The Bloody Illegal World of Sand Mining

(somber music)

[Narrator] All over the world,

from the Middle East to Southeast Asia,

people are killing and dying for sand.

Whether dug up from pits in the ground,

or suctioned from the bottom of the sea,

sand is critical.

Along with cement, it's a key ingredient in concrete,

so it's vital to just about

every serious construction project.

Anywhere development is running rampant,

so is sand mining, or illegal sand importation

from Afghanistan to Jamaica, Saudi Arabia to Indonesia.

Not every operation is large scale.

On Thane Creek in India, men free dive

to the bottom with buckets.

Other workers on boats haul the sand up from the bottom.

So much that the creek is tens of feet deeper now.

Soon, the divers won't be able to reach the river bed.

And meanwhile, illegal mines continue to dig,

crush, wash and send sand to all buyers.

The trucks continue to roll.

(somber music)