It is generally not a good idea to share your photos online. Especially if you are a drug dealer. Even the very innocent image of a cheese can contain enough personal information to condemn you.
British Merseyside Police have tracked down drug dealer Carl Stewart (39, Gem Street, Liverpool) and convicted him of trading cocaine, heroin, MDMA and ketamine with the help of a simple cheese photo. We do not know why he posted the photo of the cheese, but Stewart was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to the charges against him.
Stewart appears to have made two mistakes when he posted the photo. The first is that the photo contained a clear image of his fingerprints as well as his palm, which Merseyside Police were able to analyze to identify him. Stewart isn't the first criminal to be convicted because of fingerprints found in a photo, but it's yet another reminder that your footprints they can not keep secrets.
JAILED | A man identified through a picture of a block of cheese is the latest to be jailed as part of #OpVenetic. Carl Stewart, 39, was sentenced to 13 & a half yrs in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs. Read more 👉https://t.co/Mh9DrsxAR4 pic.twitter.com/2nNZpFdXK7
— Merseyside Police (@MerseyPolice) May 21, 2021
Second, he shared the photo on EncroChat, the allegedly encrypted telephone system that was breached by the authorities last March, so his security had more holes than a Swiss cheese.
Since then, Merseyside Police say authorities have identified around 10.000 of the illegal users on United Kingdom, who "participate in the coordination and planning of the supply and distribution of drugs and weapons, money laundering and other criminal activities". A total of 60.000 users have been identified worldwide, according to police.
