Finding Mr Fox: 6. What does the Fox say?

Summary

Finding Mr. Fox: Episode 6 - "What Does the Fox Say?"

World of Secrets Season 5 delves deep into the enigmatic case of George Fox, an alleged international drug trafficker whose actions have left lasting impacts on innocent lives. In Episode 6, titled "What Does the Fox Say?", journalists Colin Freeman and Yemisi Adegoke unravel the complexities surrounding Fox's involvement in the notorious "Rich Harvest" drug smuggling operation and explore the aftermath faced by those entangled in his schemes.

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1. The Elusive George Fox

The episode opens with Colin Freeman and Yemisi Adegoke arriving in Norwich, England, aiming to locate George Fox, the central figure of their investigation. Utilizing social media sleuth Ayom's expertise, they trace Fox's possible residence to a residential street in Norwich.

Quote:

• Penny (Miranda's mother) [00:52]: “Nobody joins a cult. You just get sucked in.” (00:52)

Their initial stakeout attempts prove futile, with no signs of Fox despite meticulous monitoring of his known address.

2. Gathering Insights from Associates

Frustrated by the lack of progress, the team interviews Sam, a former associate of Fox, whose insights shed light on Fox's charismatic and manipulative nature. Sam paints a picture of Fox as a suave individual reminiscent of characters from Guy Ritchie films, emphasizing his ability to inspire trust and command respect.

Quote:

• Sam [05:38]: “He used to quote a lot of Guy Ritchie movies... He was quite interested in that sort of personality.” (05:38)

Sam also challenges Fox's claimed military background, suggesting discrepancies in his past narratives.

Quote:

• Sam [07:09]: “Yeah, that's not true. There's no way. Afghanistan. There's no way.” (07:09)

3. The Drug Trafficking Web

Further investigation reveals Fox's deep involvement in the drug scene. Allegations point to his role as a middleman in marijuana distribution, expanding his operations from the UK to the Netherlands.

Quote:

• Sam [08:37]: “He would buy marijuana from big distributors... quite full of himself and a sort of sense of being untouchable.” (08:37)

The team uncovers that in 2011, Fox was apprehended by Dutch authorities with a substantial quantity of cannabis aboard his yacht, the "Rich Harvest." However, records of this incident remain elusive, adding to the mystery.

4. Confrontation and Denial

Armed with information, Colin confronts Fox outside a local hotel where Fox is known to attend business networking meetings. The encounter is tense, with Fox vehemently denying any involvement in drug trafficking.

Quote:

• Colin Freeman [18:20]: “Can you explain why more than a ton of cocaine was found on board it back in 2017?”
• Fox: “No.” (18:20)

Despite offering Fox multiple opportunities to present his side, he remains uncooperative, leading the journalists to reach out via email without receiving a response.

5. Legal Impediments and Extradition Challenges

The episode highlights the legal hurdles in prosecuting Fox. While Brazilian authorities have issued an extradition request, the UK legal system faces challenges due to differing judicial frameworks and human rights considerations.

Quote:

• Yemisi Adegoke [21:00]: “...extradition process can be long and complicated, and British courts have turned down some requests from Brazil on human rights grounds.” (21:00)

Interpol remains tight-lipped about Fox's status, leaving him free to reside in Norwich without immediate repercussions.

6. The Fallout for Rodrigo and Daniel

The narrative shifts to the personal toll on Fox's former associates, Rodrigo and Daniel, who were wrongfully imprisoned due to the drugs found on the "Rich Harvest." Both individuals now strive to rebuild their lives, grappling with trust issues and shattered dreams.

Quote:

• Daniel [27:50]: “My secret for smiling? You only have one life, right?... I don't want to waste it complaining or crying.” (27:50)

Rodrigo, despite his past, maintains a passion for sailing, finding solace and purpose in teaching and conducting sailing trips independently.

7. Resolution and Reflections

In a pivotal turn, Brazilian courts, after reviewing evidence with the help of Inspector Andre Gonsalves, clear Rodrigo, Daniel, and their crewmate Steve of all charges against Fox. This vindication brings immense relief and joy to the wronged individuals.

Quote:

• Daniel [27:13]: “That was just an explosion of happiness, of pure joy. It was like a weight had been lifted after all those years.” (27:13)

Daniel embraces a philosophy of living in the moment, choosing happiness over dwelling on past traumas, while Rodrigo continues to find new avenues to channel his love for the sea.

