Operation Venetic - hundreds arrested for 'leading secret criminal lives', and £54m seized [so far]

[two sheds]

That and the Russians

Yes, I was just thinking how to do an eta on oligarchs who'd ripped off their country's people.

 

[newbie]

A report I read earlier stated that the lurgy made it that when they executed warrants the suspect was mostly at home.

There have been loads of raids round here during lockdown. The Met have put three notes through the door explaining what they've been doing.

 

[two sheds]

"Sorry you were out when we called round?"

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

That and the Russians

The Venn diagram of high level criminals and incredibly wealthy Russians looks like a slightly distorted tennis ball...

 

[agricola]

Where do seriously rich crooks disappear to these days? Paraguay? Panama? Equatorial Guinea? I suppose they could always rock up in Moscow and pay some serious dosh to some goon.

Must say, it's heartening to see the big boys copping it, rather than the shotters and low level movers.

London

that is not a joke by the way

ETA: sorry, didn't see Bahnhof Strasse had said that already

 

[eatmorecheese]

London

that is not a joke by the way

Of course. Absolutely right. London's a laundry for dirty money, property investment and tax evasion. Under our fucking nose

 

[MrSki]

Of course. Absolutely right. London's a laundry for dirty money, property investment and tax evasion. Under our fucking nose

That is probably the reason vote leave got so much funding.

 

[Spymaster]

Where do seriously rich crooks disappear to these days?

London

Edit> as already pointed out several times

 

[Artaxerxes]

Where do seriously rich crooks disappear to these days? Paraguay? Panama? Equatorial Guinea? I suppose they could always rock up in Moscow and pay some serious dosh to some goon.

Must say, it's heartening to see the big boys copping it, rather than the shotters and low level movers.

Battersea

 

[The39thStep]

the reports today explicitly mentioned that the sting has uncovered corrupt police involvement.... not sure how easy its going to be get them let off like theyd no doubt like... didnt suggest how many individuals came up

As I said still around .You can never rule out people being turned .

 

[ska invita]

As I said still around .You can never rule out people being turned .

i imagine theres endless bent cops....not sure id describe it as being turned though...plenty dodgy in the first place

 

[William of Walworth]

This is going to be a fascinating and ever-developing thread, I predict!

 

[The39thStep]

i imagine theres endless bent cops....not sure id describe it as being turned though...plenty dodgy in the first place

Bit like saying there are endless bent social workers,immigration officer, customs and excise , architects , accountants ,planning departments, solicitors , licensing . Yes where there is profit or gain there are friends to be made . You can extend this to car washes, nail parlours , door security . the music industry, sports and sports betting and countless others . Dont suppose that many start in those jobs thinking that being dodgy is the reason why they started in those occupations tbh.

 

[ska invita]

Bit like saying there are endless bent social workers,immigration officer, customs and excise , architects , accountants ,planning departments, solicitors , licensing . Yes where there is profit or gain there are friends to be made . You can extend this to car washes, nail parlours , door security . the music industry, sports and sports betting and countless others . Dont suppose that many start in those jobs thinking that being dodgy is the reason why they started in those occupations tbh.

you might be right....ive got prejudice to this topic though i guess

one example where we have some rare light shone...mcpherson....institutional racism....the cunt eltham top police who was in with the killers....police turning on the lawrence family...i think the percentages are higher than in nail parlours

ETA: Actually Nail Parlours are fucking god awful people traffickers in many cases supposedly, not a good example

Actually looking at your list again youre probably right.

 

[The39thStep]

you might be right....ive got prejudice to this topic though i guess

one example where we have some rare light shone...mcpherson....institutional racism....the cunt eltham top police who was in with the killers....police turning on the lawrence family...i think the percentages are higher than in nail parlours

ETA: Actually Nail Parlours are fucking god awful people traffickers in many cases supposedly, not a good example

Actually looking at your list again youre probably right.

Not doubting your suspicion about bent cops just saying that big business both legal and illegal always looks for a way in and weakness . Follow the money.

 

[Celyn]

interesting to see how many corrupt uk police get collared for involvement

If only.

But I suppose we can live in hope.

 

[Celyn]

Blimey!

... "more than a hundred million encrypted messages"

Well, it might help pass the time in prison. Happy sing-songs.

A hundred million messages standing on the wall
and if one message should accidentally fall ...

 

[gosub]

Oh my oh my. I hope they release some of the transcripts.

London

Edit> as already pointed out several times

The seriously rich can't stay in any one place for too long. But London is a place.

 

[SpookyFrank]

interesting to see how many corrupt uk police get collared for involvement

Spoiler

None

 

[Dogsauce]

I liked this bit from the Vice article best:

Already, other encrypted phone companies are trying to fill the void left by Encrochat. A company called Omerta has been advertising directly to Encrochat's old customers. "ENCROCHAT HACKED, USERS EXPOSED & ARRESTS GALORE - THE KING IS DEAD," a blog post on its site reads. Omerta told Motherboard in an email it has seen a rise in traffic recently.
"Did you narrowly escape the recent Mass Extinction Event? Celebrate with 10 percent off. Join the Omerta family and communicate with impunity."

Who’s betting this other company isn’t owned or set up by a government/police agency as a honey trap? Or that Encrochat wasn’t from the start? At least given the value of the information to police it’d be well worth a hefty bribe to get an insider on the team.

 

[Johnny Doe]

I liked this bit from the Vice article best:


Who’s betting this other company isn’t owned or set up by a government/police agency as a honey trap? Or that Encrochat wasn’t from the start? At least given the value of the information to police it’d be well worth a hefty bribe to get an insider on the team.

The brass neck to call it Omerta too!

 

[JuanTwoThree]

Nothing suggestive about naming the company Omerta, the Mafia code of silence

 

[JuanTwoThree]

Snap!

 

[Pickman's model]

Crackle!

 

[Pickman's model]

The seriously rich can't stay in any one place for too long. But London is a place.

 

[Dogsauce]

Nothing suggestive about naming the company Omerta, the Mafia code of silence

Dangerous business to be in If you fuck it up / get ‘hacked’ and that code of silence gets breached. Good way to get on the wrong side of a quite a few thousand characters of the sort you really don’t want to be on the wrong side of. Suspect anyone involved in Encrochat is spending a lot on adult-sized nappies at the minute.

 

[William of Walworth]

I've just caught up now with the Vice article that FridgeMagnet posted on page one!

It's absolutely superb (IMO) at explaining really technical stuff in a way that non-techies like me can understand ...

But more importantly, the whole story is absolutely fascinating!

I'm so going to follow this story, because it's going to last!

 

[William of Walworth]

And I predict a big increase in the number of low-level homegrowers who have no contact with any Mrs Mediums, and least of all with any Mr Bigs

Commenting on behalf of a 'friend'

 

[likesfish]

Your always going to have some level of corruption a certain jail's smoking prevention worker "resigned " with immediate effect leadership didn't want to look bad.

 

[treelover]

On Encrochat, criminals spoke openly and negotiated their deals in granular detail, with price lists, names of customers, and explicit references to the large quantities of drugs they sold, according to documents obtained by Motherboard from sources in and around the criminal world.

Not just criminal but those they supplies, etc, going to be very very interesting.