Judicial system overwhelmed after gaining access to encrypted chats

Recently, police were able to crack encrypted chats of criminals on EncroChat, Sky and Anom. Yet, the revelation also has its downsides. The judicial system is now buckling under the weight of having to read millions of intercepted messages, 1Limburg reported.

EncroChat, Sky and Anom were popular among criminals who thought they could engage messages on the highly secure server without police being able to hack their accounts. When the judiciary successfully gained access to the chats many criminals feared the repercussions.

“You get the weirdest reactions, such as people saying ‘If I throw it away or set it on fire now, will it make a difference?’”, defense lawyer, Francoise Landerloo said.

It is believed that around 400 new cases were opened as a result of the crypto cracks which is good news in the fight against crime, yet presents further difficulties for the judicial system which has been dealing with back-ups on cases for years.

“It is such an enormous amount of information, I think that the judiciary has completely insufficient capacity to process all that information in such a way that the investigation can be brought before a judge”, lawyer, Arthur Vonken said.

Professor of criminal law, Sven Brinkhoff, spoke of a “diabolical dilemma” because police do not have the resources to focus on all matters simultaneously. “My expectation is that this will make the call for more money to the entire criminal justice system louder”, he said.

Brinkhoff reassured that despite the ongoing tension in the judicial system, the average citizen would nonetheless not be forgotten, “It is true that much time and effort will be directed towards these messages, but I expect there will still be enough capacity to help if other crimes occur