8. The Lingering Mystery of George Fox

Despite the exoneration of his associates, George Fox remains a figure shrouded in mystery. His refusal to engage directly with the journalists leaves many questions unanswered about his true involvement and intentions.

Quote:

• Colin Freeman [21:42]: “He won’t, though, be going to those business breakfasts anymore... he played his cards close to his chest.” (21:42)

The episode concludes without definitive answers regarding Fox's activities post-investigation, emphasizing the complexities of international law and the challenges in holding individuals accountable across borders.

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Conclusion

Episode 6 of World of Secrets meticulously navigates the intricate web surrounding George Fox, offering listeners a comprehensive look into the challenges of international justice and the profound personal impacts of wrongful accusations. Through compelling storytelling and firsthand accounts, Colin Freeman and Yemisi Adegoke illuminate the resilience of individuals striving to reclaim their lives amidst adversity.

Notable Contributors:

• Colin Freeman: Co-host and investigative journalist.
• Yemisi Adegoke: Co-host and investigative journalist.
• Sam (voiced by Jim Frank): Former associate of George Fox.
• Rodrigo (voiced by Edison Alcaija): Wrongfully imprisoned associate.
• Daniel (voiced by Antonio Fernandez): Wrongfully imprisoned associate.

Produced by Charlotte Macdonald, with executive production by Joe Kent and a team of dedicated producers and sound designers.

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Watch the Documentary: For a visual representation of the investigation, viewers can watch the documentary "Finding Africa: Finding Mr. Fox" available on YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

Transcript

[Colin Freeman]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

[Unknown Host]

An airliner heads for Alaska with 101 passengers and crew. Then, somewhere over the Gulf of Alaska, Flight 293 slams into the icy waters below.

[Colin Freeman]

Even if all four engines quit, it just doesn't fall out of the sky.

[Unknown Host]

No bodies were recovered. Loved ones had no closure and were left to wonder, what happened to Flight 293? Unsolved what happened to Flight 293 is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Colin Freeman]

So we just arrived in Norwich and we've got an address for Fox and we're going to try and see if we can see whether there's any signs of life there.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

So far we've heard Daniel and Rodrigo's account of what happened. We've heard from the Brazilian police and from Fox's colleague Robert Delbos. But we also want to know what Fox has to say. Thanks to our colleague Ayum, the social media sleuth, we think Fox might be at a house on this residential street in Norwich, a small city in the east of England.

[Colin Freeman]

It's quite a narrow street, there's not.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

An awful lot of COVID but unless we see him, we won't know for sure.

[Colin Freeman]

You're alright. Got about three feet. Keep going.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

So now it's just a waiting game. All eyes are on the house. No one wants to turn away even for a moment.

[Colin Freeman]

The street is very quiet. I'm sure we'll spot him if he comes out with his dog. Of course, we don't even know if he's definitely here or not. We've been here for a while now. See a cat wandering over the road. No sign of a Fox though.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

After a couple of hours cooped up inside the van, Colin decides to have a closer look.

[Colin Freeman]

So wandering up to Fox's house now the window is open. So if the window's open, maybe he isn't. Time marching on. Still no sign of Fox. Now reduced to eating the children's sweets that one of my colleagues has got in her bag.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Then all of a sudden the front door opens, but it's a woman. We decide if we can't confirm Foxes inside were not going to knock. Whoever is home could alert him before we get a chance to speak to him ourselves.

[Colin Freeman]

It's now dark, about 7:00. Been stuck outside this flipping house for about eight or nine hours. We've seen no sign of him at all. It's a little bit frustrating. I was hoping that today we could at least get it confirmed that he is actually coming and going regularly. And right now that seems a bit uncertain.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Just before calling it a day, Colin goes for one last walk around the street.

[Colin Freeman]

So I've just been up to take a quick look around the front and side of Fox's house, just to see if there is any signs of life or not. There isn't, to be honest. But there is one slightly intriguing detail, which is that on the front door there is a brass door knocker in the shape of a fox's head, which suggests that this is indeed the house where Fox lives.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Finally, it feels like we're getting closer to Fox.

[Colin Freeman]

This is World of Secrets.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Season 5, finding Mr. Fox a BBC World Service investigation. With me, Yemisi Adegoke.

[Colin Freeman]

And me, Colin Freeman.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Episode 6 what does the Fox say?

[Sam]

He was very handsome, charismatic.

[Colin Freeman]

Meet someone we're calling Sam, a former associate of Foxes, fun to be around.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

An associate from Norwich whose words are spoken by an actor to protect his identity.

[Sam]

He used to quote a lot of Guy Ritchie movies.

