Police infiltration of ‘WhatsApp for crooks’ encrypted messaging app sees more than 1,200 criminals jailed and £19 million in cash seized
- Officers seized 173 firearms, 3,000 rounds of ammunition and £19million in cash
More than 1,200 criminals have been jailed thanks to the infiltration of an encrypted messaging platform, police chiefs revealed yesterday.
Gangsters were so confident in the security of EncroChat that at least two were snared on the basis of selfies they sent to other crooks.
The National Crime Agency led Britain’s response after Dutch and French officials smashed the network, with 3,100 arrests made in the UK alone.
NCA deputy director Craig Turner said the EncroChat hack had revolutionised the investigation of criminal gangs.
‘It gave us a goldmine of intelligence and evidence we could put forward to the CPS to convict some of the most hard-to-reach criminals,’ he added.
Evidence gathered from the illicit conversations between criminals was so strong that of the 1,240 people convicted so far, 85 per cent pleaded guilty. Pictured: Cocaine seized by police
Officers seized 173 firearms, 3,000 rounds of ammunition and more than £19million in cash
Commander Paul Brogden of Scotland Yard described his force’s investigation, codenamed Eternal, as ‘the most significant operation targeting organised crime figures in the Met’s history’.
Officers seized 173 firearms, 3,000 rounds of ammunition and more than £19million in cash.
Evidence gathered from the illicit conversations between criminals was so strong that of the 1,240 people convicted so far, 85 per cent pleaded guilty.
They were sentenced to a combined 8,000 years in prison. EncroChat was a secret operating system accessed by a secure password on Android phones, with each user given a unique ‘handle’.
The handsets, which cost £1,500, could only communicate with other EncroChat devices and had built-in safeguards such as a special PIN code that instantly wiped all data.
Frankie Sinclair, 35, from Cardiff, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years after plotting a revenge murder
Others jailed include high-ranking gang member Naki Aslan, 39, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison for conspiring to import in excess of 20kg of heroin and cocaine
Commander Brogden added: ‘These criminals were using what we call a ‘hard and secure’ communication device, so effectively it’s like a social media platform that the criminals believed that we couldn’t access. They were playing out their lifestyles on EncroChat, trading drugs, ordering violence and murder here on the streets of London, and we could see that play out in a way we’ve never seen before. It was a significant leap forward.’
The platform sent a message to all its users urging them to dispose of their handsets once the network had been compromised by law enforcement in June 2020, and it was shut down shortly afterwards.
Commander Brogden said many of those uncovered in the operation were ‘kingpins’ of crime networks, adding: ‘They were sitting in their leafy enclaves and didn’t expect police to knock on their door, and we did and brought them to justice.’
More than 1,200 criminals have been jailed thanks to the infiltration of encrypted messaging platform EncroChat (Stock Image)
Among the criminals who have been imprisoned are two who gave themselves away via photos they sent of their dogs.
Frankie Sinclair, 35, from Cardiff, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years after plotting a revenge murder. A photo he sent to an associate showing his bulldog helped police prove he was linked to the plot.
Others jailed include high-ranking gang member Naki Aslan, 39, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison for conspiring to import in excess of 20kg of heroin and cocaine
And Danny Brown, 56, was brought down by a photograph of his pet that showed his girlfriend’s phone number on the collar.
Brown, from Bromley, south-east London, and five associates were jailed last December for a total of 140 years over a plot to smuggle £45million of ecstasy.
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