Encrochat: Arrests in Britain's biggest crime sting over 'WhatsApp for criminals'
16:44, 06 November 2020
updated: 17:24, 06 November 2020
This is the moment a suspected cocaine smuggler was arrested in a dawn raid linked to Britain's biggest ever crime sting.
His was one of three simultaneous arrests made as part of the Encrochat investigation which spans the UK and Europe and coincided with an operation at a food warehouse in the Netherlands.
The moment Thomas Payne is arrested as part of raids this week across UK
They happened on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a Europe-wide conspiracy to import cocaine into the country.
It comes after specialist officers analysed messages on the Encrochat platform – dubbed the WhatsApp for criminals.
The arrests in Bromley, Glasgow and London were carried out at the same time as the raid at the food warehouse site in the Dutch town of Reusel, close to the Belgian border.
Officers from the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) – a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit – say the conspiracy is alleged to have tried to deliver drugs to the UK in food deliveries.
The messages were deciphered by officers working on Operation Venetic which brought down the service as part of a huge operation earlier this year.
It saw 746 people arrested and £54 million of dirty cash, two tonnes of drugs and 77 firearms seized and 28 million pills seized in Rochester.
Thomas Payne, 47, from Hayes Road, Bromley, Mohammed Khan, 30, from Glenbervie Place, Newton Mearns, Glasgow and Ciaran Jones, 32, from Burns Road, Harlesden, London, were arrested in dawn raids on Wednesday.
The three men were charged with conspiracy to import class A drugs. Payne and Jones appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court yesterday, while Khan appeared at Carlisle Magistrates Court. They were all remanded in custody.
OCP Operations Manager Matt McMillan said: “Following the analysis of EncroChat messages as part of Operation Venetic, we believe we have disrupted a criminal operation to import vast quantities of drugs into the UK.
“The trade in class A drugs fuels violence and exploitation, and this investigation is yet another example of the NCA and Met Police working together to protect the public.”
The Met Police and National Crime Agency worked with forces across the UK and Europe to infiltrate EncroChat, which had 60,000 users including 10,000 in this country.
Investigators in France and the Netherlands finally broke through the encryption of the system after four years of work.
It uncovered a vast range of criminal activity including alleged murder plots and arrests of "iconic" underworld 'Mr Bigs' who thought they were "untouchable"
Six people were arrested after the raid on the Rochester drugs factory on June 12 and the £14 million haul of Etizolam tablets - known as street valium and destined for Scotland - was seized.
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