[Colin Freeman]

You know the ones, the gangster movies with the cool soundtracks, smooth talking rogues with endlessly quotable dialogue.

[Sam]

He really liked Snatch and he used to quote things that Brad Pitt's character used to say, you know, in the Irish accent. And he used to quote lock, stock and two smoking barrels too. That was the main one. He was quite interested in that sort of personality. That's the sort of lifestyle, you know, skirting around the edge of the law. He would always carry a lot of cash. I don't think he had a lot of cash. I think it's just he carried a lot of cash to make it look like he had a lot of money. You understand what I'm trying to say there?

[Yemisi Adegoke]

The name Fox almost sounds like a character from one of these films. Is that a name Sam ever heard him use?

[Sam]

No, never. Did he choose it seems odd, maybe. Fantastic Mr. Fox, cunning as a fox. He used to call himself Saul. People used to call him Gorgeous George.

[Colin Freeman]

Now Gorgeous George definitely sounds like a character from a Guy Ritchie movie.

[Sam]

Probably because he was good looking, good with women.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

As well as Finding Fox, we want to understand who George saw is and we think Sam can help.

[Sam]

He was always well dressed, always well dressed. Always wore a shirt and jeans and brown leather shoes. And he was always well groomed. You know, his facial hair and hair styling, you know, he looked after his body from a physical point of view. He's very into sports, he's very interested in fitness and in martial arts. When I heard he'd sail to Brazil, I thought, yes, that's him, he was very adventurous.

[Colin Freeman]

I asked Sam about Fox's military past. He told Brazilian sailor Daniel that he'd served with British forces in Afghanistan.

[Sam]

From what I understood, he was in the military.

[Colin Freeman]

And I tell him about something Daniel had told me about how he noticed a scar on Fox's stomach, which Fox said was a result of being shot in Afghanistan.

[Sam]

Yeah, that's not true. There's no way. There's no way that's true. Afghanistan. There's no way.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

When we spoke to Fox's former colleague Robert Delbos, he told us a different version of this story.

[Colin Freeman]

Ex British army took three bullets in the stomach in Africa from a kid with the Kalashnikov. We asked the British Ministry of Defence, who said they couldn't comment either way.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

We have been able to confirm another bit of Fox's career history, though. He used to work as a doorman in Norwich.

[Sam]

I don't think he'd look for trouble. Don't forget, he's not the biggest guy on the door. So I think the gift of the gab was kind of what got him out of it most of the time. But, I mean, if he had to scrap someone, he probably could. And I think people respected him because he wasn't just, you know, a brute.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Sam describes Fox as being from a good family, well spoken, upper middle class. He says Fox was a keen yachtsman who sailed around the east coast of England in his youth.

[Colin Freeman]

His dad was a solicitor and apparently at one point, Fox started a law course at college, though he never finished it.

[Sam]

He seemed like he was off to some sort of career, probably down the line of his father, but he was interested in making, I guess, quick money.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

There's another reason we wanted to speak to Sam. He has knowledge of the way the Norwich drug scene used to work.

[Colin Freeman]

Another reason he wants to remain anonymous.

[Sam]

He would buy marijuana from big distributors in the area and then cut it up and give it to certain people who would then distribute it on his behalf. I think he was a little bit lawless in that respect and, you know, quite full of himself and a sort of sense of being untouchable.

[Colin Freeman]

Sam and other sources I've spoken to make similar claims that Fox became a kind of marijuana middleman. They say he'd buy large quantities, split it up and sell it on to other dealers. And that at first this was all in the uk. Then Fox started buying it in the Netherlands and bringing it over by boat.

[Sam]

He started bringing either marijuana or hashish back.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

If you look at a map, the Netherlands are only about 100 miles from the east coast of England. Not too much for a keen sailor like Fox.

[Colin Freeman]

I'm looking at the Brazilian police files that we got hold of. There's a reference to Fox having been arrested in 2011 when he was picked up by Dutch police on board a yacht with 60 kilos of cannabis. Police there can't tell us what happened because they no longer have the records, but we don't believe he was charged. When did you first find out about what happened on the Rich Harvest?

[Sam]

When I heard that George was wanted by Interpol for attempted smuggling of a lot of cocaine for Brazil, I was like, gobsmacked.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Sam says he hasn't spoken to Fox about the Rich Harvest, but says he feels sorry for Daniel and Rodrigo and can imagine how Fox's personality might have won them over.

