The gangland figures murdered in hits ordered on EncroChat: How killings of Salford's 'Mr Big' Paul Massey and mob 'fixer' John Kinsella were called in using encrypted phone network

Secret phone system EncroChat was used in some of the UK's most notorious murders and crimes, it was revealed today.
The shadowy underground network used by thousands of criminals for worry free communication to arrange murders, drug deals and other illegal activity, was smashed, leading to the arrest of 746 underworld kingpins in Britain alone.
As part of an international three-month investigation spanning Europe and beyond, police raided addresses throughout Britain and seized £54m of dirty cash, two tonnes of drugs and 77 firearms.
Police made the breakthrough after intelligence officers in France and the Netherlands infiltrated the secret communications network, run by a mysterious Dutch firm where criminals buy encrypted handsets for £1,500 to communicate privately. 
Now MailOnline can reveal criminals have used the technology to plot high profile murders in the country - and was central to the planning of two gangland hits in Manchester.  
Gangland boss Mark Fellows used the secret network when he assassinated rivals,  Salford's 'Mr Big' Paul Massey and another underworld rival, John Kinsella.
Paul Massey was executed by 'Iceman' assassin Mark Fellows, who used an EncroChat phone
John Kinsella was executed by 'Iceman' assassin Mark Fellows, who used an EncroChat phone
Paul Massey (left) and John Kinsella (right) was both assassinated by Mark Fellows, who was helped by Steven Boyle using an EncroChat phone
EncroChat was used on an adapted Android mobile phone to communicate secretly (file pic)
EncroChat was used on an adapted Android mobile phone to communicate secretly (file pic)
Mark Fellows was known as The Iceman and was a gangland assassin
Steven Boyle communicated with Fellows on EncroChat to tell him when his target was near
Mark Fellows (left) and Steven Boyle (right) were both jailed for life over the killings of Paul Massey and John Kinsella. The two men used EncroChat to communicate in the plots
Fellows, nicknamed 'Iceman' for his ruthlessness, executed Massey with an Uzi machine gun, hitting him five times on the doorstep of his Salford home in July 2015.
Three years later he executed mob enforcer and fixer Kinsella was in a hail of bullets.
During his trial it emerged that Fellows had been tipped off by an accomplice via the encrypted phone service when Kinsella was coming into range.
When he was questioned about the unusual handset, he flippantly declared 'No one even owns a normal phone these days'.
As he was jailed for both killings Mr Justice Davis told him: 'I have never had to deal with a contract killer of your kind before.
'There are few judges who have. Just punishment in your case requires you to be kept in prison for the rest of your life.' 
Drugs gang boss Andrew Venna, who used EncroChat in his illiegal activities
Drugs gang deputy Matthew Cornwall, was an EncroChat user in his part in the criminal empire
Andrew Venna (left) and Matthew Cornwall (right) both used EncroChat as part of their huge drug network in Gloucestershire'
A raid carried out on a luxury property in the Home Counties as part of the huge police sting
A raid carried out on a luxury property in the Home Counties as part of the huge police sting
West Midlands Police took part in raids in Birmingham that netted criminal suspects
West Midlands Police took part in raids in Birmingham that netted criminal suspects 
In Liverpool a suspect in the raids was brought out in his underwear by armed police
In Liverpool a suspect in the raids was brought out in his underwear by armed police
Some of the £54million seized by police acting on data harvested from EncroChat
Some of the £54million seized by police acting on data harvested from EncroChat

How police smashed criminal gangs in the UK, Europe and the UAE by hacking their phones 

