One of the main people behind communications service EncroChat is from the Dominican Republic extradited to France. A lawsuit awaits him there.
EncroChat was a service used by tens of thousands of criminals. They stayed out of sight of investigative services with special telephones and encrypted communication. EncroChat was dismantled in 2020 and at least 6,500 suspects have been arrested since then.
In May 2022, the now extradited ringleader was arrested in the Dominican Republic. That was almost a year after a warrant was issued for his arrest. The man has been under house arrest since his arrest. Last week he was transferred to France at the request of the Lille public prosecutor’s office.
The man is suspected, among other things, of participating in a criminal organization that traded illegal drugs. He is also suspected of money laundering and illegal possession of weapons. The suspect is currently in pre-trial detention. It is not yet known when he will appear in court.
Taking down EncroChat was a massive operation carried out by the French police. It is secret how exactly she did this, although it is clear that the authorities have found a technical solution to intercept messages on EncroChat’s servers. This allowed the police to read millions of messages from users.
This not only led to thousands of arrests, but also to the seizure of more than 100,000 kilos of cocaine, 163,400 kilos of cannabis, 30.5 million pills and 3,300 kilos of heroin. Hundreds of vehicles, homes and weapons were also seized.
2024-02-08 10:08:45
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