A Belgian court sentenced more than 120 people convicted of drug-related crimes yesterday in the largest drug trial in the country's history. Sentence lengths ranged from one to 17 years for dozens of defendants hailing from Albania, North Africa, Belgium, and Colombia in a globe-spanning drug trafficking operation.
The case, which began in December, relied on evidence collected after police successfully infiltrated and surveilled the Sky ECC and Encro encrypted phone networks in 2020 and 2021. Such networks consisted of tens of thousands of individuals using modified phones designed for total anonymity, including disabling cameras, microphones, and GPS and using a concealed operating system. The multinational and novel nature of the infiltration, which collected huge swaths of data from entire networks, has prompted complex legal questions and led to more than 6,500 arrests.
The ruling comes as Europe continues to grapple with sprawling criminal drug networks. Belgium's major port of Antwerp seizes more than 100 tons of cocaine annually.
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