Gangster Presents… Catching the Kingpins tells the inside story of how the police infiltrated the EncroChat phone network.
The secret encrypted network was popular with criminal gangs in the UK and Europe. The police infiltration led to thousands of arrests and hundreds of prosecutions.
Hosted by investigative journalist, Mobeen Azhar, the six-part podcast follows the real-life, pan-Europe police sting and reveals extraordinary real-life tales, and unexpected discoveries.
Among the stories included are of two seemingly legitimate businessmen, living in a suburban Buckinghamshire village whose wealth came from cocaine trafficking and major league money laundering, a corrupt police officer who was working for a notorious London crime group and a murder plot unearthed by the Metropolitan Police in a joint operation with South Wales police.
Mobeen says: “This podcast is about more than arrests and prosecutions. It’s the story of the Metropolitan Police’s role in the biggest organised crime bust in British policing history, led by the National Crime Agency.
“We detail just how organised the world of organised crime in the UK is right now. We explore how smart technology plays a pivotal role.
“We gained genuine access to the Metropolitan Police detectives who solved the crime so, expect first-hand accounts of how clues were pieced together, evidence was collected and cases against career criminals were built.”
Each episode focuses on a different case, detailing how these gangs used EncroChat to aid their criminal endeavours. Talking exclusively to BBC Sounds, Metropolitan Police officers reveal how they used the criminals’ messages to uncover arms dealing, expose murder plots, major drug trafficking, and money laundering operations.
Speaking of cracking the encrypted phone network, DCI Driss Hayoukane, the Senior Investigating Officer who led the Met’s EncroChat operation, said: “It was like being in a room with them and they are talking freely, and they don’t see you there.”
Mobeen added: “Every episode builds on the last. The access is astounding and so are the stories. The Metropolitan Police even share how this operation revealed corruption amongst their own staff.
“At a time when the Met are often in the headlines for the wrong reasons, this is rare insight into an extraordinarily successful bust.”
Gangster Presents… Catching the Kingpins was commissioned by BBC Radio 5 Live and is available to hear as a boxset on BBC Sounds from Sunday 7 January, and weekly on BBC Radio 4 at 1.30 pm.
