"Whilst a member of the Dyfed Powys Police drug squad we were concerned about the sizures of LSD in our area.

In mid April 1975 the big break came when together with DS Ritchie Parry and DC Trevor House we searched a red Landrover at the police garage in Aberystwyth.

This vehicle belonged to a Richard Kemp of Tregaron who had been involved in a fatal road accident a few weeks earlier.

Whilst removing stones and slates from the vehicle in the debris we found six tiny pieces of paper and when put together spelt out in handwritten words hydrazine hydrate, one of the main ingredients of LSD.

This was the first piece of evidence.

Whilst exchanging information the head of Thames Valley Police drug squad, Insp Dick Lee, was interested in Kemp.

Surveillance was kept on Kemp and his wife, Christine Bott, and they were seen making frequent visits to Plasllysin, Carno, near Newtown.

On 17 February 1976 a meeting took place at Brecon and a number of chief constables and senior drug squad officers attended.

It was then decided to form a multiforce operation. This was to be the start of Operation Julie.

In the end it consisted of 28 undercover drug squad officers from 10 police forces.

In May 1976 a surveillance team of four officers rented a cottage approximately 200 yards from Richard Kemp's cottage in Tregaron.

There was a stream passing near the premises. I lent these officers two of my fishing rods and gave them a crash course on fishing and how to place a worm on the hook.

At the beginning of October 1976 I was asked to join the Operation Julie team at Devizes and London as I knew from the beginning what was going on.

Accompanied by Mike Clifford of Dyfed Powys Police we proceeded to Devizes for instructions. After lunch we had to make contact with members of the team at Heathrow Airport.

Our first assignment was to follow a suspect named Arnaboldi in a three car team. After he arrived at his hotel we went to RAF Hendon's marrried quarters.

Here, a four-bedroom house had been made available for 14 of the team - a bit cramped!

There was even a bed on the landing, one under the stairs and one in a large built-in wardrobe.

For the next six weeks I was keeping surveillance on Todd's House at Hampton Wick. Two of us were in a surveillance van taking photographs of cars and visitors.

In the corner of the van and caravan was a porta potty hidden behind a curtain.

We had to drive from Hendon on the north circular and south circular, leaving at 6am and not returning until 8pm or 10pm depending on the activity.

We then managed to have an observation post in the box room of a house with views of Henry Todd's house. Todd and Andrew Munro, an inorganic chemist had set up shop in a basement in Seymour Road, London.

This was luxury compared to the van.

At the time our 24-hour subsistance allowance was £3.75. We pooled money into the kitty to buy food which we cooked. I came home on most weekends.

I remember doing a foot follow with five others which involved following Munro from Hampton Wick tube station to Clapham. Lead one followed Munro to the ticket office and listened to him stating his destination.

He then passed this information on to the next lead and so on.

In early March 1977 there was a lot more activity in Seymour Roaad with people calling wiith deliveries.

A 24 hour surveillance was mounted, working two shifts. On a few occasions we had to work a 24 hour shift due to shortage of manpower.

The big day came on Saturday 26 March. At 1am, 60 officers assembled at Aberystwyth police station and were briefed by their section leader.

I was assigned with DS Vince Castle and our target was a Dr Mark Charney, wo lived at Esgairwen, near Lampeter.

About a mile from the farm, the convoy stopped and we proceeded on foot. We easily gained entry.

Charney was arrested, the premises was searched and a large number of exhibits were taken.

I conveyed Charney to Swindon and when interviewed he admitted being the courier by taking the LSD tablets produced by Richard Kemp to the main distributor, a David Solomon in London.

Information was received from a source that £16,000 in cash had been hidden in Bott's car. This was moved to Esgairwen and hidden under some stones and was to be collected by Kemp on his release.

It was then moved the second time but the source did not know the location.

With Vince Castle, I searched the banks of a small stream and after walking down about 100 yards I found a black plastic bag in a crevice under the bank of the stream.

I handed it to Vince Castle and after it was taken to Swindon it revealed that it contained £1100 in cash.

Poor Kemp, not only had a friend betrayed him but other friends had spent £5,000 of it.

On 1 December a message was received from Operation Julie Headquarters by Ritchie Parry that we had to proceed to Kemp's cottage in Tregaron.

On arrival we met Superintendent Greenslade and other officers. We were briefed and started to dig up the large thick earthenware slabs in the kitchen.

The soil looked as if it had been disturbed about a foot down. We found a dark plastic box. It was photographed and taken to Aldermaston to be analysed.

After examination it revealed it was 1.3 Kilos of pure LSD crystal which Kemp had produced at Carno.

It was enough to make 13 million dosage and worth about £65 million on the street.

It was the greatest haul of drugs anywhere in the world.

The 17 prisoners received a jail sentence total of 124 years.

The judge made a forfeiture order of their assets in this country which amounted to about £400,000 which would be paid into public funds and which would cover the cost of the operation.

For the first time in police history one of its investigations had ended in the black."

Article written by Noir Bowen.

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