falsely imprisoned and tortured for drug smuggling. Inside Mexico's most dangerous prison, he has to get tough to survive.
Champion skier Nick Brewer flees home after life changing accident and works his way to the top of a multi-million dollar cocaine empire in Argentina.
Hip hop dancer LaTasha thinks she's been offered the opportunity of a lifetime, but opportunity turns to nightmare when she finds herself locked up and pregnant in a Thai jail, having been fooled into smuggling heroin by a man she thought she loved.
On a mission to find drug labs in the Colombian jungle, Keith Stansell crashes. He's kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held hostage for over five years.
Canadian 21-year-old Christina Jocko loves spending money, partying and taking drugs. But when she discovers opiates her life spirals into addiction. Out of work, out of money and out of luck, an offer of an easy $10,000 for running cocaine from Panama looks like a way out. Little does she realize the tempting adventure will cost her five years of her life.
Australian hippie Mark O'Brien is dissatisfied with life. He joins an ashram in India, led by the infamous guru Osho, looking for enlightenment. But when a fellow disciple encourages Mark to join her in a plan to smuggle an exotic form of hash to Amsterdam, it sets off a chain of events that leads him to a very different commune: the notorious Yawanda Central Prison.
When cousins Paris and Marlon go to Peru to help out family on a business opportunity, they get more than what they bargained for.
After his arrest, drug dealer Charles Falco is facing decades behind bars. Instead, he strikes a deal with the authorities and becomes a confidential informant - living a life undercover. For the first time ever, Charles Falco tells his story on camera of how he manages to infiltrate the Vagos, one of the most violent biker gangs in the US.
In South Korea, English teacher Jesse Moskel becomes the kingpin of a huge MDMA smuggling operation — and one of Southeast Asia’s most wanted men.
Latino pop star Jimmy Bauer was dropped by his label and is desperate to raise funds to self-promote, so he agrees to smuggle heroin back to America.
Arms dealer Peter Bleach goes undercover for British intelligence to stop a terrorist plot, preventing the massacre of innocent people.
Stripper Garrain Jones hits the big-time when he stars in a Beyoncé video, but then loses it all when he gets caught smuggling heroin through Europe.
Struggling single mom Melanie Di Egidio risks all in exchange for a quick buck, but when the plan goes wrong Melanie is busted with 6 kilos of heroin, caught up in a high-profile sting, and sent to a tough Ecuadorian prison.
Ice hockey star Ryan Phillips risks it all when he starts smuggling marijuana across the U.S. border, costing him his family, career and freedom.
A single mother is arrested and sent to a notorious jail in Colombia when a colleague smuggling drugs double crosses her. Now, she must fight to survive.
Tina Myers is an exotic dancer and part time drug dealer. After she decides to make money on a Peruvian drug run, she embarks on a dangerous ride to the dark side of Peru's underworld, culminating in an insane prison escape.
When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape.
