It all starts with an undercover meeting about a murder for hire. An admitted member of a Northern Irish paramilitary group called the Ulster Volunteer Force, the UVF, says he can arrange to have a man killed. So, we travel to Belfast to track him down. In this episode, Al Jazeera Investigates the violent factional history of the UVF and how the organization has evolved and expanded since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. What happens to paramilitary group when the fighting stops? They don’t go away, they adapt and in the case of the UVF, it has become a violent, international drug cartel willing to sell its services to the highest bidder.

This episode was written and produced by Kevin Hirten with Simon Boazman and Craig Pennington who is also the audio editor. Additional editing by Manny Panaretos. Clean Cuts did the final sound mix. Rafi Mustafa is Manager of Investigative Programs for Al Jazeera English.  And Mohammed Al-Hamadi is our Director of Programs.

It all starts with an undercover meeting about a murder for hire. An admitted member of a Northern Irish paramilitary group called the Ulster Volunteer Force, the UVF, says he can arrange to have a man killed. So, we travel to Belfast to track him down. In this episode, Al Jazeera Investigates the violent factional history of the UVF and how the organization has evolved and expanded since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. What happens to paramilitary group when the fighting stops? They don&rsquo;t go away, they adapt and in the case of the UVF, it has become a violent, international drug cartel willing to sell its services to the highest bidder.
This episode was written and produced by Kevin Hirten with Simon Boazman and Craig Pennington who is also the audio editor. Additional editing by Manny Panaretos. Clean Cuts did the final sound mix.&nbsp;Rafi Mustafa is Manager of Investigative Programs for Al Jazeera English.&nbsp; And Mohammed Al-Hamadi is our Director of Programs.

International undercover operations. Informants. Hidden camera tape. It all comes together in Al Jazeera Investigates, where we take you inside the network's biggest stories.

International undercover operations. Informants. Hidden camera tape. It all comes together in Al Jazeera Investigates, where we take you inside the network's biggest stories.

Al Jazeera Investigates

Al Jazeera Investigates is a documentary podcast series created by the award-winning Al Jazeera Investigates team. The show takes the listener inside ground-breaking investigations that expose wrongdoing, affect policy, and hold power to account all over the world.

Host Kevin Hirten and the team provide extraordinary access to people and places that most journalists never reach – giving inside accounts of undercover operations and revealing secret recordings of clandestine meetings with corrupt leaders, con artists, and criminals.

Al Jazeera Investigates is a documentary podcast series created by the award-winning Al Jazeera Investigates team. The show takes the listener inside ground-breaking investigations that expose wrongdoing, affect policy, and hold power to account all over the world.
Host Kevin Hirten and the team provide extraordinary access to people and places that most journalists never reach &ndash; giving inside accounts of undercover operations and revealing secret recordings of clandestine meetings with corrupt leaders, con artists, and criminals.