All language subtitles for locked_up_abroad_s10e04_undercover_arms_dealer

I was working undercover for the British
government.

We're going to move quickly before they
realise it was us.

This is now so dangerous just to be
almost suicidal.

Go! Go!

Go!

If he starts anything, I'd have to shoot
him.

Take them away!

To all of us!

British! Take them away!

Take them away! Rocket launchers, hand
grenades, sniper rifles.

My mission wouldn't be a success unless
it was stopped.

They didn't want the truth to come out.

Somebody wanted me dead.

I come from a military family.

Almost every male relative I have has
seen action in warfare.

So the army is in my blood.

I was in the military two and a half,
three years, and I enjoyed it

But it wasn't what I personally wanted
to do.

So I was still a very young man when I
left the British Army, and I was, you

know, well -trained, well -qualified.

I had an encyclopedic knowledge of arms
and ammunition.

And I decided to go into the defence
trading business.

People immediately think of tanks and
rockets.

You have to remember that armies require
a huge variety of things just to

function on a day -to -day basis.

You've got a, you know, 50 ,000
soldiers.

You need a lot of laboratory paper.

Somebody's got to supply it. That's
defence trading.

It's the same as supplying artillery
shells, and that's where the trade lies.

So you scan government gazettes, you see
the tenders, you see what people are

wanting to buy, and you spot something
that you can supply, and you put in a

tender for that. And that's what arms
trading is all about.

I lived with my girlfriend, Jo.

She was a Fleet Street journalist.

I had a nice old farmhouse on the
Yorkshire Moors with ten acres of land

it.

Yes, it was living the dream.

And we were very, very happy indeed.

By August 1995, I've been trading in
arms for about five years.

Out of the blue, I got a request from a
Danish businessman asking me to quote

from the supply of 1 ,300 AK -47s.

The bread and butter of most arms
dealers is... selling batches of AK -47

rifles. It's still the best selling
rifle in the world today because it

and it's dirt cheap, but it's good.

The delivery address for this particular
consignment of arms was Calcutta Port

in India.

Perfectly normal.

I quoted somewhere in the region of $350
,000 US for the guns and delivery.

I got a fax back saying they were very
happy with the price and would I fly to

Copenhagen to sign the contract?

About a week later, I flew off to meet
them.

Peter. Hello. Welcome.

Thank you.

You've brought the document?

Yes, of course.

I opened my briefcase and produced the
copies of the contract.

Sounds good.

I had no reason to suspect anything.

Until another guy came in.

Ah. Good to meet you, Peter. Good
afternoon.

He said his name was Kim Davey. Sorry I
should have come in earlier.

The guy who was in charge... There has
been a change of plan.

Let me explain.

He wanted to reduce the number of AK
-47s he was buying, but add in some

things like rocket launchers, hand
grenades, pistols, sniper rifles.

There's only one explanation.

You don't want... That amount of guns,
if you're a legitimate person, you're a

terrorist if you want that.

And then he said... I want them dropped
with parachute out of the back of a

cargo plane.

The moment this guy said that to me, I
was left in no doubt whatsoever.

I knew we were talking about an illegal
deal.

I was absolutely shock rigid because all
legitimate arms trading is done from

custom sport to custom sport.

So I instantly changed gear and it was
an entirely different ballgame from that

second onwards.

I wasn't going to take them all to high
ground and say, look, I'm not dealing

with terrorists.

But I had to get out of there. I had to
get away.

The way I played it was to pretend that
I was annoyed with them.

I would have preferred it if you'd told
me all this before I left.

I mean, this is completely unexpected.

The guns of a group of monks were being
persecuted by the communist government

of West Bengal.

I know them well.

It's tragic.

Some of them have been set on fire in
the streets of Calcutta and burned

I mean, every terrorist thinks that
their cause is righteous.

It doesn't mean they're not a terrorist.

I thought the best thing to do is say,
yeah, I'm happy to give you a quote for

this, but it's going to cost you more
money.

Fine, Peter.

When I came back to England, the very
first thing I did was get hold of the

at the Defence Export Services
Organisation.

That was a part of the Department of the
Ministry of Defence set up to assist

people in the defence trade.

And so, if anything hooky comes up, and
this clearly was, you phone them

straight away.

