This is a Global Player Original podcast.

This is a global original podcast produced by Global and Forest Sounds.

Just a heads up, this podcast contains strong language and adult themes that may not be suitable for all listeners.

One icy morning in late December 2009, Detective Nikki White is at her desk.

The Bristol branch of the Avon and Somerset Police hasn't exactly blown the budget on Christmas

decorations. Solitary strands of tinsel wilt off the odd monitor. A miniature tree moaps by the microwave.

Lapland, this is not. But that doesn't dampen Nikki's spirits. She's warm-hearted, whip-smart and young to be a decade into the job.

I'm just doing what I love and it just makes me want to get up every day and come to work.

Nikki's idea of a fun time is a deep dive into a good fraud investigation, piecing together

complex stories and dragging the perpetrators out of the shadows. Me too, just a nice way to relax,

spending time in the world of shrinking violets like Jim McCormick. But unknown to Nikki, BBC investigators Myrian and Caroline

back in London, are also on Jim's case. As Nikki sips her morning coffee, she savours the

thought that her officers are currently searching Jim's home and business premises.

You get quite a buzzy, really, because, you know, you just don't know what you're going to get.

Nikki's been waiting ages for this moment.

Almost a year earlier, some highly valuable intel landed on her desk.

First off, a bank contacted her about a suspiciously hefty international payment to one of their customers.

Then a caller from Iraq's Ministry of the Interior got in touch about the same person.

As a police officer, when you hear the same name twice from different, unconnected sources, you listen.

There's that gut feeling, you think that there's something here.

Both juicy bits of intel raised crimson flags about Jim and his bomb detection device.

What is this device? Is it genuine?

...