[Sam]

Maybe he lured them into a false sense of security by using his charm and his charisma and his demeanor, which ultimately ended up, as we know, with these young men in trouble.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

We've spoken to a number of people who knew Fox. None of them wanted us to use their voices though, some of them because of their own links to the drug world.

[Colin Freeman]

And it's hard to know what to make of their claims. Which is another reason why we need to hear what Fox has to say about all of this.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

So I go back to my colleague, Iam, the social media sleuth, to see if he has any more ideas. Yeah, we thought this was it, but Colin unfortunately had a really unsuccessful time of trying to stake out Fox. I was wondering if you had any ideas. What else can we look at to try to find him?

[Ayom]

Yeah, he's part of a business networking organization. He belongs to one of the chapters there in Norwich. He goes to a meeting with them.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Do we know, do they meet up? Do we know when they meet up?

[Ayom]

He's got a profile page on the website of their chapter and on the social media accounts of the chapter. They say that they meet every Thursday morning at 7am in the morning at a hotel in the outskirts of of Norwich. So we know the location and we know when Fox goes there.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

That's a really, really good lead. It's an exact time, exact location. Much better than just sort of waiting outside his house for hours on end.

[Unknown Host]

An airliner heads for Alaska with 101 passenger crew. Then somewhere over the Gulf of Alaska, Flight 293 slams into the icy waters.

[Colin Freeman]

Even if all four engines quit, it just doesn't fall out of the sky.

[Unknown Host]

No bodies were recovered. Loved ones had no closure and were left to wonder what happened to Flight 293. Unsolved Histories what Happened to Flight 293 is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

[John Morgan]

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[Colin Freeman]

Yemcy. It's Colin here. Can you hear me?

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Hey, Colin. Yeah, I can hear you. Can you hear me?

[Colin Freeman]

Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear. Yep, It's Thursday, a cool, bright summer morning. Yemassi is sitting in a car with a clear view of the entrance to a hotel car park in the small city of Norwich. I'm waiting in a van parked about 20 meters away behind some trees.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

For the last few weeks, we've been planning how we're going to finally approach Fox and ask him about the rich harvest. We want to know his side of this story.

[Colin Freeman]

A member of our team has been coming down and watching to see if Ayom's Internet research is correct. Has Fox really been attending a business group at a local hotel every week?

[Yemisi Adegoke]

And yes, Fox has been arriving at the same time, always parking in the same spot ahead of his 7am meeting.

[Colin Freeman]

Are you in the car, sort of. Ready to spot him if he comes into the hotel?

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Yep, I'm right in position. I've got a really good view of the car park. Our plan is to approach him during the short walk he has to make from his car to the hotel entrance. That's a very narrow window of time.

[Colin Freeman]

And on top of that, we know he always brings his dog, a Belgian Malinois, a fairly large breed known for being very protective of their owners. There's a chance it might try to attack us if it thinks we're being threatening.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

And what about Fox himself? We know that Fox likes to keep fit. He used to work as a bouncer, likes most martial arts. If he felt provoked, might things become physical?

[Colin Freeman]

It feels a bit nerve wracking. There's a lot riding on this next quarter of an hour, really and spending a lot of time preparing for this.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

We've decided only one of us should make the approach and that's going to be Colin. He's all ready with his microphone clearly marked with the BBC logo so there's no confusion about who we are. Meanwhile, I'm going to act as a lookout.

[Colin Freeman]

Okay, so he's due to come in in that white Land Rover that we spoke about before, is he?

[Yemisi Adegoke]

That's the plan. Keeping an eye out.

[Colin Freeman]

Okay. All right, well look, we're parked up just out of sight. So what we'll do is we'll wait for your signal if you see him coming in and then let us know when he actually gets out the car and we'll try and wander over and ask him a few questions then. Okay, Good luck.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

The pressure is on. Our plan hinges on Fox turning up at the same time he always does and parking in the same place. As the minutes go by, I'm feeling anxious. What if I don't recognize his car? What if I don't notice him coming in and we miss our chance and he's already late?

[Colin Freeman]

Yeah. Is there any sign of him yet? He's normally here by now. I think it's just coming up to 6. 45.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

No, still no sign of him. Car park is getting busier. His usual spot's been taken. Fingers crossed he's just burned his breakfast or something.

[Colin Freeman]

Yeah, okay, well, yeah, I think the meeting starts at 7 so he should be here in another couple of minutes if he's turning up.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

All right, I'll keep you posted.

