Operation Seal Bay (the code name given to the investigation carried out by Dyfed and Powys Police) traces one of the largest and most complex drug conspiracies in British history.
BBC Radio Wales' six-part podcast tells the story of how a small community and rural police force in Wales thwarted an international drugs ring worth millions of dollars.
In 1983, in the small fishing village of Newport in west Wales, a local farmer discovered something strange on a remote beach accessible only by boat.
He discovers a watertight hatch that leads to a secret underground bunker. Inside there were wooden posts, plywood sheets supporting rocks, and walls covered in fiberglass waterproofing.
There was a report of an unknown man being seen near the location of the bunker. Lobster disappears from a fisherman's kettle, expensive marine equipment is discovered in another remote cove, and rumors abound in local pubs that the same men are shelling out large sums of money.
Dyfed Powys police begin tracking the strangers one by one, and as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that a large-scale drug smuggling operation is underway, with a complex group of characters behind it.
A former public school boy investor, an accomplished yachtsman with 17 different aliases, a Danish former actor nicknamed “Rubber Faced Man” for his ability to change his appearance and evade arrest, and a masked cocaine addict. There is a suspected smuggler. I wore a cream-colored safari suit and drove around in a convertible Rolls Royce.
The series, hosted by Welsh actress Hannah Daniel, follows the investigation through the archives, with new and exclusive interviews from members of the local community and police officers involved in the operation.
The officers eventually embarked on an international adventure that took them to London, Denmark, the Isle of Man, southern France, and Mallorca.
Producer James Hale said: “Operation Seal Bay is one of the biggest and strangest drug smuggling plots Britain has ever seen.
“The story centers on a culture clash between a flamboyant international drug lord and the curious Welsh townspeople and rural detectives who foil their daring smuggling scheme.
“We feel that these smugglers thought they could come to rural west Wales and carry out a large-scale drug trafficking scheme in front of the unsuspecting local population. But how wrong they were!
“More than 40 years later, this story seems largely forgotten, but go to any pub in the Newport area and they'll tell you about it.
“Local residents fondly remember times when people came together to remove anything they believed threatened the peace and well-being of the close-knit community in which they lived.
“It became a folk tale and part of Welsh history. So we thought it was important to record the story and get it told by the people who were there before it disappears into the mists of time.” That's what I thought.
Bridget Curnow, BBC Radio Wales Commissioner, said: “The events of Operation Seal Bay are such a source of intrigue for the local community that, 40 years after the start of this investigation, we really felt this was a story worth digging into.”
“The podcast gets to the heart of this complex and compelling investigation by telling it through the voices of those closest to the story. To all the police who worked so hard.”
The first two episodes of Operation Seal Bay are currently available on BBC Sounds, with two episodes to follow each week thereafter.
