Video taking off 9.9x its usual first day

Sky investigation follows cocaine job ads and ready-made dealing businesses

John Sparks examines how Albanian criminal gangs recruit delivery drivers and sell established customer networks in Britain's cocaine trade.

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Sky News Story of November 14, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 257,135 views a day, 9.9 times a normal first day on this channel (25,852).

The Drug Lords Next Door

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A phone can come with an entire customer base attached. In Sky News's "The Drug Lords Next Door", correspondent John Sparks investigates a cocaine trade in which dealers sell established contacts as ready-made businesses, rather than simply handing over a handset.

The documentary has drawn nearly a quarter of a million views before its first full day, approaching ten times Sky News's usual first-day audience for regular videos. Its subject is the business infrastructure behind street dealing: recruitment, delivery networks and access to international suppliers.

According to the investigation, dealers advertise cocaine delivery jobs on social media, with recruits starting work within hours of meeting the gangs. The broadcaster reports that the customer-loaded devices, known as "deal phones", can change hands for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Sparks follows Albanian criminal gangs' operations from British streets to supply links with South America. The film combines undercover reporting and police footage to examine how those networks operate openly in towns and cities, alongside the wealth accumulated by gang leaders. Quicksilver Media and Full Story Films produced the investigation for Sky News.

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