Europol shuts down a drug trade-related encrypted app; 48 arrested.

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Europol shuts down a drug trade-related encrypted app; 48 arrested.

February 6, 2023February 6, 2023

According to German police, detectives in Europe have deactivated a secure conduit for organized crime, primarily the drug trade, and have also detained 48 persons.

When the arrests were made on Friday, the criminal police office in the western German state of Rhineland searched more than 70 homes in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland.–Palatinate stated in a press release.

According to the report, those detained were administrators, operators, and users of the communication service Exclu.

The arrests came as a consequence of an investigation that was started in 2020 and that had its origins in the closure of a disused military bunker in western Germany that had been home to websites hosting drug sales and other illicit operations the year before. These comprised Exclu.

According to German officials, a six-month license for the smartphone app Exclu cost 800 euros ($860). An estimated 3,000 people used it, with 750 of them in the Netherlands, where authorities were also looking into it.

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