Over 6,500 arrests since cracking of crime chat network: Europol

More than 6,500 people have been arrested following the 2020 dismantling of EncroChat, an encrypted communications tool used by organised crime, Europol said on Tuesday.

Close to 200 of the arrests were of "high-value targets", said the organisation that assists EU members in international investigations, adding that nearly 900 million euros ($983 million) of criminal funds had been seized or frozen.

French and Dutch police announced in July 2020 that they had shut down the encrypted phone network used by organised crime groups across Europe for assassination attempts and major drug deals.

The move allowed police to read millions of messages by suspected criminals, Europol said in Tuesday's first review of the operation against customers of EncroChat, which sold customised encrypted phones.

Since 2020, investigators had managed to intercept, share and analyse over 115 million criminal conversations, by an estimated number of over 60,000 users, the report said.

The intercepted calls included conversations about planned violent attacks, attempted murders, corruption and large-scale drug shipments, it said.