Berlin: German police have caught more than 750 people and seized large catches of weapons and drugs after infiltrating the communication services used by criminals, the authorities said on Tuesday.
The BKA Federal Criminal Office said the arrest was made possible by the police who solved the encryption used by the Etrochat service, which offered safe cellphone messaging services used by criminals.
Investiden in France and the Netherlands infiltrated the platform, which has 60,000 users worldwide, last year.
They made a number of arrests and shared data through Europol, allowing authorities elsewhere to monitor messages and criminal movements.
Encrochat, which has now been closed, suggested its users to remove their handsets in June last year after realizing it was compromised.
BKA said he had received data on hundreds of thousands of etrochat conversations in April 2020 and it has been able to identify thousands of users.
As a result of the operation, the authorities confiscated around 3.2 tons of marijuana and hundreds of kilograms of synthetic drugs, cocaine, and ecstasy tablets.
BKA said 310 firearms and more than 12,000 rounds of ammunition had also been confiscated.
($ 1 = 0.8411 euro)