Under strict security precautions, a process of trafficking in weapons and drugs has begun in Berlin.

It is probably the largest procedure in the capital so far, which is based primarily on the decryption of data from a messenger service by EncroChat.

The main defendants are a 42-year-old from a well-known Arab clan and a 23-year-old.

Together with a 36-year-old, they are said to have acquired war weapons commercially and sold them to others.

In addition, the public prosecutor accused the men on Tuesday of selling kilos of cocaine, amphetamines and hashish.

A 22-year-old woman is said to have helped in one case.

Among other things, the group is said to have packed drugs in a warehouse in Hohen Neuendorf in Brandenburg for resale in Berlin.

The prosecution accuses them, among other things, of violating the War Weapons Control and Weapons Act as well as illicit dealing with narcotics.

The main defendants were arrested in a raid against clan crime nearly nine months ago and have been in custody ever since.

EncroChat encryption software was not considered decryptable

The 42-year-old in particular is known to the judiciary: the clan member has been in custody for around 15 years. Last August, the man was sentenced to a total of three years and nine months imprisonment for the conviction of the court that he was involved in a violent attack on a group of Chechens. The judgment is not final. When he last got out of custody in 2018, he was ordered by the judiciary to only use certain means of communication as part of a so-called conduct supervision. According to the prosecution, he did not adhere to this: When he was arrested on February 18, three cell phones were seized from him, which were actually not allowed.

The crimes accused in April and May 2020 are said to have been carried out via these cell phones - encrypted via EncroChat.

The encryption software was initially considered not to be decryptable.

Last year, however, the police in the Netherlands and France managed to siphon off millions of classified data.

Defense lawyers questioned legality of data use

There is a dispute over the use of the data.

At the start of the trial, the defendants' defense lawyers once again questioned the legality of the use and requested that the proceedings be suspended.

It is not a matter of "chance finds" that were made available to the German investigators.

The monitoring of cell phones was rather carried out without any specific suspicion - and thus violating German regulations for the monitoring of telecommunications.

The Berlin Regional Court has so far planned more than 30 trial days for the procedure until April 2022. In order to shorten the time-consuming process, the 33rd criminal chamber had proposed an agreement among those involved in the process: In the event of a confession, the court would have pronounced a maximum total sentence of nine years for the 42-year-old, and a maximum of ten years for the 23-year-old. The defendants felt that was too high.

The trial should now continue this Friday with the first testimonies.

Among other things, the court has to do without a man who is said to have done business with the accused.

A good three months ago, he was sentenced to six years and two months in prison by the Berlin Regional Court for illicit drug trafficking.

Since the judgment is not yet final, the man can refuse to testify in the proceedings.