The Dutch Public Prosecution Service sees the suspects in the criminal case 26Lemont about the crypto messaging service EncroChat as participants in a criminal organization. According to the Public Prosecution Service, they have thus been helpful in all criminal offenses committed by EncroChat’s criminal clientele.
This concerns serious violent crimes, such as murder and attempted murder, as well as international drug and arms trafficking. The EncroChat telephones were suitable for communicating safely and shielded from the government. EncroChat provided crypto communication services mainly to the underworld.
This was put forward by the Public Prosecution Service at the Rotterdam court on Wednesday during the first public hearing in the criminal case 26Lemont. During this session, the National Public Prosecutor’s Office outlined the progress of the extensive investigation to the court.
The Dutch investigation, codenamed 26Lemont, started in January 2020. The reason was the suspicion of criminal offenses associated with the offering of cryptophones by EncroChat to – in the eyes of the Public Prosecution Service – a criminal clientele. EncroChat was one of the largest providers of crypto services and criminal Netherlands was a major consumer.
At the hearing, the court decided to suspend the pre-trial detention of one of the arrested suspects, a 47-year-old man from Eindhoven. The man was arrested in June with two other suspects for participation in a criminal organization and money laundering. The pre-trial detention of the co-defendants had already been suspended.