Three men who spent months fighting against the admissibility of evidence from the French police’s hacking of the EncroChat encrypted phone network have been jailed for a total of 51 years after they suddenly pleaded guilty.
Jamie Cassidy, 46, a former Liverpool footballer whose career was cut short by injury, was jailed on Thursday along with his elder brother Jonathan, 50, and Nasar Ahmed, 51.
Jonathan Cassidy and Ahmed were jailed for 21 years at Liverpool Crown Court for conspiracy to import and supply cocaine, while Jamie Cassidy was given 13 years.
Wayne Johns, who led the National Crime Agency’s (NCA’s) EncroChat operation, said: “The Cassidy brothers and Ahmed pleaded guilty in this case after years of tenaciously challenging the legality of the case against them.”
“The NCA and Crown Prosecution Service worked with Greater Manchester Police to robustly defend the challenge and we now see the trio where they belong,” he added.
In spring 2020 French police broke the encryption used by EncroChat and obtained hundreds of thousands of messages from users, many of them believed to be organised criminals based in Britain.
In the summer of 2020 the NCA launched Operation Venetic and shared the data received from the French with police forces up and down the country, who sought to link the cryptic EncroChat handles with individuals.
Greater Manchester Police then launched Operation Embossed after four EncroChat handles were linked to massive drug dealing in the northwest of England in 2020.
They claimed Jonathan Cassidy used the handle Whiskywasp, his brother used one called Nucleardog, Ahmed was attributed to Dottedjaw and a fourth man, Joshua Avis—who remains a fugitive from justice—was Octojungle.
But the Cassidy brothers and Ahmed pleaded not guilty and fought the admissibility of the EncroChat evidence through numerous hearings, which at the time could not be reported by the press owing to contempt of court rules.
The French would not divulge, on national security grounds, exactly how they hacked the EncroChat server, but lawyers for the Cassidy brothers and Ahmed said it was a live intercept operation, which would have made it inadmissible in British courts.
The NCA and Greater Manchester Police denied it was a live intercept but refused to allow EncroChat devices to be tested.
Eventually the recorder of Manchester, Judge Nicholas Dean, threw out the request by Ahmed and the Cassidy brothers for a further adjournment for a technical report on the EncroChat hack.
Judge Says El Chapo Comparison ‘Stupid Exaggeration’
Sentencing the trio, Judge Dean said it had been a “sophisticated” operation but he said Jonathan Cassidy’s own comparison of himself with Mexican cartel boss El Chapo was “entirely fanciful” and a “stupid exaggeration.”Prosecutor Richard Wright, KC told the court the gang was believed to have imported and sold 356 kilograms of cocaine, worth around £26 million, and laundered £10 million in the space of just three months.
Jamie Cassidy’s barrister, Paul Greaney, KC, said his client had been a “footballer of exceptional talent and promise” whose career was “entirely wrecked” by injuries.
Mr. Greaney said, “He was signed by Liverpool Football Club in his hometown at the age of 9 and, subsequently, along with Jamie Carragher, was rewarded with one of only 16 places at the FA’s Centre of Excellence.”
Former England defender Mr. Carragher, in his autobiography, said Cassidy—who won the FA Youth Cup in 1996—would have become a regular member of the Liverpool team if his career had not been ruined by injuries.
Eventually, after being released by Liverpool and playing just eight league games for Cambridge, Cassidy gave up the game and was later lured into drug dealing by his older brother.
The court heard that in May 2020, with fears growing among criminals about how secure EncroChat was, Jonathan Cassidy switched to the rival SkyECC network, which was brought down by U.S. and French law enforcement in 2021.
When, in June 2020, EncroChat sent out a message to its users telling them the network had been hacked, Ahmed immediately began to search for flights to Dubai. But he was arrested two days later at his home in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Jonathan Cassidy did make it to Dubai and enquired about a £2.3 million property but he later returned to Britain, falsely believing the police had not linked him to his EncroChat messages.
‘Upper Echelons of Organised Criminals’
Detective Constable Marc Walby from Greater Manchester Police said, “The individuals jailed today were from the upper echelons of organised criminals that operate in Greater Manchester, and thanks to the interception of EncroChat, we were able to see their conversations and activity play out in a way we’ve never been able to before.”Many of those still facing trial on EncroChat data maintain it was a live intercept and say innocent people have gone to jail on the basis of what should have been inadmissible evidence.