Let's speak to David Hemmings, please.

Went through every detail of the
meeting.

and I was told categorically to continue
dealing as normal with these people.

They were to carry on thinking that I
was on their side.

Now I was effectively working undercover
for the British government.

My motivation in going ahead with this
was, you've got to do the right thing.

You can't just ignore things like that,
because that makes you just as bad as he

is.

So we agreed to that.

I stayed in touch with Kim in the days
and weeks that followed.

Kim, hello.

How can I help? Kim Davey had just asked
me to buy him an aircraft as well. I

found an Antonov cargo plane for him.

Kim was to go ahead and get a Russian
flight crew, and the weapons would be

supplied by a state -owned armaments
firm in Bulgaria.

Have a good evening. Bye now.

I was very keen to deliver Kim into the
hands of law and order.

It was all sorted out.

In December 1995, I had a meeting at my
house to discuss how to

arrest Kim Davey.

Good morning. Good morning, Mr Bleach.
I'm Detective Sergeant Stephen Elcock,

North Yorkshire Special Branch.

North Yorkshire Police Special Branch
are a covert unit. Thank you. And they

generally support MI5 in their
activities.

MI5 is a domestic security service
within Britain.

So? They said they'd consulted with the
Indian government that it is vital that

the delivery of illegal arms and
ammunition is brought to India simply so

the Indian government could arrest
everybody concerned, seize the guns and

the people on the ground.

Right, well, I'll give you the plane
registration so

you can follow the flight plan.

Look.

flying from Bulgaria from here, Benaria,
otherwise known as

Varanasi, stopping there before the
drop.

That was the moment that we hatched a
plan.

The aircraft would stop to refuel at
Varanasi.

At that moment, the Indian security
forces would surround the plane and

Kim Davey.

The aircraft would be full of arms and
ammunition.

He would have been caught red -handed on
Indian soil by Indian security

services.

It would have been a clean, quick
operation.

There was an extraordinary coincidence.

The phone rang, and it was Kim.

Hello, Peter, how are you? How the devil
are you? I put the conversation on the

loudspeaker. I need you to come out here
for me.

To Bulgaria.

We're stuck here until I get a new
certificate of airworthiness.

Because I was the agent who'd sold the
aircraft, He needed me to sort out the

paperwork so that the aircraft could
leave the ground.

There you go.

Stuck in Bulgaria.

Well, you have to go.

That flight has to take off.

You have to go to Bulgaria and sort this
out, otherwise we're going to lose the

whole operation.

Thank you, Peter.

I could have turned around and said, no,
I'm not having anything to do with it,

and that would have wrecked everything
that everybody had worked for for

months. Joe?

There simply wasn't any choice.

Sorry, love.

I was assuming that I'd be back from
Bulgaria in a matter of days.

And actually, it gave me comfort to know
that the security services knew what I

was doing and where I was.

Won't be long.

Days.

Sorry, love.

When I got to the aircraft, the weapons
were in the plain boxes and they were

provided with paperwork that said
technical equipment.

So it was an innocuous -looking cargo.

Kim was there waiting for me.

Well done, Kim.

I had a fresh certificate of
airworthiness that was valid.

Excellent. Thank you, Peter.

It's a huge help. I thought, that's
that, the job's done, and I can go home.

He said to me that he was sorry, but
since I was the only person who knew all

the details of the consignment and the
operation, he wasn't comfortable with

letting me just go my own way.

You're the only other person who knows
about the mission.

I need you to come with me.

What if somebody questions you when you
get home?

He wasn't asking, he was telling.

Kim, you can trust me. I promise.

I thought that if I flatly refused to
go, I may well be in quite serious

So I calculated that there was by far
the least risk of to agree.

You're a very persuasive man.

I knew I could count on you, Peter.

It was absolutely critical that this
mission, as it was planned, was to go

ahead. I assumed that Indian security
services would arrest him at Varanasi.

That assumption was one of my biggest
mistakes.

I was on an elderly Russian cargo plane
carrying a load of weapons all destined

for an illegal arms drop in the
backwoods of India.

I was quite worried. But all the time
was this memory of British intelligence

saying it's absolutely vital that this
consignment arrive.

