Belgium: 27 tonnes of cocaine seized thanks to the investigation into encrypted communications
The largest seizure took place overnight from Friday to Saturday, with the discovery of nearly 11 tonnes of cocaine in a container in the port of Antwerp (illustrative image).
Corbis via Getty Images - Sander de Wilde
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Twenty-seven tonnes of cocaine have been seized since February 20 in the port of Antwerp.
A result obtained by the police thanks to a resounding investigation: last month, the police broke into an encrypted communications network used by thousands of criminals.
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In the last 42 days, the customs services (...) 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
", indicates the public prosecutor's office. 'Antwerp in a press release.
In February, European police entered Ali Baba's cave: the Sky ECC network.
Believing themselves to be safe from eavesdropping in this ultra-secure telephone system, mafia groups, arms sellers, terrorists and drug traffickers traded with impunity.
When this bulwark fell
, investigators got their hands on 500 million messages, recovered heaps of information on future criminal projects and launched dozens of searches.
At the time, police warned that the dismantling of Sky ECC would lead to large-scale operations at least until the end of 2021. They kept their word.
The quantity of drugs seized since February 20 represents a market value of 1.382 billion euros, specifies the Antwerp prosecutor's office.
The largest seizure took place overnight from Friday to Saturday, with the discovery of nearly 11 tonnes of cocaine in a container.
► To read also: Belgium: vast operation against organized crime after the interception of encrypted exchanges
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