If you were to sit down and write a Hollywood script about a flamboyant British criminal who went from busting open local vaults to navigating the jungles of South America on a mission to assassinate the world’s most feared drug lord, producers would likely reject it for being completely unrealistic. Yet, that is exactly the kind of jaw dropping life story that unfolds in a riveting episode of the Terry Stone Connection podcast.
In this feature length interview, host Terry Stone sits down with Dave Tomkins, widely known in the British underworld as “The Great Safe Blower.” What follows is a raw, outrageous, and entirely unfiltered journey through decades of high stakes crime, global conflict, and geopolitical maneuvering. For over two and a half hours, Tomkins recounts a life lived on the absolute edge, transitioning from a working class thief in Basingstoke to an international mercenary operating at the highest levels of the global arms trade.
From Basingstoke to the Battlefields of Angola
The conversation begins by laying the groundwork of Tomkins’ early life. He was not born into a dynasty of international espionage; he started as a traditional British safe cracker. Operating during an era of criminal history that feels increasingly distant in today’s digital age, Tomkins earned a reputation for his meticulous, albeit highly illegal, technical skills. He knew how to read vaults, handle explosives, and bypass the security measures of the time. This flamboyant lifestyle and underworld renown eventually opened doors to serious criminal syndicates, but Tomkins’ addiction to adventure could not be contained by local bank robberies.
As the interview progresses, Tomkins explains how his specialized skills and underworld connections led him far away from the quiet streets of Hampshire. He found himself thrust onto the bloody battlefields of the Angolan Civil War during the 1970s. Operating as a mercenary, he fought against communist backed guerrillas in a brutal conflict defined by chaos and shifting loyalties.
The podcast captures the harrowing reality of this period as Tomkins talks about surviving the extreme pressures of jungle warfare. His mercenary career in Africa came to a sudden, violent halt when he was severely wounded by a landmine. While an injury of that magnitude would force most men into a quiet retirement, for Tomkins, it was merely the conclusion of chapter one.
Entering the Murky World of Global Espionage
Upon returning to the United Kingdom, Tomkins did not return to a conventional life. Instead, his experiences in Africa catapulted him into a shadowy network of international arms dealing and deniable black operations. Throughout the 1980s, Tomkins operated in some of the most volatile conflict zones on earth, including Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Iraq.
During the interview, Terry Stone guides the listener through the astonishing geopolitical mechanics of Tomkins’ career. He details how an ordinary British criminal managed to coordinate massive weapons deals and organize mercenary factions, occasionally operating with the tacit compliance, or outright direction, of international intelligence agencies. Tomkins outlines a world where governments utilized independent operators to handle dangerous, legally sensitive missions that could never be officially tied back to Western capitals. This included everything from a planned coup to assassinate the President of Togo to sensitive operations connected to United States intelligence networks.
The Ultimate Contract: Hunting Pablo Escobar
The true centerpiece of the episode, and the story that sounds almost too impossible to believe, involves Tomkins’ recruitment by a Colombian drug cartel. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Medellin Cartel, led by the infamous Pablo Escobar, was waging an all out war against the Colombian government. Escobar’s rivals, primarily the Cali Cartel, were desperate to eliminate him to protect their own interests and end the relentless violence drawing international military scrutiny to Colombia.
Tomkins recounts the astonishing moment he was hired to put together a specialized team of Western mercenaries to locate and assassinate Pablo Escobar. The plan was as audacious as it was deadly. Armed with heavy weaponry, advanced surveillance equipment, and even a privately acquired attack helicopter painted in police camouflage, Tomkins and his team infiltrated the dangerous territory controlled by the Medellin cartel.
The podcast provides a rare, boots on the ground perspective of what it was like to actively hunt one of the richest and most ruthless men on earth. Tomkins describes the immense tension of operating in a country where betrayal meant a horrific death. He walks the audience through the logistical nightmares of moving military grade equipment across borders, setting up tactical base camps in hostile territory, and intelligence gathering on Escobar’s heavily fortified safe houses, such as the infamous Hacienda Nápoles.
Though the mission ultimately failed to claim Escobar’s life due to a combination of logistical failures, changing political tides, and a catastrophic helicopter crash, the sheer audacity of a British safe blower leading an assault against the world’s most powerful drug lord remains a staggering historical footnote.
A Masterclass in True Crime Storytelling
What makes this episode of the Terry Stone Connection stand out is the unique chemistry between the host and the guest. Terry Stone, who possesses a deep understanding of British true crime and underworld culture, knows exactly how to pull the best details out of Tomkins. Rather than sensationalizing the stories, Stone allows Tomkins to speak in a matter of fact, old school manner that makes the extreme nature of the stories sound remarkably grounded.
Tomkins speaks with the calm demeanor of a man who has looked death in the face multiple times and lived to tell the tale. He does not shy away from the darker aspects of his career, discussing the moral complexities of the mercenary trade, the reality of arms trafficking, and the inevitable downfall that awaited him when a highly dangerous operation in America finally brought his international career to an end.
Why You Need to Watch
For fans of history, true crime, and international espionage, this video is an absolute must watch. It provides an irreplaceable look into a lawless era of global history that simply cannot exist in the modern age of satellite surveillance, digital banking, and facial recognition technology.
Dave Tomkins represents the final generation of a specific type of criminal adventurer, men who operated in the blind spots of the twentieth century’s greatest conflicts. His story, as told to Terry Stone, is a breathless, cautionary, and utterly fascinating account of an ordinary man who chose a life of extraordinary danger. Turn on the podcast, settle in, and prepare to listen to one of the most unbelievable life stories ever recorded.