[Colin Freeman]

Okay, Cheers. It's hard to concentrate. I keep running through all the questions I want to ask him but then getting distracted by all the ways this might go wrong. There's plenty of comings and goings though, so let's just hope the Fox turns up.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Driving in white Land Rover, just about to reverse into a parking spot.

[Colin Freeman]

All right, thanks. This is it. We're on.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Walking towards you, the standby tracksuit, white trainers, got black bag with him, but he should be with you within the next 30 seconds of standby. All right?

[Colin Freeman]

Okay. Right, cheers. We're gonna get going. It's time to get up the van.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Colin manages to reach Fox just meters from where he's parked in his car. He looks older and a little Grayer than in photos with Rodrigo and Daniel, but it's unmistakably him.

[Colin Freeman]

Excuse me, for the BBC.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

At first, he looks relaxed. He smiles politely at Colin, this random man who appears to be making conversation, until, that is, he hears what we want to talk to him about.

[Colin Freeman]

Just wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your yacht, the Rich Harvest. No.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

His whole body seems to tense up.

[Colin Freeman]

Can you explain why more than a ton of cocaine was found on board it back in 2017? Go away. Seriously. Brazilian police say that you are an international drug trafficker. Well, I'm not. And that you. That you masterminded this operation to put a ton of cocaine on the Rich Harvest boat.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

At this point, Fox stops making his way towards the hotel entrance and turns back the way he came, towards his car.

[Colin Freeman]

Listen, I'm not doing this. So I'm not here. There were four sailors, innocent sailors who went to prison as a result of the drugs that were found on that boat. Guys, this is such a strange. Do you accept that that was your fault? This is such a strangeness. You're walking away. Is that what you do if trouble takes place? Have you got any remorse over what happened? Would you consider going back to Brazil to face justice there? There's a case to answer there, isn't there? You've got the wrong end. Difficulty. Sorry, yeah, sorry. Carry on. Yeah, yeah, we're here to listen. Yeah, yeah. I'm not here to talk on the break. Okay, if you want. If you want to. There's probably. You've probably got your own version of events here. If you want to give us your side of the story, you're welcome to. Yeah, he's driving off. Didn't want to talk.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

It's all over in the blink of an eye. But our hearts are racing. So much buildup and suddenly it's over. We write to Fox outlining all the allegations against him, offering him another chance to respond.

[Colin Freeman]

We email, we text, but he never responds.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Whatever his version of events, he won't talk to us. Which won't be of much comfort to Brazilian sailor Rodrigo.

[Ayom]

I hope that justice will be served. That's the only thing I hope for.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

The problem is, Fox is in the uk. The cocaine was put on the Rich Harvest in Brazil. British law enforcement doesn't usually have the jurisdiction to arrest someone on suspicion of drug smuggling crimes committed abroad, unless the.

[Colin Freeman]

Brazilian authorities put in a formal extradition request. But both the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and. And the UK Home Office, which would handle any such request, have told us that the process is confidential, so they can't comment.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

And anyway, the extradition process can be long and complicated, and British courts have turned down some requests from Brazil on human rights grounds. Prisons there are notoriously overcrowded and violent with poor healthcare.

[Colin Freeman]

When we contacted the National Crime Agency, they told us that they were unaware of Fox having committed any crimes in the uk and that there was no current UK arrest warrant for him.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Then there's Interpol, who say they can't tell us if Fox is still wanted by them either. So for now, he's still able to live in Norwich, his hometown.

[Colin Freeman]

He won't, though, be going to those business breakfasts anymore. The networking group told us that after the allegations against Fox came to light, they spoke to him to get his side of the story. He played his cards close to his chest, they told us, but said that it was all in his past. As the networking group refers members on for business opportunities, they told him he couldn't continue to be a member. They were sad to see him go, apparently, because he'd made some good friends there. But to use their words, he took it on the chin.

[Daniel]

Life goes back to normal, right? Or at least that's what I tried to do. There was a feeling of starting over, you know?

[Colin Freeman]

Back in Brazil, Daniel and Rodrigo were trying to rebuild their lives.

[Daniel]

I really wanted to be a captain, but I couldn't make that dream come true. I wasn't able to. I was disappointed, so I had to look for something else.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Daniel was forced to abandon his plan to become a professional captain.

[Colin Freeman]

After leaving prison, he did manage to get a bit of work on boats, taking researchers out on trips to see humpback whales.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

But it was only for a few months.

[Colin Freeman]

Instead, he became a driver.

[Daniel]

I couldn't stay still. I had to do something. And so I did Uber for a while. And then when the pandemic started, everything changed again.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

It's a similar story for Rodrigo.

