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October 14, 2025 11 mins
The story revolves around Misbah, a well-liked security guard whose body was discovered in a canal. At first, it looked like a simple drowning, but forensic experts noticed something strange — the water in his lungs didn’t match the canal water. That detail turned the case into a full-blown murder investigation. Digging deeper, investigators uncovered a dark secret: Samar, Misbah’s wife, was having an affair with his close friend Mahmoud, a wealthier man who wanted Misbah out of the picture. Mahmoud came up with a chilling plan — he tricked Misbah into practicing holding his breath for a fake treasure hunt, only to drown him inside a barrel in his garage. Thanks to the sharp work of the police and forensic team, the truth came out. Samar and Mahmoud were arrested, and what seemed like an accident was revealed as a cold, calculated betrayal.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, let's set the scene. Picture this. It's done just
breaking over Elnumrutt village in al Sharkia, Egypt. Really quiet,
you know, the kind of morning stillness where the main
sound is just the water flowing in the terra, the
big irrigation canal. It's part of daily life there. But
then around eight am that piece is broken. Some farmers
heading out to their fields they spot something in the water,

(00:21):
a body. Now, sadly, drownings can happen in these deep canals,
but it's always a shock. The victim turns out to
be Mustafa, thirty seven years old. He's the local night guard,
the gaffir, known, respected and the immediate thought, the obvious conclusion,
tragic accident. Man couldn't swim, fell into deep water. Case
closed right, well, not quite, not even close.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Actually, that scene, that apparent tragedy, it was all a fabrication.
It masked one of the most chillingly planned murders investigators
had seen. This is the Barrel case, and what makes
it fascinating is how forensic science, right down to the
water chemistry, exposed this incredibly elaborate lie. Our mission today
is really to unpack how investars peeled back those layers
during what looked like a simple drowning into a case

(01:04):
of cold blooded murder and betrayal.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Right, so the police arrive, River Rescue pulls Mustafa out,
and initially everything seems to fit the drowning story. His
body wasn't badly decomposed, suggesting he hadn't been in the
water long, maybe just a few hours right around sunrise.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, and that timing itself was likely part of the plan.
They needed him found relatively quickly. But you know, after
the dead and night. When they contacted Mustafa's wife, Samar,
who was thirty one, she seemed genuinely shocked, grieving. She explained, well,
he worked nights as a guard, usually got home around
eleven am, so his absence wasn't immediately alarming on the surface,

(01:41):
just tragic.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
But the villagers, they immediately brought up something crucial. Everyone
knew u Staffa couldn't swim, so why on earth would
he be anywhere near the deepest part of that canal.
That alone feels like a huge red flag.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It was a major one. But then things got a
bit more complicated. There were these conflicting reports from witnesses.
While most agreed no Mustapha couldn't swim. A few neighbors
mentioned something really strange. They had apparently seen him sneaking
down to the canal late at night, recently, trying to
teach himself to swim or at least hold his breath secretly.

(02:14):
Nobody knew why.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay, that's bizarre. He's secretly learning to swim, then suddenly drowns.
How did investigators link that piece, the secret lessons to
the actual scene by the canal.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Well, that's where the physical evidence, or lack of it,
started screaming foul play. The investigators looked closely at the
canal bank. If Mustafa walked there, took off his clothes,
which by the way, were never found, and then fell
or jumped in, he should have left footprints in that
damp soil, but there were none, absolutely zero trace of
him approaching the water's edge.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Nothing. So he didn't walk there exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
It strongly suggested he was already unconscious or dead when
he reached the canal. He was placed there, and supporting
that theory, they found fresh vehicle tire tracks very close
to where the body was discovered. Not Mustafa's footprints, but
tire tracks.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Okay, so he was driven there, and what about injuries?
Did they find anything else on the body.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
They did note some faint bruises Kadamat on his leg,
initially maybe dismissed as you know, bumping against the canal
bottom or something during the drowning. But with the missing
footprints and the tire tracks, those bruises started to look different,
more suspicious. The picture emerging was Mustafa was brought here,
likely dead and dumped.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
This completely shifts everything. It's not an accident, it's staging
a scene. But the real nail in the coffin for
the accident theory, the part that really blew this wide
open had to come from the autopsy, right absolutely.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
That forensic report was the turning point. The medical examiner
confirmed the cause of death was indeed drowning. Water and
the lungs classic signs. But here's the bombshell. The forensic
chemists analyzed the water from his lungs and it was
chemically significantly different from the water in the canal where
he was found.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Wait, different water? How can they tell that precisely? What's
the difference between canal water and well other water.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's quite remarkable. Actually, forensic chemistry can be incredibly specific.
Canal water has a unique signature, you see, it contains
specific minerals from the local groundwater, dissolved salts, maybe some
salt algae bacteria common to that open waterway. The water
in Mustafa's lungs it lacked many of those markers. It
was cleaner, more like standing water. Water that might have

