logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
26m 39s

The Fifth Floor: Fighting crime with kit...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

A few years ago, the town of Anam in Southern Nigeria was known for all the wrong reasons: high levels of crime and knife and gun violence. A group of local women, known as 'ụmụadas', decided to take matters into their own hands and confronted criminals with... their kitchen spoons. BBC Igbo editor Adline Okere, who is an ụmụada herself, has the story. Plus, how Subagunam Kannan's passion for filming ants in his own house led him to make a viral video for BBC Tamil, and a train journey through Thailand and Laos with Thuong Le from BBC Vietnamese.

Produced by Alice Gioia and Hannah Dean.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Up next
Today
Iranians in London
Five Iranians join host James Reynolds in the Naroon Persian restaurant in central London to share their experiences. In our conversation over dinner, our guests discuss the war, what it’s like to be so far from home, fears for family and friends in Iran and their hopes for the f ... Show More
23m 22s
Yesterday
The naked monks
Why would someone live publicly nude for their faith? In parts of India, Jain monks belonging to the Digambara sect permanently renounce all possessions, including clothes. These monks walk naked for hundreds of miles across India as part of their spiritual journey.Journalist Raj ... Show More
26m 31s
Mar 12
The women of IS: Part three
What next for the Syrian detention camps and their residents? After the fall of the so-called “caliphate”, tens of thousands of women and children from around the world - followers of the Islamic State group as well as its victims - ended up in a handful of camps in north-eastern ... Show More
30m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2025
True Crime Round Up April 2025 - Monthly Bonus Episode
The bonus episode today, is the fourth of my regular monthly conversations with my good friend Stuart, the host of the British Murders Podcast. Once again, we sat down to chat about local, national and international crimes which have really made an impression with us. We discusse ... Show More
51m 20s
Nov 2024
36. Sophie Lyons - Crime Doesn't Pay
In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley is exploring the life of Sophie Lyons, pickpocket, blackmailer and conwoman extraordinaire, known as the infamous Queen of the Underworld.Born in Germany in the late 1840s, aged 8 Sophie moves to New York, USA. She is taught from an ... Show More
28m 14s
Nov 2021
Homicide at Midtown Marriott // 145
<p>Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women! In October of 2019, an SD Card was found on an Anchorage, Alaska street that contained videos and images of a man murdering an indigenous woman in a hotel room. As more evidence was quickly uncovered, a South African Youtuber ... Show More
40m 58s
Dec 2021
The Good Samaritan - Part 2
The concluding part of the Series 6 finale tale from The True Crime Enthusiast Podcast drops here, continuing from the events we heard in the first part - where we met a young woman named India Eve Chipchase - who sadly, back in 2016, never made it home from a Friday night out in ... Show More
1h 37m
Jan 2025
The Khalistan Assassinations
A murder that rocked the Sikh community in British Columbia, Canada. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader, was fatally shot in his car just after leaving his local temple in 2023. This wasn't just another crime - it was an event that would spark international tension and ... Show More
27m 26s
Sep 2024
AJ Tracey on London’s streets and how music saved him from a culture of fear
AJ Tracey is one of the most influential artists in the UK music scene today but his life could have taken a very different direction had he not made some serious changes. AJ is known for his groundbreaking contributions to grime, drill and UK garage. Last year he celebrated 1 bi ... Show More
42m 24s
Jul 2025
Held Captive by a Russian Serial Killer
In the late 1990s, the quiet of a small Russian town was shattered when Irina Ganyushkina stumbled into a police station—an escapee from a living nightmare. Irina revealed to authorities that she was one of five women kidnapped and held captive in a secret underground bunker by a ... Show More
33m 53s
Jun 2024
Bat for Lashes, Women and D-Day, Author Saima Mir, Sextortion
The singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, joins Anita to talk about her new album, The Dream of Delphi. Named after her daughter Delphi, her new music explores motherhood through lush orchestral sounds. She discusses having a baby during the Covi ... Show More
56m 49s
Mar 2025
The Thailand Serial Killer - The Somkid Pumpuang story
<p>Somkid Pumpuang, known as the “Jack the Ripper of Thailand,” is a convicted serial killer who murdered multiple women. In 2005, he was sentenced to life in prison for murdering five women, all of whom were masseuses or karaoke hostesses, but was released early in 2019 for “goo ... Show More
8m 18s
Mar 2024
Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison
A life shaped by addiction.Australian Holly Deane-Johns had a complicated childhood. Her parents ran an escort agency from their home, and heroin addiction later took over the whole family. She was first given heroin by her mother, aged just 15. Holly ended up dealing to feed her ... Show More
41m 46s