That was the premier thing in my mind.

And my mission is to deliver Kim into
the hands of law and order in India.

To make a parachute drop, you have to
open the boxes and tack the arms and

ammunition onto the pallet.

By the time we finished, there were
three big pallets strapped down, full of

arms and ammunition, ready to go.

And after a very, very long flight,
finally one of the crew came back and

we're coming into land to refuel at
Varanasi.

I'm convinced that within half an hour
or so, everybody's going to be in police

custody.

And the tension just started to build
up, you know, the adrenaline kicks in

again.

Touchdown.

I'm actually looking for signs of where
the Indian Special Forces attack was

likely to come from.

I grabbed a pistol.

Just so I had a gun if I needed it.

And I suppose old habits die hard.

If Kim picks up the loaded AK and looks
if he's going to use it, I would have

shot him without question, without
hesitation.

I thought that the Indian security
services would follow the fuel bowser,

because they'll be able to get 20, 30,
50 blokes right up to the aircraft.

I was absolutely ready to take him out.

It came under the wing.

And I could see there was nobody behind
us. And I was absolutely astonished. I

thought, what the hell's going on here?

It was the biggest anticlimax I've ever
experienced in my life.

Right to the last minute, I thought, no,
somebody's going to rush the plane any

minute now. Something's going to happen.

But nothing happened again.

I should have got a flight back direct
to the UK.

But I was on a mission.

The objective is to...

get the group identified and rolled up
and arrested.

And for better or for worse, it's vital
that that takes place.

The monks need their weapons.

They need our help.

What's happening to them isn't right.

As soon as they're done, we go.

I came to the conclusion that I was
going to ride with this aircraft to its

destination.

Fueling was finished.

Pilot fires up the plane.

And we're up into the night sky.

And then I thought, I hope to God that
the Indian Special Forces haven't

to just shoot the aircraft down.

I wonder if the missile's going to hit
us. I wonder if the missile's going to

hit us.

It would work. It would stop the arms
from being delivered.

The plane would simply disappear.

That would be the end of it.

I was desperately worried.

The second thing in my mind was the fact
that we had to fly between two hills to

hit the target.

And the drop zone was a single hill that
would appear to be in front, rather

like a rifle sight.

And when we passed the waypoint... There
it is!

We have to go!

It was gone, and that was it. They were
out. We safely executed the drop.

The missile didn't hit them. I was happy
to be alive.

Everybody else thinks this is a great
success, but I'm the only person whose

mind's in turmoil who knew that this was
a catastrophic mistake.

This aircraft should have been arrested
at Varanasi, and something's gone

really, really wrong.

We flew on to Thailand and Kim checked
us all into a hotel complex.

I thought the first thing I'm going to
do is contact the British authorities

tell them everything.

But we had to go through the hotel
exchange and I thought that was very

Kim Davey. Anybody else could listen to
the phone calls of whoever I spoke to.

So I basically collapsed and went to
bed.

The next morning, I put on the World
Service News.

Villagers in the Purulia district of
West Bengal woke up this morning

to find weapons lying on the ground,
apparently dropped from the skies.

I suddenly thought to myself, my God,
that's us.

I'm confused because, you see, these are
villagers on the television screen, and

we were miles from any villagers.

I was at the same time quite relieved
because not all the guns had arrived.

with this group of insurgents, whoever
they might be.

They were in the hands of the police. So
that was a plus point.

You've seen the news. Got it on now.

This is now big trouble.

What the hell are we going to do now?

They do not know why the weapons were
dropped or who the intended recipients

have been.

What an extraordinary mistake to make. I
mean, how did this happen?

And it becomes obvious there's any one
way this can happen.

And that's because we were flying too
high.

And the parachutes blew off course.

Kim's first thought is damage
limitation.

We've got to move quickly before they
realise it was us.

He's all for repainting the aircraft,
abandoning it at some little airport

somewhere. Meanwhile, in my head, I'm
thinking it was absolutely vital that I

somehow got that aircraft back to India
and gave the Indian government a second

chance to arrest Devi and his
associates.

I was absolutely determined I wasn't
going to give up on this. We have to

to the plan.

The only way the Indian authorities will
suspect us is if we panic and do

something unexpected.

