Armed with National Geographic’s trademark inside access, Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller takes viewers on a journey inside the most dangerous black markets on the planet. Each investigation in the eight-part series embeds with Peabody and duPont Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller as she explores the complex and often violent inner workings of a smuggling network. While she dives deeper and deeper into these underworlds, Mariana reveals — with characteristic boldness and empathy — that the people operating these trafficking rings are often a lot more like us than we realize. Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller now premieres December 2 at 9/8c with a two-episode premiere.

Trafficked offers viewers a mission-driven adventure to places rarely seen, providing an intimate peek behind the criminal curtain. Mariana spends time with major players from a host of underground economies — from tiger traffickers and international scammers to counterfeiters, gunrunners and fentanyl suppliers. Along the way, she also meets with law enforcement, ex-cons, fellow journalists and locals caught in the crossfire, all in an attempt to provide a 360-degree view of these poorly understood trafficking networks that contribute to the world’s multi-trillion-dollar shadow economy.

“I couldn’t be more excited to share Trafficked with viewers around the world,” said Mariana van Zeller, who has spent the better part of the last 15 years reporting on the global underworld. “People don’t realize that black markets are all around us, hidden in plain sight. And what fascinates me most is how normal, law-abiding people — people like you and me — get pulled into these criminal worlds.”

Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller is produced for National Geographic by Muck Media. For National Geographic, Bengt Anderson is executive producer; Matt Renner is executive producer and vice president, original programming and production; Alan Eyres is senior vice president of production and development; and Geoff Daniels is executive vice president of global unscripted entertainment.