The Hauge: Hundreds of tonnes of drugs have been seized and more than 6,500 people have been arrested as a result of investigations that were started three years ago after encrypted phone encryption was broken, according to prosecutors in France, the Netherlands, and the European Union.

The announcement highlighted the staggering scope of criminality — primarily drug and arms trafficking and money laundering — that was discovered as a result of police and prosecutors successfully intercepting criminals using encrypted EncroChat phones.

The phone network used by organised crime groups throughout Europe for attempted murders and sizable drug deals was shut down, according to police in France and the Netherlands, who made the announcement in July 2020. 

Also Read: US diplomats are forbidden from bringing up the Wagner mutiny - Axios

Prosecutors revealed at a news conference in the neighbouring city of Lille that the French and Dutch investigation was able to access more than 115 million encrypted communications between 60,000 criminals via servers in the northern French town of Roubaix. This was the first evaluation of the operation against EncroChat users.

The European Union's Europol and Eurojust police and judicial cooperation agencies said in a statement that it helped obtain significant information on organised crime while also preventing violent attacks, attempted murders, corruption, and large-scale drug transports. The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation is known as Eurojust.

This has led to the worldwide arrest of 6,558 suspects, including 197 "high-value targets." 30.5 million pills, 103.5 tonnes of cocaine, 163.4 tonnes of cannabis, and 3.3 tonnes of heroin were among the drugs that were seized. The investigations also resulted in the recovery of nearly 740 million euros ($809 million) in cash and the freezing of 154 million euros ($168 million) in assets or bank accounts.

Also Read: Pentagon names candidates for Bradley replacement

Police announced in 2020 that they had successfully hacked EncroChat phone encryption and were able to listen in on criminal gangs.
EncroChat offered subscriptions with global coverage for 1,500 euros ($1,641) per six months and sold modified Android mobile devices for around 1,000 euros ($1,094) globally. In the event that a user was arrested, the devices were said to be simple to erase and to offer complete anonymity.
In 2017, French law enforcement agencies started looking into the entity that runs EncroChat. The investigation resulted in the installation of a device that could bypass the encryption on the phones and access the communications of its users.
"EncroChat phones were presented as guaranteeing perfect anonymity, discretion, and no traceability to users," said Europol.

The devices had features designed to guarantee the automatic deletion of all messages and data.

Users would be able to quickly delete compromising messages in this way, for instance at the time of a police arrest, it said.

According to Carole Etienne, chief prosecutor at the Lille judicial tribunal, authorities have also identified and detained some of the alleged leaders of the EncroChat provider.

"Three people were arrested on June 22 in Spain and handed over to France on the basis of European arrest warrants," she stated. Other people have been found outside of the EU, but they have not yet been charged.

The French, Dutch, British, and German police previously released partial findings of Encrochat-related investigations in 2020 and 2021.

Law enforcement agencies have hacked into other criminals' private messaging services in addition to EncroChat.

Also Read: Russian Senator Alleges Foreign Agents Targeting Balkan Nation After Dual Mass Shootings

Following the break-in of Sky ECC, another encrypted chat system, Belgian police made dozens of arrests and seized more than 17 metric tonnes (18.7 tonnes) of cocaine in March 2021.

In a global sting operation that resulted in the arrest of more than 800 suspects and the seizure of more than 32 metric tonnes of drugs, including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, and methamphetamines, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies went one step further and developed an encrypted service called ANOM that was marketed to criminals.