If we don't go back on the flight plan
that we have booked, we will draw

attention to ourselves.

OK.

Let me know when you're ready.

And he agreed that that was a good idea.

So we drove over to the airport, get on
board the plane, and off we go.

By this time, I had no way of knowing if
the British government was tracking my

movements or not.

After several hours of flying, we
entered Indian airspace.

We were about 15 minutes out of Bombay.

Air traffic control

told us to land for technical reasons
and that was the expression they used.

We couldn't understand what they would
be because we were in possession of a

fully authorized flight plan.

They're telling us to land.

Peter, that's not good.

It's an instruction, Kim.

It's all a request.

We have to land.

Land.

Tim Davey got really busy formatting his
laptop computer, breaking

up floppy disks, every piece of
significant evidence.

I don't know what to think.

We landed.

I was really excited.

I want this plane arrested.

I want to put this lot to bed.

I thought I'd done the job.

I thought that the Indian security
services would arrest David.

But nobody came to see us.

Nothing happened.

I thought, what the hell's going on
here?

She's sorting out the landing fee.

Back in 10 Peter.

A few minutes after that,

I see lorries, look like military
lorries coming our way.

I thought I could see it.

Afternoon. Please give me your manager's
passport.

Where is Kimpy Davies?

Time of landing for you. Very pleased.

Come in, come in.

Kimpy Davies is there.

Okay. Bye.

Please take him away.

I started then to wonder a little bit
what was going on here.

And we were put into the most filthy
cell imaginable.

Where's Tim Davies? I don't know. It was
quite a long time before I realised

that Tim Davies had actually vanished.

Have you spoken with British Secret
Services?

I was on a mission to help you.

Arrest Kim Davies.

I assumed that the Indian security
services would know who I was and they'd

me go.

But then the questioning started in
earnest.

Go tell me the truth.

Sometimes it would be CID, sometimes it
would be the state police, sometimes it

would be the city police.

If you help me, I'll help you.

And I couldn't understand what the
British government was doing and my

should have been confirmed by then.

You are a liar.

Why are you still lying?

To all British secret services, am I
fine?

And the next thing I knew... What the
hell is this?

What the hell are you doing?

I was taken right to the perimeter of
the airfield.

Where are you taking me?

I was sort of held in a crucifixion
position.

I heard them cock their rifles and take
aim.

This is it. This is where it all comes
to an end.

And we stood there, it seemed like an
aid.

And then suddenly I heard, I

don't know what happened there. I

don't know if it was an attempt to
intimidate me.

It was a horrible experience.

Absolutely awful.

I don't fully understand it to this day.

They ended up transporting us to
Calcutta to a police station in the

It was dark. It stank of human waste.
Clearly hadn't been cleaned for years.

I did wonder what on earth the British
government was up to because I was

relying on them to get me out of here.

And we were just left there.

That concerned me greatly.

A few days later, we were taken from our
cell.

We had no idea where we were going.

And we got to this building in the town
centre.

And it turned out to be the magistrate's
court.

There were thousands of journalists and
television cameras, BBC News 24, CNN.

They were saying, do you have a
statement? Do you have a statement?

I realized then that this is clearly a
huge international story.

And we were taken into a courtroom and
put into a steel cage.

A little bit like being in a zoo,
actually.

And then everybody stopped to listen to
the magistrates.

Peter Bleach?

Yes? We all confirmed our names.

You are hereby charged with waging war
against India.

Waging war against India.

Probably one of the most serious crimes
in the Indian law.

I thought, how is this possible?

I'm being charged with something that
carries a death penalty when all I ever

did was try and get...

The conspirators were arrested.

There's been a big mistake.

Take them away.

I thought I'd been shafted good and
proper.

I really did. Somebody here has screwed
me over. I didn't know who it was.

It might have been the Brits, might have
been the Indians, but somebody

somewhere.

had set me up as a real patsy on this
one.

We were escorted through to the high
security ward.

We didn't even know if anybody knew

where we were.

We were completely isolated.

The first couple of nights were very,
very difficult indeed.

We got very little food and we were
hungry all the time.

The lights failed and within seconds you
could hear the cockroaches scuttling

about the place.

