Gangland kingpin Jamie Stevenson put so much trust in the “uncrackable” EncroChat phone system that he sent copies of his own driving licence to other major international gangsters.
The huge leap of faith by Stevenson meant he had handed the crimefighters who’d hacked into the system the evidence that would eventually prove that he was the man at the top of his crime empire.
Stevenson, 59, sent the photo of his licence as proof that he was who he said he was when meeting new drug cartel players via EncroChat, which was almost exclusively used by international gangsters and cost £1,500 to buy plus another £1500 every six months to service.
EncroChat devices could only communicate with other EncroChat users.
The utter trust that Stevenson and other kingpins across Europe put in Encrochat’s secrecy was what brought their downfall.
Stevenson – who was known to be cautious and paranoid – was a master at cunningly delegating duties, that would mean underlings would take the rap for crimes he was masterminding.
But sending the gold standard ID, complete with photo and date of birth, helped prove – incontrovertibly – that Stevenson was the big boss of the Scottish operation.
Gerry Mclean, the National Crime Agency’s regional head of investigations, said : “It’s often difficult to gather the evidence to compel the court or a jury that certain individuals are the chief executive, if you like, of crime groups.
“The cracking of EncroChat allowed us, through their own messaging, show who was truly in control at any given time, and what other, maybe lesser roles some of those, those other accused played in this instance.”
The NCA’s own Operation Venetic used data taken from EncroChat to identify criminals, solve murders and tackle the drug trade, with more than 2,000 people jailed in the UK and more in the pipeline.
The platform owners realised it had been compromised by law enforcement in June 2020, and it was shut down shortly afterwards.
Graeme Pearson, the former boss of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, stressed that Stevenson and other seasoned crime bosses made a monumental blunder when they put their faith in EncroChat.
He said: “I wouldn’t like to have been the salesman for EncroChat.
“I think there will be hundreds of organized crime figures across the globe right now looking for these various salesmen and women – who sold them a pup.
“And thankfully so – because EncroChat has been the biggest gift in the history of law enforcement
“Very prominent crime figures developed a feeling of comfort was actually their undoing. They actually used Encrochat in a way to prove their own credentials.”
Pearson hailed the huge efforts of police officers in Scotland to decipher the evidence gleaned from EncroChat – including the unravelling of who was who in the messages.
He said: “There was a huge amount of intelligence required to examine all these encoded entries and make sense of them. Yes. So it wasn’t like a story you would write in the paper. It was, it was like a matrix that had to be pieced together,
“All the various nom-de-plumes and nicknames had to be matched, and the dates and times with the events that were known.
“So it was a real piece of professional work on behalf of those engaged in intelligence, which gave the operational officers a wonderful start.
“But the fact is that the piece of the jigsaw that was started by Jamie Stevenson with his driver license was a very, very good one to start with.”
Jamie Stevenson and five cronies all admitted drugs charges at the High Court in Glasgow.
He was jailed for 20 years at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.
The crime boss used the EncroChat handles elusiveale and bigtasty.
David Bilsland messaged as trendymutant, Lloyd Cross was shaggycoat and right hand man Gerry Carbin used specialsmith and lucidfudge.
Underling Ryan McPhee used fortressmoth and Paul Bowes used hollowbutter and silverjaguar.
The charges related to the transportation of £76 million worth of cocaine, disguised as bananas, from Ecuador to Scotland.
Stevenson, 59, pleaded guilty on Day 5 of the trial to directing a trafficking operation spanning the UK, Spain, Ecuador and a resort in Abu Dhabi.
Stevenson admitted two charges – of directing a serious criminal offence of importation of cocaine, and of being involved in organised crime through the production and supply of etizolam, often known as street Valium.
His not guilty pleas to the remaining charges were accepted by the Crown.
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