3. Operation Extend

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