Police dismantled huge chunks of a criminal drugs, guns and people trafficking network spanning the globe after four years of trying.
After two months of planning officers in major cities across the UK simultaneously struck kingpins all over the country.
In April, at the height of lockdown in Europe, police in France and the Netherlands finally infiltrated the EncroChat platform.
The phone system, similar to a walkie talkie system allowed users to send encrypted communications and offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service believing that they were safe from detection.
There were 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 users in the UK – the sole use was for coordinating and planning the distribution of illicit commodities, money laundering and plotting to kill rival criminals. 
But detectives infiltrated the system - and the crime syndicate collapsed like a house of cards in June. 
Meanwhile gangsters Andrew Venna and Matthew Cornwall were also revealed to have used the system in May last year.
Venna and members of his gang were believed to be behind an outbreak of gang warfare in the city which left a number of victims seriously hurt.
He and eight customers and couriers were hit with overwhelming evidence persuaded them to plead guilty to a series of drug supply charges against them.
Venna, was branded Chief Executive of the gang, as he was jailed him for 12 years and nine months while Cornwall got ten years.
Detectives handed data from the compromised EncroChat phone network recently used it track down one of the UK's most wanted criminals.
The man, from Salford in Greater Manchester, was detained in May by Spanish officers at a beachside apartment block, and then extradited to Britain the following month, according to the Times.
Bosses at the National Crime Agency have also said it is also pursuing distributors of the phones, who reportedly included Johnny Swales, a Belfast criminal and former soldier who is known as King Con.
Yesterday's news of Operation Venetic, which spanning the globe, saw scores of raids carried out across the country in a major shift in the battle against drugs, guns and illegal activity.
During the two-month operation officers seized the illegal cash along with firearms including hand grenade and machine guns.
But it was only made possible after the NCA and European forces managed to get inside a formerly secure phone system called EncroChat.

What is the 'EncroChat' smartphone system used by the mafia to move money, drugs and order murders

EncroChat was a secret platform where users were able to communicate privately between specially-designed handsets - often to run drugs, traffick people and even order murders.
These devices, costing £1,500, are usually Android-based smartphones that had their GPS sensors, microphones, and cameras stripped out, encrypted chat apps installed by default to allow people to sent private messages. It is now emerging that criminal syndicates across the world had one - with one in six of the 60,000 users in the UK.  
Marketed as the electronic equivalent of two people having a conversation in an empty room, it enabled users to send written messages or make voice calls through an encrypted system.
There were thought to be 60,000 users internationally, including 10,000 in the UK, with prices at £1,500 for a six-month contract.
Investigators say that the platform, which was not in itself illegal, was designed to be secure against unwanted outside access, and in the UK was used purely for criminal purposes. Since the breach, the Encrochat platform has shut down.
According to the Encrochat website, customers had access to features such as self-destructing messages, that deleted from the recipient's device after a certain length of time. There was also panic wipe, where all the data on the device could be deleted by entering a four-digit code from the lock-screen.
The National Crime Agency said the handset could also be wiped remotely.
It is a messaging system similar to WhatsApp and only pre-loaded on to special phones which have to be specially bought.
Criminals paid £1,500 for a six-month contract to use them and could send a 'kill code text' which wiped everything on the customised Android handset.
Experts in France and the Netherlands infiltrated the illegal communication network, which helped them understand what crimes gangs were planning, like in TV hit The Wire.
In the show one of the police officers built up cases against crooks by using a device called the Triggerfish, which collected data from their phones.
In the real world, investigators found 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 users in the UK alone on EncroChat – the sole use was for coordinating and planning the distribution of drugs, guns, dirty cash, money laundering and plots to kill rival criminals. 
It was a treasure trove of evidence as top level criminals could be monitored speaking freely about their operations and plans, thinking their network could never be cracked.
The company EncroChat is shrouded in mystery, but is based in the Netherlands, and says it has addresses there as well as in Turkey and Latin America.
Scotland Yard said yesterday of the 177 people taken into custody during the operation, 99 people have been charged so far.
As thugs chatted away, law enforcement officers were collecting clues in real-time to collect enough evidence to put them behind bars.
The Met alone detained 132 people - including some from the most serious organised crime network in the capital - with over £13.3million in cash seized among machine guns and narcotics.
One of the operations seized £5million in one go – which is the force's largest ever single cash haul.
Many of the arrests were of seemingly-respectable people living luxury lifestyles, but hiding their secret criminal empires.

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