In 1991, the town of Ullapool was rocked to the core when police seized over £100million worth of drugs just north of the apparently idyllic fishing village. Now, 34 years later, BBC ALBA pieces together the shocking true story which placed the Highlands at the centre of an international drug smuggling ring in Cocain is na Klondykers.
Throughout the epic three-part documentary series, premiering at 9pm on Tuesday 18 February, journalist Anna MacLeod sets out to discover how a picturesque and remote harbour town became the scene of the biggest drug bust of its time.
Against the fascinating backdrop of Soviet fish processing factory ships, the series will piece together a complex web of criminal activity that linked the Highlands of Scotland to Spain’s ‘Costa Del Crime’ and South America’s notorious Colombian crime gangs, built on first-hand testimony and rich social archive.
Maintaining its infamous title to this day as one of the most audacious drug smuggling operations in British history, viewers will also get an inside look at ‘Operation Klondyke’, the multi-agency, multi-million-pound surveillance operation that led to the arrests of six men. And what happened when the man behind it all disappeared into the ether while awaiting extradition to stand trial in Scotland.
Delving in the murky underworld, Anna will travel from the oil rigs of Aberdeen to the iconic rock of Gibraltar in search of crime kingpin Julian Chisholm (above) – the mastermind of the plan.
But with a Houdini-esque escape from a high security Spanish prison, is he dead or alive?
Journalist and presenter Anna MacLeod said: “Chisholm came to Aberdeen and went to work on the rigs like many other people from all over Scotland and the UK. But Chisholm took a different path.
“The eighties drug scene was changing rapidly and Julian Chisholm opted to put himself right in the middle of it. And I wanted to understand what made him do that. I wanted to get a better understanding of the world in which Chisholm was operating.”
With incredible access to those involved in pursuing the smugglers across the globe, the series will trace a cat and mouse style operation which often felt as though the gang was ahead of law enforcement at almost every turn. Using a rich layer of social history, we see how the breaking down of borders gave untold advantages to the criminal fraternity, and how the northwest coast of Scotland offered the ideal landscape with islands, inlets and coves to hide contraband.
Uncover the story of Scotland’s connection to international cartels as BBC ALBA unravels what became the biggest crime in Highland history. Discover how globalisation, oil and employment all played their part in turning local fishermen into international drug smugglers, helping the gang almost pull off a crime of unbelievable magnitude.
A complex story of twists, turns and red herrings, the first episode of Cocain is na Klondykers premieres on BBC ALBA and BBC iPlayer on Tuesday 18 February at 9pm, in Gaelic with English subtitles, with weekly episodes airing each Tuesday.
Watch live or on demand: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00285qr
