0:00:31 > 0:00:35This stretch of coast has seen repeated waves of tribal settlers
0:00:35 > 0:00:38that have helped forge our national identity.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Saxons, Jutes, Vikings, Danes.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44They all came here, you know?
0:00:44 > 0:00:47And they were so impressed, they all decided to stay.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52But our ancestors never got round to colonising this headland.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Until recently, it was mostly a marsh.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57But now it's Felixstowe.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02The UK's largest container port.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05I'm going to see what one of those is all about.
0:01:07 > 0:01:1295% of the goods we consume on our island, arrive here by sea.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15When you're shopping, it's odds on you're buying stuff
0:01:15 > 0:01:20that came here by ship, in boxes like these.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34In all, 40% of Britain's trade comes through THIS port.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Much of that trade once flowed through London,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41but it moved here because Felixstowe can take bigger ships.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45These containers come from every corner of the world.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48There are about 6,000 of them on that ship alone
0:01:48 > 0:01:52and on the biggest vessels, there are up to 10,000 containers.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Each crane must unload a box every minute, day and night.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Felixstowe handles nearly 2 million containers per year.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16Some of the contents aren't always what they appear.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Stopping smugglers using any one of these incoming boxes is a herculean task.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23How on earth do they do it?
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Hi, Kevin.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Kevin Sayer's one of the few people with the power to open any box.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Our first container has come from Africa.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39It's suspicious, but they won't say why.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Is that typical, that load there?
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Because it looks so completely harmless.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45Yeah, indeed.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Very often that's what the criminals and smugglers are trading on.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52They want their consignment to look as legitimate as possible,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55so it evades our controls.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59It does seem a bit odd that it's only half-full.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04- Kevin!- Do you want to come have a look at this?- OK.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09- There's something inside?- The X-ray shows a dark block within the image.
0:03:09 > 0:03:10It's a black bin liner, Kevin.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Absolutely.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14It's coming out. It's coming out.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16It sounds heavy.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17It made a sort of a "thud" there.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20- Yeah.- Maybe it's just the latest Wilbur Smith?
0:03:20 > 0:03:23A bin liner within a bin liner.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Oh, that even looks suspicious to me.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32This looks like cannabis resin.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35That looks like cannabis. Look at that!
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I can't believe it. You've set this up, haven't you?
0:03:39 > 0:03:40You've done this for me.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42I wish we could have arranged it so well.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Is the whole cargo now officially dodgy gear?
0:03:47 > 0:03:50The whole cargo will will effectively be forfeit.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54We use a historic phrase, "forfeit to the crown".
0:03:54 > 0:03:56What's the Queen going to do with that?
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Ah, well, we work on behalf of the Queen. It now becomes her property.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I'm gonna go away from this with a very skewed idea of your job.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08- It's gonna look like this stuff's popping out of every case. - It's so easy.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14It turned out that our very first container actually had cocaine in it.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Street value - £80,000.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And that's just a drop in the ocean.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25Last year, customs seized 4.9 tonnes of the stuff at out frontiers.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd