Doors smashed in across Lancashire as cocaine and 'dirty cash' seized in gang raids

Police smashed in a number of doors across Lancashire in a bid to crack an EncroChat drugs gang.

Eight suspects have been arrested following the early morning raids at homes and 'stash houses' across the county and neighbouring Rochdale. Tactical Aid Unit officers from the Serious Organised Crime Group seized cannabis, cocaine and £20,000in 'dirty cash' after warrants were executed at eleven addresses.

Detectives say the eight suspected gang members are being questioned over what police have described as a 'large-scale drugs conspiracy'. As well as raiding homes, several warrants were executed at premises suspected to be 'stash houses' for the gang.

READ MORE:

• Lancashire drug gang's £4.5m cocaine empire crumbles when car stopped at M6 services

• Illegal vapes and alcohol seized as Lancashire shops caught selling to underage children

A search of these uncovered several mobile phones, quantities of cocaine, and cannabis plants, according to Greater Manchester Police. Eight people, aged between 27 and 56, have been arrested on conspiracy to supply drugs, the M.E.N reports.

The raids on Wednesday (April 17) are the latest resulting from a rich mine of data hacked by law enforcement from servers in northern France which serviced the EncroChat encrypted communications platform, dubbed WhatsApp for criminals. Police forces across the UK have been trawling through reams of incriminating messages to help smash major gangs.

GMP says so far it has resulted in jail sentences topping 1,000 years and its operations were 'undoubtedly saving countless lives as a result of huge hauls of drugs and firearms'.

Following the latest raids, Detective Sergeant Rich McCorry, of the Serious Organised Crime Group, said: "The ability for criminals to benefit from the proceeds of drugs is a key driver for organised crime, and we have specialist detectives working tirelessly to eliminate the key players from criminal networks across the region. Today’s action is a result of months of hard work by detectives whose proactive investigations into the drugs trade in Manchester has led them through these doors today.

"We will continue to employ every possible tactic to target and disrupt organised crime groups, and ensure they are brought to justice."

For years, the totally legal EncroChat service allowed 50,000 users around the world - 9,000 of them in the UK - to communicate in the knowledge none of their texts would be uncovered by law enforcement. That ended when investigators hacked into EncroChat's server in Roubaix, northern France, in April 2020, sending bogus updates to devices across the globe which effectively mined the incriminating data criminals wanted so much to conceal.

It prompted the hugely successful Operation Venetic, the National Crime Agency investigation into the data that has been recovered, and a series of splinter operations conducted by forces across the country.