For 74 days, the messages sent and received on 60,000 handsets was covertly captured. It became one of the biggest international law enforcement operations in history.

The series tells the story of the operation, giving a unique window into some of the highest-level global organised criminals and their crimes: violence, drugs, kidnap, money-laundering and murder.

The Garden has been given “unprecedented exclusive access” to behind-the-scenes of Operation Venetic led by the National Crime Agency and the work of their policing partners across the UK and abroad.

Telling the story of the operation from the inside, the series will reveal the shocking reality of three of the most significant organised crime groups who were exposed, and, in turn, bought down by their own text messages.

Zac Beattie, Executive Producer says; “When we discovered that this unprecedent operation could see the messages and photos of top-tier organised crime groups, we built the shape of the whole series around the messages themselves. Audiences are so used to reading texts and WhatsApp’s now, so the real messages play like dialogue in the drama sequences that put us in the room with the OCGs. These crime groups are normally faceless to us – just headlines – but the messages they sent when they thought they were hidden behind encryption, reveal the human face of their shocking crimes.”

Commissioner Sacha Mirzoeff says “The level of access that the team secured to tell this story from the inside of the international teams across the world is astounding. I’m particularly delighted with the dedication and creativity of the all-female directing team.  The innovative way in which they weave the different story telling techniques together creates a highly compelling series that shows how the workings of the highest echelons of the crime world can be brought to justice.”

The Series Director is Luned Tonderai and the director is Sophie Oliver. Executive Producers are Simon Ford and Zac Beattie.