The dismantling of encrypted chat platforms used by organized crime groups (OCGs) has resulted in 6,558 arrests over the past three years, including 197 “high-value targets,” according to Europol.
EncroChat has been used by tens of thousands of criminals to communicate without fear of being snooped by law enforcement. The special devices are priced at €1000 ($1095) each, with a 6-month subscription priced at €500 ($548) with 24/7 support, remote wipe and phone wipe if arrested. Europol explained that it had a PIN code to access it.
Read more about EncroChat: Hundreds arrested after police dismantle encrypted phone network
But after an investigation by the French Gendarmerie was launched in 2017, officers discovered EncroChat servers based in the country and installed “technical devices” that could read messages passing through those servers. .
In 2020, the French police, with Europol’s backing, set up a Joint Investigative Team (JIT) with the Dutch police for the first time, after which they agreed to share information with other EU member states and with authorities outside the country.
Since EncroChat was breached, police have analyzed over 115 million conversations from over 60,000 users worldwide, and Europol has compiled 700 “actionable information packages” from this information. to investigators around the world.
Over the past three years, law enforcement officers have:
- 740 million euros in cash seized
- €154 million in assets or bank accounts frozen
- 31 million pills, 104 tons of cocaine, 163 tons of cannabis, 3.3 tons of heroin seized
- 923 weapons, 21,750 rounds of ammunition and 68 explosives seized
- 83 boats and 40 planes captured
The subsequent conviction resulted in a total sentence of 7,134 years in prison, Europol added.
The biggest beneficiaries of the EncroChat crackdown have been British law enforcement. The country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested more than 700 suspects in 2020 as part of its ongoing “Operation Venetic”.
Afterwards, drug traffickers who were caught thanks to their access to EncroChat communications were put in jail for long periods of time.