No awful things. You know when they're
crawling over you, it's not a nice

feeling at all.

We were kept locked in our cells most of
the time.

We don't speak the language.

They were very hostile to me indeed.

The problem that we had was we were
accused of crimes against India.

That's the kiss of death in an Indian
jail.

I couldn't figure out how I was going to
survive this.

Usually, I had a plan.

But this time, there was no plan at all.
I had no idea how I was going to get

out of this.

I'd been in jail for weeks and weeks and
weeks now.

By then, I'd completely lost track of
days.

I had no idea what the date was. We had
no idea what was happening in the

outside world.

It was an awful thing.

But then one day, one of the jail
officers came to me and said, Mr. Peter,

there's a visitor for you.

He's a British diplomat.

And I thought, this is absolutely
marvellous. This is really what I've

waiting for.

Mr. Leach?

Yes? Peter Leach. Yes.

My name's Hugh Grigg. I'm from the
British High Commission.

Hello.

Why, it's good to see you.

Well, look, there's been some awful
mistake here.

And I don't think I've ever been so
relieved to see anybody in all my life.

And I thought, fantastic, I've got a set
foot out of the jail.

Is there anything I can do to be of
assistance?

What do you know about the case?

Oh, not a whole lot. I was hoping you'd
be able to fill me in.

What?

Wow!

It was an extraordinary hammer blow
that... The Foreign Office knew nothing

about this whatsoever.

I was annoyed, because I wanted to go
home by then.

But, you know, I wasn't, and that was
that. So there was no point crying over

spilt milk. The situation was what it
was, and I had to make the best of the

situation.

So from that moment, I made a conscious
decision to defend myself, because I

knew nobody could do it better than I
could myself.

After two months, I got copies of the
evidence against me, including a

that belonged to Detective Sergeant
Elcock.

Mr Bleach? He was the special branch
officer that came to my office with the

guy. I'm reading this statement, and I
can't believe what I'm looking at.

He said that he came to see me
investigating my criminal activities,

was an outright lie.

And I found copies of his police
notebook.

There's just a blank space at the top.

I thought there's an entire introductory
paragraph missing from this whole

thing.

No. So he's completely distorted the
evidence against me.

Absolute bastard to do something like
that, and I make no apologies for the

language whatsoever.

This is a policeman doing it. I don't
care that he was special branch and

they're a bit special.

As a British policeman did that, he
lied.

I needed to know why this was.

What was happening? What was behind it?

Because I could now be facing the death
penalty.

It was obvious to me somebody wanted me
dead.

And that meant I had to watch my back
all the time.

There were a lot of people, little drug
dealers and pimps and all sorts of

people who wanted to have a go at us.

Without the military training, I
couldn't have survived my time in jail.

We ended up having to fight quite a lot.

It was difficult, but you have to stay
determined that you're not going to let

it get you down.

I had to keep my wits about me, and the
best way of doing that turned out to be

writing petitions, writing letters.

and I got these copies of the Indian law
book because I was trying to save my

life.

The British diplomat gave me the factors
to show my girlfriend very reassuring

factors that they're trying to find out
what's going on because she did know my

side of the story.

I was confident that I finally got
things moving.

I've now been in jail for two and a
half, three years, and I'm about to go

trial, and suddenly I got a call to the
office of the jail.

The guard said, I've got a parcel for
you from North Yorkshire Police, Peter.

Opened it up and started to go through
it, and I noticed straight away that it

was all the original documents,
including the Belcock Police notebook.

So suddenly, I didn't just have the mess
of his documents that he'd submitted to

the Indian court. I had the original
document that showed what paragraph was

missing.

There were documents that proved, beyond
any shadow of a doubt, that the very

first thing I did when I found it was an
illegal deal was to contact the British

authorities and tell them everything.

I thought this was almost to get out a
jail -free card.

I had this guy absolutely banged to
rights.

So I was buoyant. I was fully confident
I could go to court and prove beyond a

shadow of a doubt that I wasn't guilty.

I was going to court in a really, really
good mood. I was ready for it.

Finally, I was going to be able to fight
back.

Because I was defending myself, I sat at
the desk with the lawyer.

But the real thing that I was looking
forward to was the appearance of

Sergeant Stephen Alcott.

