The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded a four-year prison sentence on Wednesday at the court in Den Bosch against a 28-year-old woman from Den Bosch for preparing and trading EnchroChat phones. According to the prosecutor from the National Office, the woman was part of a criminal organization that laundered money on a large scale and favored criminals.
The woman traded in cryptophones from April 4, 2019, to June 12, 2020, which allowed criminal users to send encrypted messages anonymously. She was arrested on September 14, 2021, after she came into view as a reseller in another investigation.
The trading of the phones itself is not illegal, but it is different if those phones are used solely for criminal purposes. According to the prosecutor, this was the case here. The woman could wipe or delete messages from users remotely if someone was arrested. She did this frequently.
Criminal clientele
She denies knowing what that meant exactly or knowing her criminal clientele. The OM does not find this credible. The woman did not keep records, received large cash amounts, and her network consisted of individuals involved in drug trafficking.
“Functions like being able to wipe messages remotely, guaranteeing anonymity, and cash payments indicate that the suspect deliberately sold cryptophones that were particularly attractive to criminals. This is evidenced by the many decrypted EncroChat messages about drug trafficking and the convictions that followed.”
Turnover
According to a calculation by the police, the woman generated a turnover of a total of 630,840 euros. She was a so-called sub-reseller and sold the cryptophones for another suspect, who had 30 resellers under him. He will be tried on September 30, 2025.
“By selling cryptophones, the suspect contributed to making it more difficult to investigate serious criminal offenses, such as large-scale drug trafficking. All this with only one goal: to make quick money. The OM takes this very seriously.”
The OM also announced a confiscation order.
The court will deliver its verdict on April 15.