Guy Stanton was a burly London gangster with a big reputation. For years he operated at the top of the drugs trade, moving huge shipments around the world. He knew the leading players in global organised crime, from wealthy Asian warlords and Turkish heroin barons to British cannabis crews and Colombian cocaine cartels.

Yet all along he was living a perilous double life. 'Stanton' was the legend – the fake identity – of a covert investigator fronting a bold new concept in deep infiltration. Beta Projects was Britain's most secret undercover unit. Formed by HM Customs, it trained an elite cadre of officers to adopt false personas and penetrate the international underworld – for as long as it took.

Posing as money launderers, yacht skippers, lorry drivers and gangster's molls, and often just a word away from betrayal and retribution. they lived the life of the villains they pursued, helping to seize tonnes of drugs and illicit contraband. Their clandestine exploits have never been revealed – until now.

Stanton's extraordinary work took him to four continents, all while living on a razor's edge. He and his colleagues survived gun battles, kidnaps, disasters at sea and false claims of corruption. The job cost him dear, pushing hm to the limits of physical and mental endurance.

THE BETRAYER is the authentic account of a ground-breaking assault on the world's most brutal narcos and of the courage, camaraderie (and humour) of the men and women who took the War on Drugs deep into the heart of the enemy.