(04:25):
been stored in container might have had a different pH
maybe even trace elements from plastic if it was held in,
say a large barrel.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Wow, so he drowned, but definitively not in the canal.
He drowned somewhere else in contained water, and then was
moved precisely.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
That finding changed everything instantly. It wasn't just suspicion anymore.
It was proof of a homicide. And suddenly those bruises
on his leg made chilling sense. They weren't accidental scrapes.
They were likely caused by someone forcefully holding him, controlling
his lower body during the drowning itself.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
The investigation pivots completely. Now they're looking for a killer,
someone with Staffan knew, someone he trusted enough to be
alone with in the place where he actually died exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
The focus shifts immediately to his inner circle, and very
quickly suspicion fell on one man, Mamood, forty one years old.
And Mamood wasn't just a friend. He was described as
being closer than brothers to Mustapha, a regular visitor in
their home.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
The closest friend. Why him specifically before they had direct proof?
What put him on their radar so fast?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
A couple of things. First, Mamood had a bit of
a local reputation for well illicit relationships manipulative ones. Second,
he had a prior brush with the law concerning antiquities
or artifacts. He was acquitted due to lack of evidence,
but it showed he wasn't necessarily risk averse or strictly ethical.
He fit a certain profile okay.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
So reputation and a questionable past, but they needed more
than that.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
They did, and a confidential, very discreet investigation uncovered the
core motive. Mamood was having a secret affair with Mustafa's wife, Samar.
This was apparently incredibly well hidden. Neighbors, other friends, no
one seemed to suspect a thing Mustafa certainly didn't.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
The ultimate betrayal the friend welcomed into the home. Was
it just about the affair or was there something else
driving Mahmoud to commit murder.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
It seems it was more calculated than just passion. Yes,
the affair was central, but Mamood was also relatively wealthy.
He owned property land. Mustapha was a simple night guard.
When Samar was interrogated, she eventually broke down. She confessed
to the affair and said Mahmoud had promised her he
would quote get rid of Mustapha so they could be
together more easily. Though interestingly, she admitted Mahmoud had an

(06:37):
explicitly promised marriage for Mamod. It seems the motive was
largely exploitation. Mustapha was an inconvenience for Samar. Mahmoud represented status,
financial security she didn't have with Mustafa, Greed.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
And convenience masked by promises. But the way he did it,
the planning involved, is just staggering. How did Mamoud manipulate
Mustafa so completely?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
This is where the true cunning, the sheer coldness of
the plot becomes clear. Mamoud didn't just kill Mustafa. He
weaponized Mustafa's own hopes and trust against him. He approached Mustafa,
his supposed best friend, with a business opportunity, a very
lucrative one, diving for valuable artifacts. Maybe deep sea may
be buried.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Ah so playing on Mustafa's financial struggles, offering him a dream.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Exactly, a life changing score, and Mamoud stress this needed
absolute secrecy, no partners, no telling anyone to maximize their profit.
This insured Mustapha kept quiet about everything. Then Mamoud addressed
the obvious problem. Mustafa couldn't swim right.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
The fatal vulnerability.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Mahmood insisted Mustafa needed rigorous secret training, specifically learning to
hold his breath for long periods, to handle being submerged,
essential skills for artifact diving. And where did this top
secret training take place? Not the canal. It happened in
Mahmoud's own garage, using large plastic barrels filled with water,

(07:59):
the private, controlled environment, which also explains that different water
found in Mustafa's lungs.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Oh my god, he was being trained to die essentially
in his killer's garage, thinking he was preparing for riches.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's chilling, it's deeply disturbing. And to build that crucial trust,
Mamoud would even demonstrate first he'd submerge his own head
in a barrel let Mustafa time him. He made it
seem legitimate safe. Mustafa, completely taken in by the promise
of wealth and trusting his friend, implicitly went along with it.
Hour after hour. He literally walked into the trap.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
So take us to that final moment. How did Mamoud
execute the murderer during one of these training sessions.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
It happened late around three am. They were doing what
Mustafa believed was just another breath holding drill. Mustapha submerged
his head in the barrel, ready to be timed. But
this time Mamoud didn't just watch. He grabbed Mustafa's legs
forcefully hoisted them up high, tipping Mustafa head down into
the barrel. He held him there completely submerged, using his

(08:57):
weight and leverage, until Mustapha drowned in that barrel water.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
And that violent upward lift of the legs explains the
bruising precisely.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
The cadamein on the legs. Weren't accidental. They were the
direct result of a move physically overpowering and drowning him.
The water matched the barrel, the bruises matched the method.
The murder was done indoors, leaving no trace at the
real scene.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
And then the disposal just as calculated.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Absolutely body quickly moved into a car, hence the tire
tracks found later near the canal, driven to the terra
and dumped by around five point zero am Momood had
likely figured out the timing perfectly, dumped early enough to
seem fresh when found around eight am by the farmers,
reinforcing the recent drowning idea. He counted on Mustava's inability

(09:43):
to swim to make accidental drowning the immediate unquestioned conclusion.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
It's just the level of manipulation is terrifying. He built
a narrative, controlled the scene, exploited trust, but he couldn't
control the chemistry. That microscopic evidence in the water undid everything.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
It really highlights something fundamental, doesn't it. You can manipulate people,
you can stage a scene, but the physical evidence often
tells the truth. The killer tries to hide. My mood
was clever, yes, but forensics was undeniable. He understood human psychology,
perhaps leveraging greed and trust, but he underestimated the silent
testimony of science A chilling lesson.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
So what happened to Mamood and Samar In the end,
justice did prevail.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Based on the evidence, my Mood was found guilty of
premeditated murder and sentenced to death. His calculation and betrayal
were seen as particularly heinous. Some are for her role
in the conspiracy, for knowing and allowing it to happen
based on those promises, received a life's sentence. Their shared
ambition led to total ruin. You know, the case really
drives home a difficult point. It's not just about the

(10:44):
mechanics of the crime, but about vulnerability. Mustapha wasn't just
vulnerable because he couldn't swim. He was vulnerable because he
trusted completely, because he desperately wanted a better life. Mood
didn't just exploit his presence, He exploited his dreams. And
it makes you think, doesn't it, how much risk lies
not with strangers, but sometimes with those we trust the most.
It leaves you with a heavy question. When trust feels

(11:07):
absolute and someone offers you exactly what you dishonor most,
how do you know if it's genuine connection or the
beginning of a devastating manipulation. Something to really consider
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