White Gold: The Inside Story of the UK's Largest Ever Drugs Haul

by Eugene Costello, Howard Marks (Foreword)

Throughout the '70s and '80s, the Highland fishing village of Ullapool was a tough place to make a living. Renowned for its lawlessness, it was no place for the squeamish. In the summer of 1989, a local man named Chris Howarth met an expatriate Scot who offered him some work, and set in motion a chain of events that would lead to what would be the UK's largest ever drugs haul. Around the same time, working on a tip-off from a local informant and intelligence from their Spanish counterparts, Customs and Excise became aware of a major plot to smuggle huge amounts of drugs into the UK around Ullapool. As a result of this information, Operation Klondyke was born. The trail would lead from Ullapool and the east coast of Scotland to the Costa del Sol, Gibraltar, and Venezuela. It would uncover distribution channels from Colombia's notorious Cali cartel to Europe and North America, operated by ruthless Spanish smuggling outfits. White Gold tells the inside story of Operation Klondyke through the eyes of both the hunters and the hunted.

Genres: True Crime

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Phil Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great story (based on true events). But so excruciatingly badly written that it barely deserves one star.

For a so-called journalist it's surprising how this author is unable to separate what is relevant (or interesting) from what is simply dross. There's so much tedious detail - car registration numbers, every minor cast member named, every visit to various locations chronicled (as if any of it matters). He also manages to include almost every cliche under the sun (oops).

The main character is portrayed as such a hopeless buffoon that it's impossible to empathise with him (or even care whether or not he got away with it). And for the record, the author also manages to libel one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. I'm guessing he's never set foot in Ullapool.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like fiction - I enjoyed it, particularly given that it tells the extraordinary story of how the largest drugs haul in the UK involved someone who lived less than 500 yards from my cottage in Glenisla, and took place in one of my favourite west coast Highland towns, Ullapool!