Three men and a woman were arrested Tuesday in the Netherlands and Spain for involvement in the worldwide distribution of crypto phones from Sky ECC. Property and 1.4 million in crypto currency were also seized.
They are two men, aged 36 and 37, from Amsterdam and Arnhem, who were arrested in Ibiza and in Alicante. The third main suspect is a 37-year-old man from Amsterdam. The three are suspected of forming a criminal organization for the purpose of laundering criminal 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 had been directly involved in the distribution of the encrypted phones and associated software since 2017 as a shareholder and director of a number of legal entities in the Netherlands, Curaçao and Canada under the umbrella of SKY Global Inc. These crypto phones were predominantly in use by internationally operating criminals and their organizations. The encrypted messaging service was known in the criminal community as a secure, unhackable communications platform.
The man arrested in Alicante is suspected of continuing to work independently for Sky Global from December 2019 and was responsible for sales and distribution of Sky phones in the Netherlands. The entire customer portfolio had been sold and transferred to Sky Global by the other suspects around that time. The 37-year-old suspect worked directly for Sky Global and was linked to the resellers in the Netherlands using the username Sky111. The three men were presumably in direct contact with the CEO of Sky ECC for many years.
The investigation into the crypto-phone distributors is being conducted by a combination 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 prosecutors from the National Prosecutor's Office, the Amsterdam Prosecutor's Office and the Functional Prosecutor's Office of the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The arrests in Spain were made thanks to the efforts of the Policia Nacional, UDYCO Central.
The Sky ECC criminal communications network has been taken offline in 2021 a major international investigation by France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This happened after police and justice agencies had been able to read 'live' criminal messaging for weeks. The investigation services had managed to access hundreds of millions of messages from users of Sky ECC phones.
Criminal investigations into the decrypted messages and criminal Sky users led to hundreds of criminal cases in the Netherlands for international drug and arms trafficking, corruption, money laundering, liquidations and other (violent) forms of organized crime. Sky devices were very popular in the criminal milieu because users were guaranteed anonymity and could thus bypass the investigative services. The devices could be completely wiped remotely.
By selling the Sky crypto phones, software and SIM cards, the suspects knowingly enabled internationally organized crime, the suspicion says. The investigation began in 2019. It was suspected that the distributors of the crypto phones acquired large sums of money and should have suspected that the money came from crime. Crypto phones are used almost exclusively 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 turnover achieved amounted to 13.8 million euros, of which just under 6.8 million euros was profit. The suspects maintained contact with resellers and agents, who marketed the crypto phones and subscriptions of 600 euros every three months. The distributors presumably stored much of their profits in crypto wallets and invested in real estate, including a vacation park.
The suspects arrested in Spain are expected to be transferred to the Netherlands shortly. The suspects detained in the Netherlands were released Thursday after questioning. They remain suspects, but may await the continuation of the criminal case at liberty.
