The Hague, Netherlands — French, Dutch and European Union prosecutors said Tuesday that an investigation that began three years ago by cracking encrypted phones has so far led to more than 6,500 arrests worldwide and hundreds of tons of drugs seized.
The announcement outlined the staggering scale of criminality – mainly drugs and arms trafficking and money laundering – that had been uncovered as a result of police and prosecutors effectively listening to criminals using encrypted EncroChat phones.
“This will help prevent violent attacks, attempted murder, corruption and large-scale drug transport, as well as obtain massive amounts of information on organized crime,” EU police and judicial cooperation agencies Europol and Eurojust said in a statement. got help.”
Prosecutors told a news conference in the nearby city of Lille that French and Dutch investigations had accessed more than 115 million encrypted communications between some 60,000 criminals via servers in the northern French city of Roubaix.
As a result, 6,558 suspects have been arrested worldwide, including 197 “high-value targets”. The drugs seized included 30.5 million pills, 103.5 metric tons (114 tons) of cocaine, 163.4 metric tons (180 tons) of cannabis, and 3.3 metric tons (3.6 tons) of heroin. The probe also recovered around 740 million euros ($809 million) in cash and another 154 million euros ($168 million) in assets or bank accounts were frozen.
Police announced in 2020 that they had cracked the encryption of EncroChat phones and effectively eavesdropped on criminal gangs.
EncroChat sold the phones worldwide for around 1,000 euros ($1,094) and offered subscriptions with global coverage for 1,500 euros ($1,641) per six months. The devices were marketed as offering complete anonymity and were said to be untraceable and easy to wipe if the user was arrested.
French law enforcement authorities launched an investigation into the company that operates EncroChat in 2017. The investigation resulted in the installation of a device capable of bypassing the phone’s encryption and gaining access to users’ communications.
Carol Etienne, chief prosecutor at Lille’s judicial tribunal, told reporters that authorities had also identified and detained some of the alleged leaders of the EncroChat provider.
“The three men were arrested in Spain on June 22 and handed over to France on the basis of European arrest warrants,” he said. “Other individuals have been found outside the EU and have not yet been charged.”
EncroChat is not the only covert communication network used by criminals that has been infiltrated by law enforcement officials.
In March 2021, Belgian police arrested dozens of people and seized more than 17 metric tons (18.7 tonnes) of cocaine after cracking another encrypted chat system called Sky ECC.
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies went a step further and created an encrypted service – ANOM – which was marketed to criminals in a global sting that led to the arrest of over 800 suspects and the seizure of 32 metric tons (35.2 tons). Seizures of more than of drugs including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine and methamphetamine.
