Canadian CEO Charged With Conspiring to Sell Unhackable Phones to Criminals

An illustration of a  BlackBerry smartphone. (Reuters/Bobby Yip/File Photo) / Policemen frisk a man in Medellin, Colombia, on October 3, 2017. Medellin's neighborhoods have been increasingly suffering from drug-related violence from gang and paramilitary groups, some of whom may be benefiting from modified BlackBerry smartphones to evade law enforcement. Joaqin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images

TORONTO—The United States has arrested and charged the chief executive of cybersecurity firm Phantom Secure, alleging the Vancouver-area businessman has conspired to provide drug traffickers with modified BlackBerry smartphones to evade law enforcement.

Vincent Ramos of Richmond, B.C., was arrested March 7 in Bellingham, Wash., near Seattle, and faces criminal charges filed with a U.S. district court in San Diego, Calif. Those records are sealed.