Greek Police: Access to encrypted EncroChat and SkyGlobal networks
Greek police have gained full access to 28 million messages and 4,500 conversations from criminal networks. The data concerns murder-for-hire contracts from the "Greek Mafia".
Greek Police: Full access to EncroChat and SkyGlobal data following major delay
According to Greek City Times, Greek police acquired full access approximately 20 days ago to all data from two encrypted communication networks that were widely used by criminal organisations, following a significant delay.
The data includes 4,500 recorded conversations, 28 million messages and 250,000 photographs. The EncroChat and SkyGlobal networks ceased operations in 2020 and 2021 respectively; EncroChat had approximately 60,000 subscribers at the time of its dissolution.
European law enforcement authorities are utilising the said data to dismantle criminal activities. In 2023, Operation "Eureka" led to the arrest of 108 suspected members of the Italian criminal organisation Ndrangheta. Europol announced that thanks to EncroChat data, 6,500 arrests were made, over 700 million euros were recovered and more than 100 tonnes of cocaine were seized.
In Greece, the initial investigation into the data was undertaken by the Directorate for Drug Prosecution, with the subsequent involvement of the Homicide Division. The investigation was supported by authorities from Austria, Belgium and France, as well as by Europol.
In recent years, Greek police officers travelled to Europol headquarters in The Hague for access to a limited amount of data, a fact that led to the arrest of several drug traffickers. Recently, authorities identified communications related to murder-for-hire contracts from the "Greek Mafia", with executors mainly from Montenegro and Serbia.
Source: Greek City Times