Cannabis Cove: Operation Seal Bay - Season 1

In 1983, a strange discovery disturbed a small fishing town in west Wales. When locals joined forces with the police to solve the mystery, they stumbled onto something far bigger than anyone could have imagined.

The investigation that followed led rural detectives on their biggest-ever case as they began to unravel one of Britain's most audacious - and strangest – drug-smuggling conspiracies: Operation Seal Bay.

The story begins with a local farmer discovering – by chance – a hidden glass hatch on a remote beach near the quiet fishing town of Newport, Pembrokeshire. When he opened it up, there was a ladder going 6ft down into a large, underground chamber below the shingle. The walls were waterproofed with fibreglass resin and wooden struts shored up the walls. This secret cavern also contained brand new marine equipment, boat engines and food.

What happened next was a rip-roaring caper that sent Welsh detectives on an international investigation to the Isle of Man, France, Spain, Denmark and Morocco as they uncovered more and more clues. It evolved into an adventure that took in sailing yachts, speeds boats, supercars with hidden panels, mansions with buried treasures and a cast of eccentric characters with extraordinary pasts, including an ex-public schoolboy yachtsman, a Rolls-Royce-driving playboy and a mysterious Dane nicknamed 'The Man with the Rubber Face'.

The investigation widens to London, Lebanon, the Isle of Man and Spain as the detectives close in on the smuggling gang. For the first time on television, the only Welsh member of the gang reveals the secrets behind the plan, before extraordinary scenes develop in a Swansea crown court that might just get everyone off the hook.

Told by the people who were there and the detectives who tracked them down, this is the story of how a small Welsh community and a local police force came together to take on international drugs traffickers.