Hard cheese: Stilton snap shared via EncroChat leads to drug dealer's downfall

2021-05-25 06:30

A drug dealer's ham-handed OPSEC allowed British police to identify him from a picture of him holding a block of cheese, which led to his arrest, guilty plea, and a sentence of 13 years and six months in prison.

Liverpool resident Carl Stewart, 39, who went by the name "Toffeeforce" on now-defunct message service EncroChat, was sent down at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and ketamine, and of transferring criminal property.

Merseyside police claimed they were able to identify Stewart from his palm and fingerprints, which were visible in a snap of Stilton he shared via EncroChat.

The service was said to have 60,000 users worldwide at the time, with 10,000 in the UK. "Carl Stewart was involved in supplying large amounts of class A and B drugs, but was caught out by his love of Stilton cheese, after sharing a picture of a block of it in his hand through EncroChat," said Detective Inspector Lee Wilkinson in a statement at the end of last week.

Wilkinson said the EncroChat takedown, known as Operation Venetic, has led Merseyside Police to arrest more than 60 people, many of whom face charges for drug trafficking or firearms offenses.

Following the recent arrest and extradition of Ndrangheta fugitive Marc Feren Claude Biart in the Dominican Republic, authorities said they spotted Biart's tattoos in a YouTube video and were able to identify him even though his face was not shown.

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