The Narco Fugitive who Took Over an African Country

The Underworld Podcast

True Crime, Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When a 2023 club brawl ended in a Freetown, Sierra Leone parking lot shooting, cops and reporters pointed the finger at “Omar Shariff,” a portly Turkish millionaire who’d spent much of the past six months throwing cash about at the city’s casinos and top-end restaurants. But Shariff wasn’t Turkish, and he wasn’t just any businessman. And as information about the strange man leaked over the coming year, officials in Africa and Europe began to realize that he was in fact one of the Netherlands’ biggest cocaine kingpins, one who’d been on the run from authorities for years — and whose commitment to cartel violence had extended to the construction of a shipping-container torture center. What happened next was a lesson in how organized criminals evade justice by corrupting power. And how cocaine traffickers, from Suriname to Sierra Leone, have taken over the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What I've dedicated my life to is revenge.
0:04.7	A brand new drama based on the bestselling novel.
0:07.5	They think they're better than us.
0:08.5	Who do you think you are?
0:09.8	I'm going to prove to them that they're wrong.
0:11.5	She's punishing me.
0:13.0	You destroyed my family.
0:14.3	I will not rest until I've destroyed yours.
0:17.0	A woman of substance on Channel 4 starts tonight at 9.
1:11.3	Hey, listener. It's Zach Harper, Amina al-Hasson, and Anthony Mays of Cynaphobe. You may be asking yourself, what is Cinephobe? I mean, would you like to fill in the people? Cinephope is the podcast for Zach and I watch movies that are poorly rated on Ron Tomatoes and try to ascertain. We're trying to ascertain? Yes. Okay. Assertain. Whether or not they're accurately poorly rated, or maybe they didn't get a fair shake. Cinephope produced by this guy, Anthony Mace. Hey, that's me. I produced this show. I also watched the movies, even though that wasn't included in the description. And I also ascertain. This month is... Whoa. Oh, man maize, what do you say that? Supercharge it. So that this promo can remain evergreen. I feel like explaining a little bit more. In 60 seconds? I don't know. Maybe I don't bring attention to it. Assuring people like, look, if you listen, you're going to get it. Just give it. Give it time.
1:12.4	That's a good promo.
1:13.5	Just listen to it.
1:14.1	Give it time.
1:25.8	You'll figure it out. Is this the promo right now? Isn't it? Okay, I think we got it. Sidivode. Where'd be good podcast? It's 2 a.m. on New Year's Day, 23. outside Scarlet,
1:29.5	an upmarket nightclub in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
1:31.2	Part of a complex of bars, restaurants and a casino that sit within the Lagunda Resort on the West African
1:36.7	City's Atlantic coast. Since 2002, when Sierra Leone's Civil War ended, violence is rare in its ramshackle capital.
1:46.0	But as the club's crowd swells and a cue to get in snakes through the hotel lobby,
1:51.0	that piece is about to be shattered in style.
1:55.1	Hussein for Waz is among those lining up for a spot of Scarlett. He's the nephew of one of
1:59.7	Sierra Leone's Lebanese tycoons,
2:01.9	one of three towns elites. But another man joins the action, and he's in no mood to wait,
	...

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