‘Innocent Until Forced to Plead Guilty’: EncroChat Accused and Families Describe Pressure to Buckle

Campaigners against the National Crime Agency's use of data hacked from EncroChat by French police protest outside the Old Bailey in London on May 27, 2022. Chris Summers/The Epoch Times

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is due to rule later this month on whether or not a warrant to intercept data on the EncroChat encrypted phone network was obtained legally by the National Crime Agency’s (NCA’s) Operation Venetic, which has led to the convictions of 500 people in the UK.

Another 1,000 are awaiting trial on the basis of EncroChat messages and The Epoch Times has spoken to four people whose lives have become entangled in Operation Venetic.