These include two men aged 36 and 37 from Amsterdam and Arnhem, who were arrested in Ibiza and Alicante. The third main suspect is a 37-year-old man from Amsterdam. The three are suspected of forming a criminal organization aimed at laundering crime money. A 36-year-old woman was also arrested in Amsterdam, who is believed to have performed work for this criminal organization.
The suspect arrested in Ibiza has been directly involved in the distribution of the encrypted phones and accompanying software since 2017 as a shareholder and director of several legal entities in the Netherlands, Curacao, and Canada under the umbrella of SKY Global Inc. These cryptophones were predominantly used by internationally operating criminals and their organizations. The encrypted messaging service was known in criminal circles as a secure, unhackable communication platform.
The man arrested in Alicante is suspected of having independently continued working for Sky Global since December 2019 and was responsible for the sales and distribution of Sky phones in the Netherlands. The entire customer portfolio was sold and transferred to Sky Global around that time by the other suspects. The 37-year-old suspect worked directly for Sky Global and was linked to the resellers in the Netherlands with the username Sky111. The three men were likely in direct contact with the CEO of Sky ECC for many years.
Criminal Investigation
The investigation into the distributors of the cryptophones is being conducted by a combined team of investigators from the FIOD, the National Investigation and Interventions Unit, and the Amsterdam Unit of the National Police. The investigation is under the authority and direction of public prosecutors from the National Public Prosecutors Office, the Amsterdam Public Prosecutors Office, and the Functional Public Prosecutors Office of the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The arrests in Spain were made thanks to the efforts of the Policia Nacional, UDYCO Central.
Offline
The criminal communication network Sky ECC was taken offline in 2021 following a large-scale international investigation by France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This occurred after police and judicial services were able to read live the criminal messaging traffic for weeks. The investigative services managed to gain access to hundreds of millions of messages from users of Sky ECC phones.
Criminal investigations into the decrypted messages and criminal Sky users have led to hundreds of criminal cases in the Netherlands due to international drug and arms trafficking, corruption, money laundering, executions, and other (violent) forms of organized crime. Sky devices were highly sought after in the criminal world because users were guaranteed anonymity, thus circumventing law enforcement agencies. The devices could be completely wiped remotely.
Facilitated
By selling Sky cryptophones, software, and SIM cards, the suspects allegedly enabled international organized crime, so the suspicion goes. The investigation started in 2019. It was suspected that the distributors of the cryptophones acquired large sums of money and should have suspected that the money was derived from crime. Cryptophones are almost exclusively used within the criminal circuit.
The Dutch suspects are believed to have been responsible for the distribution and management of about a quarter of Sky subscriptions worldwide. The revenue reached 13.8 million euros, of which nearly 6.8 million euros was profit. The suspects maintained contact with resellers and agents who sold the cryptophones and subscriptions for 600 euros every three months. The distributors allegedly placed a large portion of their profits in crypto wallets and invested in real estate, including a holiday park.
It is expected that the suspects arrested in Spain will be transferred to the Netherlands in the near future. The suspects arrested in the Netherlands were released after questioning on Thursday. They remain suspects but are allowed to await the further course of the criminal case in freedom.