In this guide we’ll show you how we narrowed down where an alleged cartel member was staying in a luxury Dubai skyscraper. By following the steps outlined below, Bellingcat helped establish that in 2023 Dženis Kadrić was renting a Dubai property owned by Candido Nsue Okomo the brother-in-law of Equatorial Guinea’s President. This was later confirmed by documentation obtained by investigative partners. This finding contributed to a recent investigation by KRIK, Diario Rombe and OCCRP into dirty money in Dubai real estate. Kadrić, a former police officer, was arrested in Bosnia in February of th ..read more

This article is the result of a joint investigation by Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List. The Lloyd’s List version of this piece can be found here. A Russian flagged vessel was granted clearance by a UN inspection body to call at a Houthi-controlled port after surreptitiously exporting grain from a western sanctioned terminal in occupied Crimea, an investigation by Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List has found. The bulk carrier, Zafar (IMO: 9720263), switched off its Automated Identification System (AIS) – that allows it to be tracked by shipping services and which commercial vessels are mandated to keep on ..read more

A group of Finnish neo-Nazis and a few international friends have convened once again in Finland’s picturesque lake district for a secretive summertime festival. Last month, a campground about three-hours drive north of Finland’s capital Helsinki played host to the third edition of what the organisers call the ‘White Boy Summer Fest’, named after an internet meme co-opted by the international far right.  Bellingcat first investigated Finland’s ‘White Boy Summer Fest’ (WBS) in 2023. With the help of Bellingcat’s Global Authentication Project and Discord community, we geolocated the 2022 an ..read more

An analysis of open source evidence, as well as missile experts, have pointed to a Russian launched Kh-101 cruise missile being the weapon that struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv, debunking claims from pro-Russian accounts and actors that denied responsibility and sought to shift the blame for the incident on to Ukraine. The July 8 attack on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital killed at least three children and injured 16 others, according to the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU). However, the full toll of dead and injured remains unknown with individuals reported to still be trapped under ru ..read more

Bellingcat and our partners at Scripps News have identified damage at dozens of religious and cultural heritage sites in Gaza since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in October last year.   Satellite imagery as well as videos and images were used to identify the impact on sites that include archaeological treasures dating back thousands of years, as well as religious facilities such as mosques and cemeteries. The findings add to research being carried out by UNESCO and others to complete a preliminary damage assessment of cultural sites in Gaza. So far, UNESCO has conducted analysis usi ..read more

A staggering 8.8 million people have been displaced since the start of the Sudanese Civil War in April last year, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) battle for control of the country. Currently the RSF is trying to take Al Fashir, the largest city in the Darfur region, and the last stronghold of the Sudanese Army in Darfur. The city has become a refuge for people fleeing nearby villages and towns and its population has swelled with internally displaced people. Conditions in the city are dire. The fighting has effectively cut the city off, with both sides striking ..read more

Over three years since the February 2021 coup that toppled a democratically elected government in Myanmar, the military junta is losing large swaths of land to anti-coup resistance fighters and ethnic rebel groups. Several opposition forces have formed alliances, taking back key junta strongholds. A coordinated offensive ‘Operation 1027’ that began on October 27, 2023 in Shan State, on the eastern border with China, has now spread across the country.  The junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council (SAC), is in a crisis and civilians in different parts of Myanmar are still ..read more

With millions of people voting in India’s General Election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are seeking a third term in office, and are widely tipped to get it. The Hindu nationalist movement in India predates Modi and the BJP but their decade in power has catapulted Hindu nationalism into the mainstream.  Modi’s rise to power has reshaped India including the landscape for foreign funded organisations and media. Many human rights groups, journalists and activists critical of the government have come under intense scrutiny. A direct outcome has been the su ..read more

On February 7, 2024, an unidentified oil tanker washed up on the shores of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, spilling oil across beaches, coral reefs and mangroves. Bellingcat previously identified the tanker as the barge “Gulfstream,” which was pulled by a tugboat named Solo Creed. We tracked its voyage via satellite imagery as it sailed from Panama to a location offshore from a Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) port in northern Venezuela where it went “dark” for several days by turning off its Automated Identification System (AIS) location transponder. Bellingcat and the Trinidad and ..read more

Since the beginning of 2024, the US has issued a series of sanctions against a small number of Israeli settlers for jeopardising peace and security in the West Bank. The impact the sanctions will have is debated, but it marks a new development amid ongoing attempts to address widespread Israeli settlement of the West Bank which is illegal under international law. The first Israeli settlement was established in the West Bank in 1967 after the territory was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War. Today there are now reportedly 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. Settlements range fr ..read more