During the pandemic, there was a significant bust in EncroChat servers where users were caught completely unaware of a police infiltration in which many messages had been used against many criminals to solve a large volume of criminal cases of organised crime in Europe, this was called Operation Venetic.
EncroChat is a communications application that was created to provide EncroChat users with end-to-end encryption to ensure safe messaging between people so when the encryption was broken for use in court as evidence, this led many to question whether this was legal.
Throughout this blog, we are going to be looking at the legality of Operation Venetic and using EncroChat messages as evidence in court and what we can do to help you get the legal defence you need.
EncroChat Encryption
Encrochat gave users the guarantee of completely safe and encrypted messaging for £1,500 for 6 months of use from an encrypted phone.
This service was used to organise many different criminal activities for a few years and was hacked in 2020 to put a stop to these operations.
EncroChat later released a statement in June to all members of the service that the messages had been “seized illegally by Government entities” once they had realised that their service had been infiltrated.
This message did also inform users that they should turn off their encrochat devices and dispose of them immediately which, once this had been done, led people to their next question whether or not the messages would be able to be used in a court hearing.
The Legality of Operation Venetic
Historically in the UK, the law would state that obtaining evidence in a way that is intercepting material or obtained by tapping into phones then it is not admissible as evidence despite it being potentially obtained completely lawfully.
This issue came before the court of appeal which broad forward section 56 of the Investigatory Powers Act which states that any material that is obtained via interception is not admissible as evidence.
However, other sections of the same act do state that it “does not prohibit disclosure of the content of any communication, or any secondary data obtained from a communication, if the interception of that communication was lawful by (a) sections 6(1)(c) and 44 to 52.”
Section 6(1)(c)(i) states that obtaining evidence via interception is legal and lawful if, ‘in the case of communication stored in or by a telecommunication system’.
It was later agreed that, in the case of Operation Venetic, the evidence was obtained by the above sections of the Investigatory Powers Act and was eventually approved by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.
This, therefore, led the case to be whittled down to the simple fact of whether the evidence was obtained by sections 4(4)(b) or 4(4)(a) of the Investigatory Powers Act – “at the point of interception, were the communications ‘stored in or by’ the system by which they were transmitted, or were ‘being transmitted’”.
This meant that if the communications were transmitted at the relevant time then the communication was inadmissible as evidence.
EncroChat Defence Solicitors
If you are concerned about the ongoings of Operation Venetic and are looking for a team of defence lawyers to help you, then EncroChat solicitors can help you moving forward.
We have looked to create a forward-thinking team of specialists in the field of criminal defence and we assure you that we can maintain a high level of quality throughout your case.
We aim to create an environment where all of our clients feel that they can come to us with any legal query that they may have and be assured that we will keep all of their information in the strictest confidence.
Our team will be completely dedicated to your case as soon as we are aware of it and will get to work as soon as possible on a defence case to suit your needs and hopefully bring the best scenario possible out of your case no matter the circumstances.
Every person has the right to a defence lawyer no matter what their case entails and we are committed to every one of our clients regardless of why they need our EncroChat defence expertise.
We have always aimed to provide the best possible defence cases to people of all age ranges, ethnicities and backgrounds and have always looked to treat our clients as individual people, with the utmost respect.
This allows us to go the extra mile and take everything into account before the deadline of your defence case and we are proud of the services that we have been able to provide for many years now.
Conclusion
To conclude, most of the evidence that police have been collecting for Operation Venetic on EncroChat is perfectly lawful and it would therefore be incredibly important for you to have high-quality defence lawyers on your side.
One thing that you should always note throughout this experience is that it is not illegal to own an encrypted phone, therefore the huge rise in arrests due to Operation Venetic may not concern you as it would have previously.
Many different people are experiencing similar feelings to you but do not have any defence lawyers on their side, it is of vital importance that you get the defence you deserve in court if you are worried about the potential outcome.
If you need a team of defence lawyers that will be able to help you get through your EncroChat allegations no matter what they are for whether this be drug possession or money laundering then you can get in touch with us at 0330 133 6541 or email us at contact@encrochatsolicitors.com.