[Ayom]

I couldn't continue my dream of becoming a delivery skipper. Boat owners, they don't want someone working for them who has been involved with the police or justice system in any way, whether you're innocent or not. So I couldn't continue my life project of traveling the world. And so I had to start again to look for something new.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

But Rodrigo hasn't lost his love for the sea.

[Ayom]

Today, I still work sailing, just in a different way. I take sailing trips, give sailing lessons, but today I work for myself because I'm the only person I can trust.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

In Brazil, Rodrigo shows me where he learned to sail. This is his actual Voice explaining in Portuguese that the boat he first learned to sail on looked a bit like a bathtub. As we talk, I can't help but notice his wallet. It's got a little picture of a boat on it, he says. He takes it everywhere.

[Ayom]

So this wallet here, it was made in prison in Cape Verde. The leather has been stitched together by hand. I thought it was really cool. Cool, pretty.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Rather than hiding from his past, Rodrigo accepts his ordeal is just part of who he is.

[Ayom]

Yeah, it's part of my story. Of course, I went through a lot of bad things in Cape Verde, but a lot of those things also made me grow and become a better person. I think I've left all the suffering behind me, and I've learned to value the little things in life.

[Colin Freeman]

Today, Daniel is living by the sea on a remote part of the Brazilian coast, where he's built a house on the edge of a sand dune. He's also discovered a new way to experience adventure, to make the most of his freedom.

[Daniel]

Kite surfing.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

It's a combination, he says, of his true passions, sailing and surfing.

[Daniel]

Only unlike sailing, I don't depend on anyone else to do anything. I can just be at peace by myself.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Like Rodrigo, Daniel also now has trouble trusting other people.

[Colin Freeman]

And he's also picked up a habit from his old friend. Filming everything, Filming the construction of his new home.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Documenting life with his wife. He got married in 2020. In February 2023, almost six years since he saw that job advert, the one offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to cross the Atlantic on the rich harvest. Daniel was finally cleared. Rodrigo and their Brazilian crewmate Steve, too.

[Colin Freeman]

Their case was transferred from Cape Verde to Brazil. After considering the evidence gathered by Inspector Andre Gonsalves and the rest of the Brazilian police, the court ordered that all charges be dropped.

[Daniel]

That was just an explosion of happiness, of pure joy. It was like a weight had been lifted after all those years.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Today, Daniel has a few more gray hairs than when our story began in 2017. But he's still smiling. After everything Daniel's been through, what's his secret?

[Daniel]

My secret for smiling? You only have one life, right? One of the things I learned from all this is that we only have a little time here, just one life. So I don't want to waste it complaining or crying.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Daniel pauses to wipe a tear from his eye.

[Daniel]

You know, after Cape Verde, I can't cry anymore when I'm sad. I'd blocked out a lot of feelings. I used to be a much more emotional person, you know, but thank God it couldn't wipe away my smile.

[Colin Freeman]

This has been episode six of six of Finding Mr. Fox, season five of World of Secrets from the BBC World Service.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

We hope you're enjoying World of Secrets. Subscribe or follow now so you get all episodes and our next investigation automatically. And if you haven't already pleased check out our other seasons.

[Colin Freeman]

You can also watch a documentary film about our investigation. You'll Find Africa Finding Mr. Fox on YouTube and on BBC iPlayer. I'm Colin Freeman.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

And I'm Yemisi Adegoke. The producer is Charlotte Macdonald. The executive producer is Joe Kent.

[Colin Freeman]

The series editor is Matt Willis. Sound design and mix by Tom Brignall.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Additional production is by Iam Leroy, Christine Kist, Nick Norman Butler, Kiara Francavilla, Matt Preci, Julian Sturdi and Julio Rodriguez.

[Colin Freeman]

Sam voiced by Jim Frank.

[Yemisi Adegoke]

Rodrigo by Edison Alcaija Daniel by Antonio Fernandez the BBC World Service senior podcast producer is Cat Collins.

[Colin Freeman]

The podcast commissioning editor is John Manell.

[Unknown Host]

An airliner heads for Alaska with 101 passengers and crew. Then somewhere over the Gulf of Alaska, Flight 293 slams into the icy waters below.

[Colin Freeman]

Even if all four engines quick, it just doesn't fall out of the sky.

[Unknown Host]

No bodies were recovered. Loved ones had no closure and were left to wonder what happened to Flight 293? Unsolved Histories what Happened to Flight 293 is available now wherever you get your podcasts.