Raids and arrests across the North West as police hack encrypted software
Video report by Elaine Willcox
A military-grade encrypted communication system used by organised criminals trading in drugs and guns has been hacked by law enforcement in one of the biggest operations of its kind.
Thousands of officers from the National Crime Agency, regional crime squads, including the The North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, and every police force in the UK have been involved in a massive international sting that was launched in April.
Nationally, more than 700 people have been arrested, including police officers and law enforcement officials, and drugs worth £80 million, 77 guns and more than £54 million in cash has been seized.
Of those arrested, 93 where from areas across the North West region.
After four years of work by international teams, French investigators managed to access Encrochat, an encrypted platform used by 60,000 people worldwide, including around 10,000 in the UK, for what law enforcement agencies claim were purely criminal purposes.
The company, which charged £1,500 for a device on a six-month contract, sent out a warning to users in early June to say that its servers had been hacked by a government entity.
This left investigators with a race against time to make the most of the wealth of information available on the platform, targeting "Mr and Mrs Bigs" before they could cover their tracks.
International investigators were also going after the team who ran Encrochat, who they said led "luxury lifestyles", although the technology itself is not illegal.
In the North West, this has led to law enforcement claiming:
£3.6 million in criminal crash
79kg of drugs
10 firearms
220 rounds of ammunition
Law enforcement have been aware of Encrochat for some years. Drug dealers Andrew Venna and Matthew Cornwall, who operated in Gloucester and Stroud, used the devices before they were jailed in May 2019; as did Mark Fellows and Steven Boyle, who were jailed for life last year for the 2015 gangland killings of John Kinsella and Paul Massey in Liverpool.
After the platform was accessed, investigators were able to monitor thousands of Encrochat handsets and analyse millions of messages to get information on drug dealing, the sale of illegal guns and money laundering.
Jayne Lloyd, NCA Head of Investigations for the North, said: “Operation Venetic is the broadest and most significant co-ordinated assault on UK organised crime groups ever seen.
“Criminals who believed they were operating anonymously in the shadows of technology, have and are still being exposed, this is causing criminals grave concern.
“Together with our partners in the UK and abroad, we have protected the public by arresting those who thought they were untouchable as they conducted their illegal activities within our communities.”
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Critchley from Merseyside Police, said: “This is the biggest operation of its kind in the UK and today Merseyside, as well as other forces areas around the UK, is safer as a result of the activity that has taken place in recent weeks."
Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Creely, head of Greater Manchester Police Public Protection and Serious Crime Division, said: “A top priority for GMP will always be to make our streets a safer place, protecting our communities and the people we serve. We will continue to work with specialist agencies and other forces, both nationally and internationally, and do everything within our power to tackle organised crime.”
Detective Chief Inspector Becky Smith from Lancashire Police, said: “I hope this activity sends a clear message to the public of our determination to rid communities of this sort of criminalisation and tells the criminals that we will stop at nothing in our efforts to find them and take them down.”