The BEST episodes of Banged Up Abroad (2007)

Every episode of Banged Up Abroad (2007) ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Banged Up Abroad (2007)!

Terrifying tales of every traveler's worst fear - imprisonment abroad. From gruesome jails to chilling kidnappings, live through the panic, tears and desperation as each dreadful story unfolds.

Last Updated: 5/28/2026Network: National GeographicStatus: Ended

10.00

1 votes

#1 - Narco Wine Bust

Season 12 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/6/2019

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.

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10.00

1 votes

#2 - Mexican Cartel Hell

Season 12 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/2/2019

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.

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9.77

31 votes

#3 - Snakes on a Plane

Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/1/2013

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.

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9.56

36 votes

#4 - Heroin Sting

Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/1/2011

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.

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9.49

37 votes

#5 - Forbidden Love

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/18/2011

Briton David Scott tells the story of finding his soulmate in the Philippines, and risking a 14-year prison sentence for adultery.

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9.43

40 votes

#6 - Saudi Bootlegger

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/11/2011

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.

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9.42

36 votes

#7 - Mexico Money Machine

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/25/2011

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.

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8.67

6 votes

#8 - Ecuador

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/27/2008

Daniel Van De Zandrewe gets arrested for trafficking cocaine in Ecuador after one of his accomplices gave his name to police.

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8.50

4 votes

#9 - Vietnam POWs: McCain & Brace

Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/17/2013

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.

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8.50

6 votes

#10 - Bogota Belly Bust

Season 10 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/20/2016

The story of 28-year-old Canadian Tabitha Ritchie, whose life took a terrifying turn when she was caught smuggling drugs out of Colombia.

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8.50

4 votes

#11 - Bangkok Betrayal

Season 12 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/16/2019

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.

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8.44

9 votes

#12 - Puerto Vallarta/Mexican Justice

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/22/2009

Jake Libbon gets arrested in Mexico for selling marijuana, then is falsely accused of shooting two police officers.

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8.43

7 votes

#13 - Taiwan

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/13/2008

Taiwan's most-wanted criminal breaks into the house of McGill Alexander, a South African army colonel, and takes Alexander and his family hostage.

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8.43

7 votes

#14 - Hasidic King of Coke

Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 7/16/2012

Orthodox Jew Samuel Leibowitz dreams of making millions as a drug kingpin in Brazil, leading to a terrifying term in the deadly Carandiru Penitentiary.

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8.38

8 votes

#15 - Uganda: Death in the Jungle

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 5/26/2008

Safari guide Mark Ross and his tour group are kidnapped by Hutu rebels in Uganda.

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8.33

3 votes

#16 - Jungle Crash

Season 12 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/23/2019

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.

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8.33

6 votes

#17 - A Belly Full of Coke

Season 14 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/4/2021

A troubled young father learns a hard lesson chasing a gangster lifestyle when he is set up as a decoy on a smuggling trip from Peru.

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8.29

7 votes

#18 - Big Trouble in Tokyo

Season 15 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/2022

Steven Beattie's Thai party lifestyle isn't cheap, so he smuggles hash to fund it, for which he pays the ultimate price when he's locked up in Japan.

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8.25

8 votes

#19 - Mexico/Teen Smuggler

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/20/2009

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.

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8.21

89 votes

#20 - Spain / Smuggler Makeover

Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/28/2010

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.

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8.17

6 votes

#21 - Thai Meth Bust

Season 12 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/2/2019

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.

8.15

40 votes

#22 - Caracas/Venezuela Blues

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/8/2009

David Evans is arrested trying to smuggle drugs from Venezuela to Amsterdam.

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8.13

8 votes

#23 - Indonesia/Busted In Bali

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/13/2009

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.

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8.05

60 votes

#24 - Brazil/Sao Paulo Death Trap

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/6/2009

Hollywood "party animal" Brendan Cosso and three friends are arrested trying to smuggle cocaine out of Brazil to Hungary.

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Venezuela/Margarita Island (Denis and Donald's Story)

8.05

22 votes

#25 - Venezuela/Margarita Island (Denis and Donald's Story)

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/14/2008

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.

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