Operation Venetic was the UK’s largest-ever law enforcement operation, following the infiltration of the encrypted communications network, EncroChat.
Among those arrested was Faye Dunn, a former international footballer who had become involved as an administrator in an international operation to supply drugs. After three years in prison, Faye has now completed her sentence and is rebuilding her life away from the drugs trade.
In prison, Faye saw close-up the disastrous effect drug abuse has on users for the first time.
In this File on 4 investigation, Danny Shaw explores the unexpected consequences of the EncroChat operation, as prisons struggle to cope with organised criminals behind bars. Speaking publicly for the first time, Faye tells Danny the story of how she stepped off a plane at Manchester Airport and straight into the hands of the police.
EncroChat was a mobile phone network used almost exclusively by organised criminals. When it was compromised by French and Dutch police, it supplied the biggest windfall of criminal intelligence in British history. It allowed police to view entire chains of communication used to coordinate the international drugs trade.
In the context of the decades-old ‘War on Drugs’, it was a bunker-busting super-weapon, unlikely ever to be surpassed in law-enforcement terms.
Thousands were arrested. Tonnes of drugs and millions in cash were seized. Weapons, ammunition and digital trails stretching across the global drug trade were uncovered. Major players were jailed. The police called it a once-in-a-lifetime victory.
But six years later, has this Hollywood-style policing operation made an impact on the supply of drugs on our streets?
Has it truly disrupted the drug trade – or simply shifted it?
And with law enforcement and custody costing hundreds of millions of pounds, are there other ways of reducing the harm cased by drugs?
Danny visits cities across Britain to look at programmes that aim to reduce demand for drugs - the other side of this most lucrative business model.
Presenter: Danny Shaw Producer: Beth McLeod Technical Producer: Steve Wyatt Executive Producer: Andrew Wilkie Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Image: Andy Aitchison A Prison Radio Association production for BBC Radio 4