:00:22. > :00:29.Welcome to Reporters, I'm Philippa Thomas. From here in the world's
:00:30. > :00:40.newsroom we send out reporters across the globe. This week:
:00:41. > :00:47.stand-off in the skies above the South China Seas. We fly over one of
:00:48. > :00:56.the most contested areas of the world. Our captain is saying we are
:00:57. > :00:59.civilian aircraft but it didn't make a difference whatsoever, they
:01:00. > :01:06.repeated that threat, leave the area, over and over again. And
:01:07. > :01:13.inside Colombia's cocaine capital, we look at the forces taking down a
:01:14. > :01:22.cocaine lab in the relentless war against the drugs trade.
:01:23. > :01:28.This is the final order. That is the cocaine sold on the streets of
:01:29. > :01:33.Britain and Europe and America. We start with a rare glimpse of
:01:34. > :01:38.China's determined expansion in the South China Sea. It is one of the
:01:39. > :01:41.most contested areas anywhere in the world and Beijing's claims to it are
:01:42. > :01:45.increasingly disputed by other nations, especially the US. At that
:01:46. > :01:50.hasn't discouraged China which is now building huge, artificial
:01:51. > :01:55.islands in the region. The islands are difficult to reach but Rupert
:01:56. > :02:02.Wingfield-Hayes flew in a small civilian aircraft into China's
:02:03. > :02:05.self-declared security zone, 140 miles off the coast of the
:02:06. > :02:09.Philippines and this is what he found.
:02:10. > :02:18.It is just before dawn on the Philippine island. Even at this
:02:19. > :02:24.hour, it is hot but there was no sign here of the trouble brewing a
:02:25. > :02:27.few hundred miles out to sea. I'm about to take off on a trip the
:02:28. > :02:35.Chinese government has tried to stop. As we rolled down the runway,
:02:36. > :02:43.we're all tense. No one has tried what we are about to do. We are now
:02:44. > :02:46.heading south west towards a number of Chinese controlled atolls, these
:02:47. > :02:52.are places whether Chinese have been doing massive land reclamation over
:02:53. > :02:57.the last year and a half. We want to go and see what the Chinese are
:02:58. > :03:02.doing and to test to see if the Chinese will try to stop us. The
:03:03. > :03:08.whole of this area is, according to most countries, international
:03:09. > :03:15.airspace. Just 140 nautical miles from the Philippine coast, we spot
:03:16. > :03:24.new land. This place is called Mischief Reef. There was just a
:03:25. > :03:28.submerged at all here and now millions of tonnes of material have
:03:29. > :03:31.been dredged up to build this huge new island. As we close to 12
:03:32. > :03:55.nautical miles, this. Down below, we can see at pair of
:03:56. > :04:01.Chinese navy ships. Our pilots are nervous. They want to turn away. We
:04:02. > :04:07.are a civilian aircraft flying over international waters and yet we are
:04:08. > :04:13.being repeatedly threatened. We are a civilian aircraft carrying
:04:14. > :04:21.passengers. The Chinese are sending out that message, leave this area
:04:22. > :04:25.immediately. Chinese and in English. Our captain said we are a civilian
:04:26. > :04:29.air craft, not a military aircraft that it didn't make any difference
:04:30. > :04:37.whatsoever, they repeated that threat, leave the area, over and
:04:38. > :04:41.over again. As we fly on, the full extent of the construction is
:04:42. > :04:46.revealed. The lagoon is teeming with ships. A cement plant is visible on
:04:47. > :04:50.the new land. And for the first time, a clear view of the new runway
:04:51. > :04:54.China is building here. A Chinese fighter taking off from here could
:04:55. > :05:02.reach the Philippine coast in nine minutes. In the last year, China has
:05:03. > :05:12.built at least seven new island and three new runways in the South China
:05:13. > :05:13.Sea. One here at Mischief Reef. The aim is to reinforce China's claim to
:05:14. > :05:27.the whole of the South China Sea. America and its allies are now
:05:28. > :05:39.responding. Over the radio we now hear up one of them. We are an
:05:40. > :05:41.Australian aircraft... What we are hearing is an Australian military
:05:42. > :05:49.aircraft asserting freedom of passage. More than 40% of the
:05:50. > :05:59.world's trade passes through the waters below us. China is determined
:06:00. > :06:04.to assert its control. America and its allies say they won't let that
:06:05. > :06:12.happen. But as we have found out, it may already be too late.
