As cocaine profits multiply along the route to Europe, HMCE launches Operation Extend following the seizure of the Sea Mist.
Barry Clarke and his team monitor payphones, trace Colombian numbers and build intelligence from a London office, attempting to map the network behind Brian Brendan Wright.
Operation Extend becomes a long-term effort to understand a network that communicates cautiously and avoids direct contact.
Alongside the logistics sits the human cost. Clare Campbell describes the impact of cocaine addiction on her brother, a respected journalist whose life unraveled. For investigators, the case is not only about shipments and surveillance, but the consequences of a trade that damages families while its organisers appear untouchable.
As surveillance tightens, Wright grows suspicious, phone boxes are abandoned and tactics shift. Across the Atlantic, US agents continue to pursue the Narco whose connections help explain how bulk quantities of cocaine reached Europe.
Operation Extend becomes a test of patience - assembling fragments of intelligence in pursuit of the man known as The Milkman.
Credits Presenter: Livvy Haydock Series Producer: Louise Clarke Producer: Patrick Kiteley Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Hattie Valentine Technical producer and sound designer: Nicky Edwards Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn Commissioning Producer: Sam Proffitt Editor and Executive Producer: Tara McDermott
Acknowledgements Luis Navia is the co-author, with Jesse Fink, of Pure Narco: One Man’s True Story of 25 Years Inside the Colombian and Mexican Cartels.