The investigation into the Sky ECC encrypted communications network, used by criminal groups, continues. However, Belgian customs announced on Monday April 5 that they had seized more than 27 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Antwerp since February 20.
This quantity of drugs represents a market value of 1.382 billion euros, specifies the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office in a press release, adding that the most important seizure took place on the night of Friday to Saturday, with the discovery of nearly 11 tons of cocaine in a container.
“During the last 42 days, the customs services, in collaboration with the Federal Judicial Police of Antwerp, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Antwerp Prosecutor’s Office, have intercepted in the port of Antwerp a total of 27.64 tonnes of cocaine, which can be directly linked to the Sky ECC file ”, according to the press release.
Decryption of 500 million messages
A vast police operation against organized crime was carried out on March 9 in Belgium, following the decryption by the federal police of some 500 million messages sent via secure telephones marketed by the company Sky ECC, established in Canada, as part of a more than two-year investigation. The searches had led to 48 arrests, seizures of weapons, 1.2 million euros and police uniforms.
This network is also the subject of investigations in other countries, including France, where five people were indicted at the end of March, suspected of having resold encrypted phones to traffickers.
The boss and a former senior official of the Canadian encrypted telephone network company Sky Global, of which Sky ECC is a product, have, meanwhile, been charged in the United States, where they are suspected of helping drug traffickers to protect their communications.
“International cocaine smuggling plays an important role in intercepted messages”, explains the Antwerp prosecutor’s office. “On the basis of these data, dozens of cocaine seizures have been made since February 20”, continues this one, adding that “Investigations of the people involved” in these drug trafficking cases continue.