A number of criminals have been caged in Scotland after French authorities cracked the highly encrypted EncroChat messaging service in 2020.
Gangsters, drug lords, weapons dealers and county lines runners have been rounded up after their dodgy dealings were exposed on the app.
The Record’s new series will explore Scotland’s biggest EncroChat busts – and the individuals behind the deals who believed they were untouchable.
Among the Scottish investigations was a case involving £1.3m cocaine and heroin ring orchestrated by a man known as ‘Big Poppa’.
When police stopped ‘Big Poppa’ on Fulton Street in Glasgow in April 2020, he just had time to send a message to his associates tipping them off to his situation. It was short: “Been caught”.
He then slipped the white V-Smart mobile phone into the secret compartment of his Citroen Berlingo van and sealed it up hoping police wouldn’t find the device and his criminal enterprise wouldn’t come crashing down.
View 2 ImagesDrugs seized by Police Scotland during Operation Venetic. (Image: Supplied)
Darren Collin, then 29, was arrested and officers went about searching his van. It didn’t take them long to find the purpose-built secret compartment and the phone which would tie Collin to his ‘Big Poppa’ moniker was unveiled.
The encrypted device contained hundreds of messages linking him to the delivery of drugs and money as well as photos of illegal hauls.
Police had put Collin under surveillance in late April 2020 but didn’t know the full extent of his criminal activities.
He was spotted driving an expensive Audi SQ7 before going into the Berlingo van while under the eye of officers. They followed him and saw what appeared to be drug transactions – Collin collected three large tubs in the Dawsholm Road Industrial Estate near Anniesland in Glasgow.
After he was stopped, his criminal enterprise began to collapse. Police seized several mobile devices but the encrypted V-Smart phone proved pivotal to the investigation.
It revealed Collin had been in touch 10 regular contacts whose nicknames including ‘icecream’, ‘blackhorse’, ‘magicstopper’ and ‘tinthepark.com’.
In the van, police also found heroin, cocaine, cash and substances used to bulk out drugs. When they raided a nearby flat tied to Collin, more drugs and cash were found.
Police also seized a hydraulic press and other related equipment. In total, the drugs seized were worth more than £1.3 million – £820,500 worth of heroin and £505,580 of cocaine to be precise. His seized cash totalled £517,000.
With his empire crumbling around him, Collin pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.
In August 2020, Collin was jailed for eight years and was hit with a three-year Serious Crime Prevention Order designed to tackle and monitor criminals on their release from jail.
Prosecutor Chris McKenna: “There are further significant messages relating to what is assessed to be criminality such as images of white blocks.
“These are potentially cocaine with different logos embossed as well as large sums of money and tick lists.”
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