Because, of course, I had all sorts of
rock -solid evidence against him to

my innocence.

When it was my witness, I thought, I've
got to make the biggest possible impact.

He had no idea that I had this unaltered
original notebook.

And I looked straight at him and I
smiled at him and said, now, Sergeant

will you kindly look at the document
that's just been presented to you?

And his face turned absolutely grey.

I thought he was going to have a heart
attack.

Line by line, we went through every
change he made.

Then I said, so, Sergeant Alcock, it...

Is it true that you submitted a
completely false document to the court?

Yes.

Thank you.

It was absolutely marvellous. I was on a
complete high.

I'm thinking I'm going to be on a flight
to London soon.

So we were quite confident when the
magistrate came to announce the verdict.

We're called to stand in the dock.

And the magistrate said, The verdict of
this court, guilty on all charges.

None of us said anything. It was a very
big

shock indeed.

Your brain spins.

You cannot understand where it's coming
from.

The sentence is life imprisonment.

Life sentence in that place was nearly
as bad as a death sentence. In fact, it

was like a death sentence that was
prolonged over a period of years. Take

away!

Someone somewhere didn't want the truth
to come out, and I was paying the

ultimate price for that.

I had to face the fact that I had life
imprisonment.

And that was that. I didn't look too
optimistic at that particular stage.

I thought, I'll write this letter to my
partner, Joe Fletcher.

I said, you've got to stop thinking
about me.

I'm stuck here now. It looks like I've
got life imprisonment. I can't guarantee

I'm ever going to get out.

So, you know, best thing to do is for
you to make your own life.

Things like that are difficult to write.

Because there comes a time when you've
got to get rid of the false optimism.

Face the fact that you might lose this
fight.

I think that was probably the lowest
moment psychologically.

I was pretty close to giving up the
struggle at one point.

Because I didn't think I could go on.

Incredibly, after a few months, the jail
superintendent and his deputy came down

to the cells... You!

You! You! Going home.

..and said to the Russian crew, pack
your bags, you're going.

They were overwhelmed.

And that was it. They were gone.

That's the last I ever saw of the
Russian crew. One minute they were

Next minute, bang, they're gone.

I couldn't believe it. How could this be
happening?

I

found

out later that day that the Indian
government wanted to buy Sukhoi fighter

bombers from Russia.

And before Vladimir Putin sold them to
India, he stopped and said, well, what

about my air crew who are in jail in
Calcutta?

I realized that there may be a legal
hole for me to run through here.

I reread the Indian Constitution. It
deals with the question of equality

very strongly. And it states quite
clearly, if two people have the same

conviction, You can't just release one
and not release the other.

John!

And I knew at last I had something to
fight with.

I was trying to put pressure on the
British government to demand my release,

so I wrote to all sorts of people.

I'd wake up thinking, right, what am I
going to do today? Who can I write to

today? Who can I harass today? Who can I
make... Whose life can I make difficult

today?

I spent the next three or four years
campaigning.

And it was very successful. It was a
nightmare for British politicians at

stage. And in the end, it worked.

On the 4th of February 2004...

Finally, I was released, and it was an
extraordinary moment.

I'm feeling a mixture of being elated
and completely relieved. It was suddenly

the fight's over.

I'd been locked in an Indian jail for
eight years.

It felt very, very good indeed.

And I thought, yes, I'm out of jail when
I sat in that vehicle.

I was a free man.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on
a BA flight to London.

That was it. I was back home.

What do we know about what really
happened? Well, to a great extent, the

have been filled in. I now know that it
wasn't Kim Davies' plot. It was the

Indian government.

that hired Kim Davey to get guns and
give them to a group to topple the

government of West Bengal.

So it was an internal Indian power
struggle.

The British government knew about that.

They were certainly a party to it.

You know, you don't appreciate freedom
until you lose freedom.

And I've had that experience. So I
probably have a better appreciation of

have now than I ever have throughout my
whole life.

All in all, I hope I'm not bitter and
twisted about it.

And I'm enjoying living life.

I'm getting on a bit now. I'm too old to
go and sell AK -47s to people.

I own and operate a cafe in Yorkshire.

There's much more to do and to get on
with. I look to the future, not to the

past.