A gang who used the encrypted platform EncroChat to move over £1 million worth of drugs have been jailed following a major police investigation. Twelve people will spend almost 100 years behind bars for various drugs offences.
Officers executed search warrants across Greater Manchester and Lancashire as part of Operation Barchetta, launched to target members of organised crime groups. After police accessed the Encrochat system, they had identified a group using the network to arrange and facilitate the wholesale supply of Class A and Class B drugs across Lancaster and Morecambe in 2020.
Encrochat is a European-based communications network and service provider which is used by organised crime groups to plan criminal activities by mobile telephone. Police then used the data to identify the users of the assigned EncroChat handles and piece together movements of the offenders which included the purchase, delivery, and supply of controlled drugs across Lancashire.
