Official trailer released for Amsterdam Narcos

From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the city of Amsterdam transformed from a liberal countercultural haven into the drugs capital of Europe, earning itself and the Netherlands the label of a ‘narco-state’ along the way. What began with the Dutch government’s tolerance of hash dealing inadvertently opened the floodgates to organised crime, as traffickers exploited ports and permissive attitudes to build one of the most lucrative drug markets in the world.

As ecstasy and cocaine smuggling followed, the Dutch underworld exploded. The rave scene thrived on ecstasy, fuelling both a youth revolution and a drug pipeline to British ports, while cocaine drew international criminals and a surge in bloodshed to the city.  As Amsterdam’s gangsters became increasingly reckless and ruthless, police resorted to desperate measures – with devastating consequences – in a bid to regain control.

Told through the powerful personal testimony of drug users, manufacturers, traffickers, and the detectives who tried to outsmart them, the series exposes the violence propagated by early hash smuggling, the illegal parties that fuelled the ecstasy boom, and the sophisticated trafficking techniques that allowed cocaine to flood the city. Amsterdam Narcos charts the trajectories of the criminal kingpins and bosses, the lengths they went to and the price that some ultimately paid as they transformed their city into the European epicentre of a lethal, multi-billion-pound business.

Amsterdam Narcos airs 13 August on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW.