Nearly 28 tons of cocaine confiscated after police accessed the encrypted network

In the six weeks since February 20, police have seized 27.64 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Antwerp, including a record transport of almost 11 tonnes overnight from April 2-3, Belgian federal police said in a statement on Monday. .

Police obtained access to encrypted messages from an encrypted messaging service called Sky ECC, which revealed detailed information about cocaine shipments, the statement said.

“During a judicial investigation into a potential criminal service organization suspected of knowingly providing encrypted phones to the criminal environment, police specialists managed to break the encrypted messages from Sky ECC,” the statement said.

“These data provide elements in the current files, but they have also opened new offenses. International smuggling of cocaine batches plays an important role in intercepted reports.”

The cocaine confiscated so far has a street value of 1.4 billion euros ($ 1.65 billion), police said.

Police said investigations are continuing.

This is not the first time law enforcement agencies have infiltrated an encrypted platform used by criminals.

Last year, agencies in France and the Netherlands infiltrated a platform called EncroChat and shared the data through Europol, allowing police to monitor the private communications – including photos and millions of messages – of criminals.

Hundreds arrested after police infiltrated the secret criminal telephone network

EncroChat, which provided a secure mobile instant messaging service, was a “criminal market” used by 60,000 people worldwide to coordinate the distribution of illicit goods, money laundering and conspiracy to kill rivals, according to the National Crime Agency ( NCA) in the United Kingdom.

In July, the NCA said it made 746 arrests and confiscated 54 million pounds ($ 68 million) in cash, 77 firearms and more than two tons of drugs during Operation Venetic, the largest such operation in the UK.

Dutch police said they made 60 arrests during the investigation, codenamed “Lemont” and confiscated 25 tonnes of drugs, 20 million euros ($ 23 million), dozens of automatic weapons, 25 of expensive cars and watches.

At a joint news conference with European law enforcement agencies at the time, Dutch police said 19 synthetic drug labs had been dismantled.

EncroChat phones cost about £ 1,500 ($ 1,870) for a six-month contract and came with preloaded instant messaging apps, the ability to make calls and a kill code so they can be deleted remotely. .

CNN’s Emma Reynolds contributed to the report.

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