:06:13. > :06:19.Now, from the skies over the South China Sea is to one of the most
:06:20. > :06:24.island part of South America and the war on drugs. But 's National crime
:06:25. > :06:26.agency says it is working closely with the Colombian Parretti
:06:27. > :06:34.providing intelligence and a logistical operation in its fight
:06:35. > :06:41.against the cocaine traffickers. We joined British and Colombian forces
:06:42. > :06:50.to gain action -- access to a laboratory deep in the Columbia
:06:51. > :06:56.Boris. -- Colombian forest. It is one of the most by the cities
:06:57. > :07:08.in South America. But's travel advice is don't come here. One event
:07:09. > :07:16.or rack is notorious. -- Buenaventura. The cocaine trade
:07:17. > :07:20.shatters this community and forces the children into a world of
:07:21. > :07:25.violence and abuse. The government says things are improving here but
:07:26. > :07:34.tell that to this woman. When she dared to stand up to the drug Antz,
:07:35. > :07:42.her 15-year-old son was gunned down. -- drug gangs. They taught me a
:07:43. > :07:48.lesson because they didn't just kill a child, they killed the family. The
:07:49. > :07:53.choices are often stark for the sons and daughters of the poor here.
:07:54. > :07:59.Children become grids of victims of the gangs. When day passes tonight,
:08:00. > :08:05.these people come out to work. We were taken to meet one, an assassin
:08:06. > :08:13.who kills people for his boss. Can you explain what is the life of one
:08:14. > :08:21.like you? Many things. Death, JL, drug African. -- Jail,
:08:22. > :08:27.drug-trafficking. If the boss says I have to kill, I kill. If he says I
:08:28. > :08:32.have to chop, I chop. And I get a reward. Few survive this world. The
:08:33. > :08:38.profits can be great, so too the losses. Death or jail. But the
:08:39. > :08:45.inside story on the cocaine trade, we met the drug trafficker. For
:08:46. > :08:51.security reasons, we cannot show his identity. Cocaine is such a popular,
:08:52. > :08:55.fashionable drug and the money is so big that nine out of ten people
:08:56. > :09:03.would say yes to it. And that makes the risk worth taking? If he took
:09:04. > :09:08.about an average year's salary being earned in 24 hours, yes. I don't
:09:09. > :09:12.think the trafficking in cocaine will ever stop all the consumption
:09:13. > :09:17.of cocaine. And will the war on drugs. High in the hills on the
:09:18. > :09:26.border with Venezuela, anti-knock dig is police moved in, they have a
:09:27. > :09:30.tip there is a cocaine lab hidden deep in the woods. Officers were
:09:31. > :09:34.deployed shortly after midnight and they moved the site. The people
:09:35. > :09:38.working here ran away, they made one arrest, this is a key part of the
:09:39. > :09:45.laboratory. The cocaine paste is brought up the hill and processed
:09:46. > :09:48.and this is the final product. Britain 's National crime agency
:09:49. > :09:52.took part in this operation, gathering intelligence. We spoke to
:09:53. > :10:00.one of the officers involved in the raid, we can't identify him. It is
:10:01. > :10:06.important to Britain and to the NCA because all the labs we blow up, or
:10:07. > :10:12.the cocaine that is seized here is a cocaine that is not going to bid UK,
:10:13. > :10:19.the states or Europe. Explosives rigged and the officers pull back,
:10:20. > :10:23.knowing that tomorrow, despite starts again. In a war against
:10:24. > :10:32.cocaine, it may well be impossible to win.
:10:33. > :10:38.And that is all from Reporters for this week. Form me -- from me,
:10:39. > :10:57.Philippa Thomas, goodbye. Well, if it is a white Christmas you
:10:58. > :11:04.are after, temperatures have an awfully long way for so keep
:11:05. > :11:06.dreaming. Certainly none of the white stuff out there on Saturday.