Dutch trio made millions by selling EncroChat encrypted phones to criminals
Three Dutch men allegedly made 56 million euros by selling phones equipped with the encrypted messaging service Encrochat to criminals. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects them of participating in a criminal organization and laundering criminally obtained money, AD reports after a recent hearing against Frans S. (64), Peter H. (43), and Hassan K. (48).
According to the OM, the three Dutchmen, arrested in June 2022, were the main players behind the sales of EncroChat devices in the Netherlands, the encrypted messaging service’s largest customer. In two years, they sold over 56 million euros worth of devices, the OM said in a pro-forma hearing last month.
In a joint operation, the Dutch and French police first infiltrated and then took down EncroChat. With the insight they gained from reading messages on the encrypted chat service, the authorities have arrested thousands of suspects of various crimes worldwide. The first EncroChat-linked arrests in the Netherlands involved a torture chamber discovered in Noord-Brabant.
The OM believes the trio functioned as middle-management, working under drug trafficking convict Tommy van der S., according to AD. The 42-year-old Eindhoven man was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2017 for leading a drug gang. He fled the Netherlands before he could serve time. According to AD, Van der S. was the like between the EncroChat bosses and the three Dutch suspects.
The OM is charging them with laundering the 56 million euros they made from selling EncroChat phones, considering that criminally obtained money.
The suspects’ lawyers argue that their customers were only selling phones, not specifically aiming their business at criminals. According to the lawyers, their customer base also includes journalists, athletes, and employees of a listed company in the United States.
It is not yet clear when the trial agianst these there men will start. The next hearing will happen in a few months’ time.
