UK police catches nearly 750 criminals in biggest operation against EnroChat: NCA

British Police, on Thursday, claimed to have carried out their biggest operation ever in which they caught "iconic" figures.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has claimed to smash thousands of conspiracies, including murder plots, as the agency was able to crack the encryption system of EnroChat, the communication system which was being used by several criminals.

"Together we’ve protected the public by arresting middle-tier criminals and the kingpins, the so-called iconic untouchables who have evaded law enforcement for years, and now we have the evidence to prosecute them," said NCA Director of Investigations Nikki Holland.

NCA claimed to have been working on this project since 2016 with international partners, after which it has managed to arrest nearly 750 criminals.

The agency said it also meant a specialist team had been able to stop rival gangs carrying out kidnappings and executions, "successfully mitigating over 200 threats to life".

Two months ago, French and Dutch investigators were able to infiltrate the platform, which had 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 in the United Kingdom. This allowed the agencies to monitor the messages and keep a eye on the movements of the criminals.

Reports also suggested that EnroChat had realized that the platform had been infiltrated, and had then asked their users to throw away their devices. All this had happened after June 13.

However, British police have made 746 arrests, claimed 54 million pounds ($67 million) in criminal cash, seized 77 firearms, including an assault rifle and sub-machine guns, and more than two tonnes of drugs, the NCA said.

The operation has been helpful for other European agencies too, who have been able to get ahead of criminal activities using thisinformation.

EnroChat has now been shut down.

(With inputs from Reuters)