Heroes Behind Headlines

HBH is thrilled to welcome back our good friend, Omar Kahn. Today, Omar tells us of an operation he undertook as a private investigator against the vast smuggling network of Ayub Afridi, the single largest funding source for Al-Qaeda.

Dating back to the 1970s and through the early 2000s, Afridi ran one of the biggest smuggling operations the world has ever seen. With Afghanistan’s infamous opium trade as its bedrock, Afridi’s organization traded tens of billions of dollars in contraband and cash. 

Despite the nature of his business, like Pablo Escobar in Colombia, Afridi was beloved, and was even elected to Pakistan’s National Assembly. 

The Khyber Pass leads through the towering Hindu Kush mountains of northwest Pakistan and is the gateway to eastern Afghanistan. These mountains once stopped Alexander the Great and sheltered Osama bin Laden. For nearly 40 years they were controlled by Ayub Afridi. Omar’s mission would lead him into those very mountains.

If you missed Omar’s previous episode ‘Destroying a $50 Billion Chinese Mob Smuggling Operation’, you’ll find it at Episode 2 on the HBH page, on whichever platform you listen.

Omar Kahn worked as an international private investigator for many years, where he was hired by dozens of intelligence organizations and private security firms. He now works full-time as a psychic medium where he uses his intuitive abilities to advise high-profile clients around the world.

On June 24th, 1994, Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State became the site of the second single-shooter mass shooting on a U.S. military base. Andy Brown joins HBH to tell the story of how he stepped in and incredibly prevented an even greater tragedy.
 
He details the day that forever changed his life and the lives of so many others, as well as how he bravely handled the psychological after-effects. 
 
Andy Brown’s book, ‘Warnings Unheeded’, covers the Fairchild Air Force Base shooting and its aftermath in even greater detail.

Russian and Chinese-backed rebels were making deadly headway in Oman during its Civil War of the early 1970s. In support of the Western-allied Sultan, the British Army secretly deployed nine operators from its most elite unit, the SAS. HBH is honored to have today’s guest, Pete Winner, with a special appearance by Sekonaia ‘Tak’ Takevisi, two of the nine SAS heroes who took on over 400 Omani rebels at the Battle of Mirbat.

At stake on July 19th 1972 was more than just a single battle for a small town on the Gulf of Oman. Due to Mirbat’s geographic significance, had the SAS fallen the communist rebels would have taken hold of the region – and controlled the global shipping routs for Middle Eastern oil. 

Statues of individual soldiers are rare, but due to his heroism at the Battle of MIrbat, there are not one but two statues of Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba. One unveiled in 2009 at the SAS headquarters in Herefordshire, and another in 2018 by Harry and Megan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in Fiji - which at the time of Labalaba’s enlistment was still a British colony.

Pete Winner is the author of his bestselling memoir ‘SOLDIER, I’, which he wrote with Michael Kennedy.

Captain John Pruitt III joins HBH to tell incredible stories of his time in the US Coast Guard, a branch of the military few people know much about.

John’s stories are remarkable. At the start of the Iraq War, he conducted dangerous anti-mining missions and was chased by Iranian Navy missile boats in the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, he spearheaded an enormous undercover cocaine seizure worth over $250 million and led a very surprising search and rescue mission.

Americans are not widely aware that the Coast Guard has the broadest authority of any federal agency. Able to conduct both military and law enforcement missions in the United States and around the world, we were unaware of how crucial the Coast Guard’s role is across US operations.

Captain John Pruitt III is today’s hero behind the headlines.

Human trafficking is a $150 billion-a-year business that thrives in war zones and is arguably more lucrative than arms sales. Lurata Lyon joins HBH and bravely tells her unimaginable story of survival during the Balkan Wars across Eastern Europe in the 1990s.

Lurata was kidnapped into human trafficking as a teenager when the war engulfed her home country of Serbia. She was destined for a life of sex-trafficking and organ-harvesting. Miraculously, she escaped, only to find further horrors waiting for her in the same war zone.

Lurata is a profoundly inspirational person. Beyond her heroism to survive, she continues to speak out for those who were not as fortunate.

The story of the young CIA operative who helped launch the Contra War in Nicaragua. Ric Prado joins HBH and tells of his first mission in the CIA. 

Long before the US operations in Central America became public, he was embedded in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras. With very little experience at the time, Ric found himself alongside brave local rebels at the tip of the spear.

That was just the beginning of Ric’s decorated career in the Central Intelligence Agency. He went on to receive multiple medals as a case officer and high ranking official. His new book ‘Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior’ is available now.

Legendary SEAL Team 6 operator Don Mann joins HBH for a special episode.

During Don’s incredible career as a Naval Special Warfare operator he served in SEAL Teams 1 and 2 before being recruited to Team 6. He was both the Advanced Training Officer and Weapons of Mass Destruction Officer for SEAL Team 6.

Fred Reynolds joins HBH to tell the story of a shootout that could have escalated the 1992 Los Angeles riots into something far worse. He discusses his experiences as a black police officer during one of the nation's most significant racial conflicts, and the long-lasting effects the riots have had on policing.

Fred grew up in gangland Detroit, deciding to leave a path destined for prison - or worse - for the Marines. After serving, he moved to Southern California where he would become a member of the Compton Police Department and one of the most decorated Detectives in California history. Fred is the author of ‘Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man’s Odyssey In Life and Law Enforcement’.

CIA Officer Doug Laux joins us to explain how he developed a network of spies to track down the man responsible for running the Taliban's lethal IED network, which at the height of the Afghan War was responsible for over 80% of US and Coalition deaths.

International private investigator Omar Khan joins us to explain the incredible story of how he infiltrated the Chinese Triads' global criminal organization, and crippled their multi-billion dollar counterfeit cigarette smuggling business…in less than a month.