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The European Court of Justice has heard legal arguments from EU member states whether electronic communications obtained by an international police operation to hack the EncroChat encrypted phone network can be lawfully used as evidence in courts in the European Union. Prosecutors from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ireland, gave oral evidence to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg during a seven hour hearing yesterday in a complex case focusing on European law. Defence lawyers believe the case could have implications for hundreds of prosecutions of people accused of drug dealing and organised crime on the basis of hacked messages from EncroChat, and another encrypted phone network, Sky ECC, where there is no supporting evidence of criminality, if the CJEU finds there were breaches of EU law.
An operation by French and Dutch police to hack EncroChat, an encrypted phone network used by organised criminals, has led to more than 6,500 arrests world-wide and the seizure of nearly €900 million following three years of investigation. Investigators intercepted, analysed, and shared over 115 million supposedly encrypted text messages and photographs sent by users of EncroChat, with police forces in multiple countries disrupting organised drug gangs across Europe. The operation led to the discovery of organised crime groups offering “crime as a service” including kidnapping, extortion, assassination and in some cases torture, prosecutors revealed at a press conference today. It has led to the seizure of more than 100 tonnes of cocaine, 160 tonnes of cannabis, 3 tonnes of heroin, and the seizure of over 900 weapons and over 21,000 rounds of ammunition. Europol worked with partner countries to identify messages that indicated a threat to life (TTL) which were provided
International prosecutors say that investigations triggered by the cracking of encrypted phones three years ago have so far led to more than 6,500 arrests