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Operation Dark Phone Murder by Text Season 1 Episode 3
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00:26Hey, schat.
00:27Was jij er nog op?
00:28Ik heb allemaal geslapen.
00:30Ik lag echt niet kalm, maar ik had het zo nodig.
00:33Ja.
00:35Sjoe.
00:58Ik had mijn eerste wedstrijd.
01:00Hij was nog een klein balk.
01:01Nog een sprootte kaosenbad, pak zoi, poeps, zin, sorbrobo en ik heb zelfs jonge terjeblad gevoerd.
01:07Maar waarom ben je hem zo'n luxus?
01:08Ik heb drie daders over vierkante meter, doe het dan achter het schuurtje.
01:11Mijn beide is geen zon.
01:12Ah, jezus.
01:13Sorry, ik wist niet dat je zo'n gerecht was.
01:16Maar zo'n luxus, ik bedoel...
01:19Je kan het niet eten.
01:21Het is een totaal nutteloze plant.
01:23I had a farm in Africa.
01:53I had a farm in Africa.
02:23By using EncroChat, criminals were part of a global network and it was borderless in nature.
02:29So cracking into the EncroChat had to be an international effort.
02:33The success or failure of this operation was based on all the countries keeping it secret.
02:40And if any one country revealed what was going on, then potentially it could bring it down for everybody.
02:46After the hack of EncroChat, in the Netherlands alone, the police started more than 100 investigations.
02:57But when they saw those pictures, the investigation into the torture chamber became the absolute top priority.
03:04The whole story, message by message, is being told by Schlempel, by Typical Tea, by Luxury Balloon.
03:14Piet Kosta's reputation was somebody of a businessman, a salesman in cocaine.
03:20He felt betrayed and that's what made Piet Kosta turn to ordering a torture complex to be built.
03:28The Dutch police are focused on preventing violence.
03:33So if you read messages about a torture chamber, about kidnapping people, maybe killing them, that is huge red flags.
03:43At this point of time in the investigation, they managed to identify some of the handles.
03:49But they needed to know who are the other key members of the group and where is this torture chamber located.
04:19And they needed to know who the other key members of thewi to be built.
04:25I wanted to know who has the only secret here.
04:28But then they needed them to be seen.
04:32And then they needed to know who was the fact or who he could make them, and what the cursor seems to be here.
04:36And apparently he wasn't την tro ineffective with somatomite owning a car by Habib Neuropah Team.
04:44So when I create this石 on an 18� stopwatch
04:48we were running the operation on anchor chat with the messages but besides that we were doing
05:04a different drug investigation we were just running an investigation on the group that
05:09we thought they were doing drug trafficking and at one point the money trail of this drug
05:16investigation has led them to a warehouse in a small town in the south of the netherlands
05:22and some detectives take a look inside and they see these containers and they ask themselves the
05:29question what is this for you're thinking what's going on with the warehouse but at that time
05:34we thought it was a drug lab or a drug lab and build up and then when they see that photo of
05:41the container that is sent through anchor chat one of the detectives he says hey listen we've seen
05:48containers like this in this warehouse that we checked out in relation to smuggling of drugs
05:55and that's how in the end these two investigations come together
06:01and then the police do an undercover legal break-in so the police is allowed under certain circumstances
06:12to do that
06:12they put cameras in the building that the torture chambers were in and they were monitoring it 24-7
06:21from that moment you can just look at those facilities you can look at that warehouse and you can look at
06:30that underground prison and what you see is they're building it up it's like a construction site so you
06:37actually see it unfold in the messages they are talking about chamber number three is almost done
06:43chamber number five we're working on that the torture chamber is ready so you have control on them
06:50visually through those technical surveillance but you also have control on their mind because you have
06:56control on their communications so at that moment most important worry that i have is that you have to be
07:04sure that you're not compromised because you're in a build-up phase you're pushing the limits and you have
07:09to be sure that the group that you're working on are not actually seeing through your intentions as well
07:39uh
07:57hang on one sec one sec
08:39I can remember that day very clearly. We're in a meeting and it's shaping up to be a fantastic operation. And that's when I'm told we can see messages that we're really worried about. There's a leak. There are some criminals who know about the operation. And when I learned that, obviously I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
09:09There are some criminals who know about the operation.
09:39What is deeply worrying here is the specific information about the 48 hour delay.
10:09It had to be someone who really knew about the EncroChat operation. And the intelligence pointed towards someone most likely working in our office, someone that could be sat next to you. And the risk that they posed was just massive.
10:22A message sent by an individual anywhere in the UK could very, very quickly end up in the hands of someone, for instance, in Holland or certainly across the globe.
10:36Immediately, all these devices could be tracked in the river, tracked in the sea, destroyed. Operations taking place around the world could have stopped in their tracks.
10:46I don't think I've ever seen anything on that scale. I don't think I've ever seen anything on that scale in terms of potential consequence.
10:53So my first thought was, we need to catch them quickly before this information gets spread any further.
