Investigations that began after encrypted phones were broken three years ago they drove so far in more than 6.500 arrests worldwide and the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs, French and Dutch European Union prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The authorities' announcement highlights the staggering scale of crime – mainly drug and arms smuggling and money laundering – uncovered by surveillance of criminals using encrypted phones EncroChat.
"This helped to prevent violent attacks, attempted murder, corruption and large-scale drug trafficking, as well as to obtain a great deal of information on organized crime," the European Union's police and justice services said in a statement. Europol and Eurojust.
French and Dutch authorities were able to gain access to more than 115 million encrypted communications between about 60.000 criminals, prosecutors said at a news conference.
As a result, 6.558 suspects have been arrested worldwide, including 197 “high value targets”. The drugs seized included 30,5 million pills, 103,5 metric tons (114 tons) of cocaine, 163,4 metric tons (180 tons) of cannabis, and 3,3 metric tons (3,6 tons) of heroin.
The investigations also led to recovery almost 740 million euros in cash and the freezing of assets or bank accounts worth another 154 million euros.
