Security News > 2020 > July > Euro police forces infiltrated encrypted phone biz – and now 'criminal' EncroChat users are being rounded up
In May, police in France, assisted by the Netherlands' cops, infiltrated EncroChat's core network - and in mid-June the operator pulled the plug, having realised the game was up.
The takedown of the network has been a poorly disguised secret, with Northern Irish suspects reportedly being arrested last week after data from EncroChat's servers was shared around European police forces.
The National Crime Agency claims a total of 746 arrests and the seizure of two tonnes of drugs, 77 assorted firearms and £54m in cash - so far - as a result of the EncroChat intelligence.
"The NCA created the technology and specialist data exploitation capabilities required to process the EncroChat data, and help identify and locate offenders by analysing millions of messages and hundreds of thousands of images," said the UK agency in a statement about its Operation Venetic.
There is no evidence in the public domain so far to support British police claims that all 10,000 of EncroChat's UK users were criminals.