The investigation unveils the inner-workings of the Syrian and Somalian hostage crises. Classified intelligence documents show how European governments paid ransoms to armed groups.

Eyewitnesses to multi-million dollar handovers speak for the first time and describe how they and the families of victims were told to lie to the news media.

The investigation explores the “no concession-no negotiation” policy of the US government and provides evidence that the American authorities are, in fact, outsourcing their hostage negotiations to others.

The I-Unit asks whether governments have a moral duty to bring home their citizens even if that means handing over money to militants.