Crimes like this don't often happen on land. A 10-minute slow-motion slaughter captured by a cell phone camera shows a group of unarmed men at sea, possibly 15 of them, killed one by one by a semiautomatic weapon, after which the culprits pose for celebratory selfies. The shocking footage is then made public, and yet no government is willing to investigate, much less prosecute the murderers. This episode traces a tireless journalistic investigation of a shocking video that after 8 years, finally resulted in a 26-year conviction of the ship captain who ordered the cold-blooded killing. Looking for answers, this reporting takes us to the bizarre world of floating armories, which are part bunkhouse, part weapons depot, where maritime mercenaries wait for their next ship deployment. For broader context, the story explores the explosion of violence on the high seas, how Somali piracy is often used as a pretext for bloodletting by private security guards and the reasons that offshore crime often happens with impunity. Guest Interviews: Duncan Copeland, Trygg Mat Tracking Kevin Thompson, Private Maritime Security Guard For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-outlaw-ocean-transcripts-listen-1.6727090

It would be hard to believe if it hadn't actually happened. The longest law-enforcement chase in nautical history, spanning 110 days and 10,000 miles, featured a bunch of vigilantes pursuing Interpol's most wanted illegal fishing ship. Slaloming around icebergs in a deadly glacier field, cutting through a category 5 storm, this chase only ended when one of the ships sank. To discuss why illegal fishing is so rampant and unchecked, this episode takes us from the capture of the world's most notorious scofflaw vessel in African waters to the seas off the coast of North Korea, where we discover the planet's largest illegal fishing fleet. Guest Interview Tony Long, CEO of Global Fishing Watch

For transcripts of this series, please visit here.