£12M CRIME STING
Gangbusters grab staggering haul in just TWO WEEKS
Police seized £12million of drugs and guns believed to be linked to the Lyons crime gang after cracking an encrypted messaging network.
Officers recovered 124kilos of cocaine, 1.4kilos of heroin and firearms in a series of raids in just two weeks.
It came after agents in Europe infiltrated a server protecting tech firm EncroChat’s customers – all of whom were criminals, detectives say.
An organised crime sting resulted in £12million of drugs and guns linked to the Lyons crime clan being seized in just two weeks.
Police intercepted more than
100ki los of cocaine, heroin, firearms and ammunition in a series of raids after an encrypted phone network was cracked.
Officers also busted a safehouse being used to stash dirty money they believe belonged to the group after law enforcement managed to hack into the military- grade communications system.
Detectives say the seizures have punched a massive hole in the gang’s criminal operation, believed to be the biggest in Scotland.
It comes after agents in France and the Netherlands managed to breach security used to protect EncroChat
– a Dutch- based encrypted phone network used by 10,000 criminals in the United Kingdom.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) and British police forces, including Police Scotland, were able to access messages sent between gang members – giving them unprecedented access to their plans to flood the country with Class A drugs, weapons and carry out attacks on rivals.
Over a period of just 14 days, officers seized 124kilos of cocaine and 1.4kilos of heroin – with an estimated street value of £12million – they believe was being trafficked north of the Border by the Lyons gang.
They also recovered almost £3million in cash and firearms during the crackdown, codenamed Venetic. On May 17, following searches of property in Glasgow and Clydebank, around £2million was found. Two men aged 50 and 54 were arrested and charged. Two days later, officers stopped a car and a van on the A74 near Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, and recovered 59kilos of cocaine and £750,000 in cash. Three men, aged 38, 41 and 56, were charged and appeared at Dumfries Sheriff Court. On May 28, 65kilos of the drug was recovered from an lorry at Hamilton Services. A 53-year- old man was arrested and charged in connection with the seizure and appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
Then on June 1, officers searched a house in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, where they recovered two guns, ammunition, heroin and tablets believed to be Etizolam, a powerful sleeping pill.
A source said: “These seizures will pose a huge problem for the Lyons gang. The recoveries were made within a very short space of time and are of high value.
“Information obtained from the phone network played a vital part in making the intercept ions . But the investigation won’t end there. The intel l igence obtained wi l l keep officers busy for months.”
Police Scotland made 59 arrests during the operation and seized £25million worth of drugs, eight firearms and explosives. It also recovered more than £5million and 1.3million euros.
Some 200kilos of cocaine, 33kilos of heroin and 63kilos of cannabis was also found by officers.
The Lyons gang has been one of Scotland’s most powerful crime groups for almost 15 years.
It is headed by Steven Lyons, 39, despite him being based 3500 miles away in Dubai. He left Scotland after he was shot in the leg during a failed murder attempt in 2006.
The attack was part of a feud with the rival Daniel gang which has seen a number of shootings and stabbings.
Daniel enforcer Kevin “Gerbil ” Carroll was shot dead in a supermarket car park in 2010 and Steven “Bonzo” Daniel survived a horrific machete attack in 2017.
Crime groups have relied heavily on encrypted messaging services to avoid detection in recent years and have seen their empires
grow. Law enforcement agencies across Europe believe EncroChat’s handsets – which cost £1500 – were being used solely by criminals since 2016.
The NCA says 746 suspects have been arrested as part of the operation. The crime agency claims it prevented 200 murders due to intelligence they obtained .
There has also been a large number of arrests in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Norway and Sweden. EncroChat administrators sent customers a message on June 12 informing them that their security had been breached – almost two months after it was infiltrated.
It read: “Today we had our domains seized by government entities.
“They repurposed our domains to launch an attack to comprise carbon units. With control of our domain they managed to launch a malware campaign against the carbon to weaken its security.
“Due to the level of sophistication of the attack, and the malware code, we can no longer guarantee the security of your device.
“We took immediate action on our network by disabling connectivity to combat the attack.
“You are advised to power off , and physically dispose of your device immediately.
“Period of compromise was about 30 minutes.”
Other major finds in Scotland included a firearm, ammunition, two grenades and over £12,000 of cash after officers searched properties in Johnstone, East Kilbride and Glasgow.
Three men aged 34, 42, and 69 were arrested.
Heroin with a value of £ 360,000 was recovered after a vehicle was stopped on the northbound M74 and a 30-year- old man was arrested.
Police recovered about £1million in cash and £ 80,000 in herbal cannabis after searching premises in Lanarkshire. Five men, aged 35,
42, 44, 45 and a 48-year-old woman were arrested.
Graeme Pearson, former head of the Scot t ish Cr ime and Drug Enforcement Agency, hai led the breakthrough as “the most significant event of a lifetime”.
He added: “The fact that officers were able to breach the security for these phones is a terrific coup.
“Not only because of the recoveries right across Europe and the UK which were significant.
“But it also destroys confidence criminals have in their operation in the future. This has set them back years.”
Being able to breach security is a major coup. This has set them back years