11:00It was just kind of drop everything. There was nothing else more important at the time.
11:05My biggest fear was that this was the end of the entire operation, globally, with all the partners that were involved in it. Tensions were high.
11:35Tensions were high.
12:05So at this point during the investigation, Schlempo sends a message from a car at that point he is in.
12:16And the message is sorry, I'm in traffic. I'm going to be a little bit later.
12:22And then he sends a picture.
12:27We're talking corona times. The country is in lockdown.
12:30so for the police the one case that somebody says I'm in traffic it's quite
12:35easy to find and then they start to look at other information for instance a
12:41database with license plate recognition information and they find that in that
12:51same traffic jam there was this suspected criminal Robin van O
13:00and then the police start to assume that Schlempel and Robin van O are the same
13:06person at that time Robin van O was already on the radar of me but also my
13:16colleagues every I mean people know knew who Robin van O was
13:23he's a sports fanatic he had a gym in the Utrecht area
13:29yeah they call him sports
13:31Robin can I just do one thing can you just do a clap in front of your face so we can see
13:51just call just one big clapping oh I'm sorry I wasn't on it again yes please
13:58thank you
14:01Robin are you said though
14:12did you know anything about the warehouse and the door chambers
14:23did you know anything about the warehouse and the door chambers
14:35how would you describe yourself
14:45yeah I was I was I was all vrij bekend in Utrecht of omgeving and uh but I'm never a
14:58door schnee burger
15:00I did that I think I had it overal 200% for this that game what I did was ik
15:08altijd wel heel goed in
15:09uh of it now swermen was wedstrijd swermen was en waar ik nederland's
15:15kampioen in geworden ben dat ik emma of thai boxe of boxe of boxe have gedaan
15:18ehm op a gegeven moment in 2015 ben ik begonnen met een concept elite fit
15:23it is a lifestyle concept en dat is een heel succesvol concept geworden
15:27ik denk wel dat er eh mensen snel een voordeel hebben als je lang of sterk of groot ben maar
15:35ze me beter leren kennen weten ze dat dat ik dat ik geen agressief persoon ben
15:39nee er is altijd een er is ook altijd een verhaaltje dat je een leeuw als een leeuw slaapt moet je hem laten slapen
15:54now the police do you have a suspicion that slempo might be robin van oe but they really have to
16:00gather more concrete information to prove that slempo in fact is the handle of robin van oe
16:09so they have to collect more evidence uh using these phones to see what else they can find out
16:22in order for the encrochat operations be successful it was really important that the criminals had
16:27carried on using that method of communication so the pressure was massive to find out where this leak
16:33was coming from
17:03once we looked at all the communications that we had in relation to the compromise
17:07we assessed it was Tyrion Lannister who had the contact with the officer through associates
17:15we had the handle name so we looked at the movement of his phone and the content of the messages to build up a picture of who that person was and where they operated where they live geolocation of where they went to bed at night
17:33babe yeah I need you to bring some food around in your lunch break because I've got shit to do
17:45it became apparent that the device being used by the handle Tyrion Lannister was in the Warrington area
17:51and that belonged to local criminal who was actively involved in the supply of cannabis in the Cheshire area
18:03can you just do it please thanks bye
18:07bye
18:21on the 24th Tyrion Lannister describes the law enforcement official who had leaked the information as being best mates with JK's bird
18:35which clearly would give us an indication that a criminal associate had the initials JK
18:45so once Tyrion Lannister had been identified the focus was then on trying to identify any associates of his that could be JK
18:54so any previous criminal connections any locally known connections basically just build a picture of who his associates are
19:03and from that we were able to ascertain that he had a contact with the initials JK
19:13Jonathan K
19:15we then very quickly ascertained that his partner is a lady by the name of Leah Bennett
19:22you know it's kind of easy to work out who someone's partner is so it's kind of out there for you to find
19:28and but what we were really interested in then is which officer would know Bennett
19:34and conceivably how a law enforcement officer would be associating with what essentially are known criminals
19:42so when this is happening
19:44the other thing that I'm acutely aware of is that not only could we see these messages
19:50the police in France
19:52the Netherlands
19:54Europol
19:56could also see these messages and indeed they did
19:58they thought that we had an enormous problem with corruption and leaks going out to the criminals
20:06this was the first time in my career where I've had to try and justify the UK's actions
20:14and at one point we were actually told that they were going to switch off the intelligence feed
20:22the French were about to bin us off and they didn't want to deal with us anymore because it was like
20:27oh the NCA can't even keep a secret kind of thing
20:30at that point in time the whole operation
20:34our relationship with our international colleagues is at risk
20:39because clearly the authorities in the Netherlands would not have wanted to have lost this vital supply of information
20:46at such a critical point in their operation
20:49they said in the right of both W
20:50our warto society
20:51we can still hear more clearly
20:52theirricojemcus
20:53certainly
20:55well
20:56upon
20:59right
20:59because
21:01that
21:03the
21:07via
21:08the
21:09the
21:11here
21:11the
21:12the
21:16the
21:17yeah
21:18To be continued...
