Dismantling of criminal-favored Ghost messaging app leads to major drug trafficking arrests

Law enforcement arrested members of “high-risk” criminal network using encrypted messaging.

Irish and Spanish officers arrested 12 suspects, six in Ireland and six in Spain, who were allegedly involved in large-scale drug trafficking, mainly by transporting drugs hidden in vehicles from Spain to Ireland.

The network’s activities were uncovered when law enforcement dismantled the encrypted communications platform Ghost last year.

According to Europol, which provided support for the investigation, the criminals had relied on sophisticated encrypted communications and fragmented their exchanges across multiple platforms.

“The sophistication of their communications was in stark contrast to the simplicity of their modus operandi – it consisted of smuggling cocaine and marijuana across the continent in vehicles equipped with custom-made secret compartments and cloned number plates,” Europol said in a press release.

Ghost, an encrypted messaging channel that led law enforcement to uncover the criminals, was dismantled last September.

The platform was preferred by criminals as it allowed them to avoid detection and allowed the option to send a message followed by a specific code which would result in the self-destruction of all messages on the target phone.

Ghost facilitated serious and organized crime, including large-scale sale of drugs, money laundering, and extreme violence.