Operation Seal Bay, the code name given to the investigation carried out by Dyfed-Powys Police, follows one of the biggest and most complex drug conspiracies in British history.
The six-part podcast from BBC Radio Wales tells the story of how a small Welsh community and its rural police force foiled an international drugs ring worth millions.
In 1983 in the small fishing village of Newport, west Wales, a local farmer found something strange on a secluded beach, only accessible by boat.
He discovered a watertight hatch, leading to a secret underground bunker. Inside, there were wooden supports, plywood sheeting holding back rock, and walls covered in fibreglass waterproofing.
There had been sightings of unknown men near to where the bunker was. Lobsters were going missing from fishermen’s pots, expensive marine equipment was found on another remote cove, and there was gossip from the local pubs about the large amounts of money these same men had been spending.
Dyfed-Powys Police begin tracking down the strangers one by one, and as the investigation unfolds it’s revealed a huge drug smuggle is underway and behind it is a gang of complicated characters.
There’s the ex-public school boy financier, a skilled yachtsman with 17 different aliases, a Dane and former actor nicknamed ‘the man with the rubber face’ for his ability to change his appearance and evade capture, and a suspected cocaine trafficker who wore a cream-coloured safari suit and drove around in a convertible Rolls Royce.
Hosted by Welsh actress Hannah Daniel, the series follows the investigation through archive, along with new, exclusive interviews from members of the local community and the police officers involved in the operation.
The officers ended up on an international adventure leading them to London, Denmark, the Isle of Man, the South of France and Mallorca.
Producer James Hale says: “Operation Seal Bay is one of the largest – and strangest – drug smuggling conspiracies Britain has ever seen.
“At the heart of the story is a culture clash between a glamourous international drug trafficking gang and the inquisitive Welsh townsfolk and rural detectives who thwart their audacious smuggling plot.
“There’s this feeling that these flash smugglers thought they could come to rural west Wales and conduct their huge drug running plan under the noses of the locals, without raising any suspicions. But how wrong they were!
“Over four decades later, the story seems to have largely been forgotten. But if you visit any pub in the Newport area, they’ll tell you about it.
“The locals remember it fondly as a time when people came together to take down something they believed threatened the peace and well-being of the close-knit community in which they lived.
“It’s become a folk story, a piece of Welsh history. So, we thought it was important to capture the story, and have it told by the people who were there, before it slipped away into the mists of time.”
BBC Radio Wales Commissioner, Bridget Curnow says: “The case of Operation Seal Bay is such a source of intrigue for the local community, so 40 years on from the start of this investigation, we really felt that this was a story worth delving back 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; the community of Newport, who were an integral part of the investigation, along with the police force who went to great lengths to crack the case.”
The first two episodes of Operation Seal Bay are now available on BBC Sounds, with two episodes following weekly.
