In February 1999, customs officers seized 472 kilos of cocaine with a street value of #61 million from a lock-up garage in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and a farm in Middlesex. Eleven people were arrested, from Britain, Colombia and Brazil. So began a Customs and Excise investigation, "Operation Extend", which only became known to the public in June 2002. In all 15 people were convicted worldwide in a case which featured five separate trials, one which lasted 14 months, the second-longest criminal trial in UK legal history. This book reveals how the drugs smuggling organization uncovered by "Operation Extend" used betting and bookmakers to launder the money from their illegal drugs sales. How far the tentacles of the organization reached into the sport of kings is only just coming to light. The author is the journalist who broke the story in the "Racing Post" and who wrote an in-depth analysis of corruption within horseracing for the "Observer Sports Monthly".