21:48I don't know.
22:18It's a Sunday evening, it's May 10th, around 10 o'clock, that the news breaks that there
22:34has been a murder on the streets of Rotterdam.
22:38I heard about a killing in Rotterdam, and it had all the characteristics of an underworld
22:45assassination.
22:47So I went asking to my sources in Rotterdam, who's this guy, do you know who this is?
22:52And the guy says, well, word on the street is that this is a guy called Iboa.
22:57Ibrahim, a Dutch national from Moroccan descent.
23:02He's young really, he's 25 or 26 at the time.
23:08And the police identify him as a typical T, a known associate of Pete Costa.
23:16Later on, we found out that it was not just one of the guys.
23:22It was apparently someone that Pete Costa considered like a son for him.
23:29This murder leads to an enormous amount of traffic over Anchorjet, and friends of Ibrahim A., they
23:38suspect that their rival Ali is behind this.
23:42It also becomes clear that they are extremely angry.
23:47personnel, but with many of the people of Milan, they do not belong to like the woman who has
24:08It turns out that the death of Ibrahim
24:38was like a pivotal moment in the whole conflict surrounding Piet Kosta.
24:50Two days after the killing, the police see Piet Kosta traveling from Spain to the Netherlands.
24:58Clearly, there is a violent next phase of this conflict ready to happen.
25:08There is a lot of violence coming in.
25:17It has been so hard for a disaster.
25:19It has been so hard for a career to be a part of this conflict.
25:22Piet Kosta always tried to avoid violence, but then the violence came to him.
25:28It's like if you say to somebody, I don't do war,
25:35when somebody says to you, but I do, you're at war.
25:58I don't know.
26:28After we discovered the leak, the messages are being still repeated,
26:39and there were a number of different criminals advising each other
26:45to get themselves off the EncroChat network.
26:58Because of the increasing amount of pressure from our partners in Europe,
27:15I was obviously putting a significant amount of pressure on my intelligence team.
27:29Once we've identified J.K.'s partner, we get into the message of, you know,
27:35this officer is best friends with J.K.'s bird.
27:39So you're trying to put yourself in their shoes,
27:41kind of thinking about how they would meet that person.
27:44How do I know the people that I know in my life,
27:47and how does that translate to someone who potentially does a similar job to me?
27:53So we're looking at Leah Bennett's social media,
27:55to find out who she's friends with,
27:57so really getting deep into, kind of, Bennett's life.
28:00Just digging into everything that Bennett did.
28:04Honestly, it was like, you know, we're all sat in the room.
28:07Oh, have you checked the nursery? Have you looked who she went to school with?
28:10Why don't you do the phone?
28:12We're just trying to come up with ideas of how we could identify her.
28:17We then looked at the itemised billing for Leah Bennett.
28:23So it's a question of going through every single number
28:27to ascertain if anybody was working for any law enforcement agency.
28:32So, finally, the breakthrough came from Cheshire Police
28:37because one of the numbers on the contacts of Leah Bennett
28:41belonged to one of their officers.
28:46What surprised me about it was the age and experience,
28:51or lack of experience, of the person.
28:55The individual was a girl by the name of Natalie Mottram,
28:59who was a Cheshire Police staff member
29:03and was, in fact, tasked with reading EncroChat messages as they came in.
29:10So it fitted in immediately with our suspicions.
29:17So we had the big breakthrough and, you know,
29:20there's all kind of, like, little celebrations,
29:21but that's not the end of the story then.
29:24This was a complex situation.
29:29We've identified who's involved and we've got surveillance in place.
29:34But we can't just go straight out the door and make an arrest.
29:39We had messages, but at that time,
29:43we are not authorised yet to use them in evidence.
29:47So it's important now to build that case using other techniques.
29:51To leave her in post was absolutely necessary
29:55because we needed to set up an operation
29:58where we could observe her
30:01dealing with the EncroChat intelligence.
30:03We were aware that Natalie would be viewing an item of intelligence that concerned the activities of JK
30:17and what we wanted to do was monitor Natalie's reaction to seeing that intelligence.
30:31We fully expected Natalie to be at work that morning around eight, so we were deployed an hour before that.
30:48It was a really tense atmosphere in the office.
30:55We have to be very careful not to be seen to be encouraging Natalie to do something that she wouldn't normally do.
31:02The first message I received was that she had seen the intelligence relating to JK and Tyrion Lannister.
31:14It was obvious she was concerned.
31:16She immediately stood up and began to pace round.
31:23Very shortly after, she'd booked a half day's leave and left the office at around half past eleven.
31:33It was like watching a police drama, like you couldn't have envisaged how quickly that she would have reacted to the intelligence.
31:42And the way that she actually did forced us into progressing much quicker than we were planning on that day.
31:48After leaving the office, she travelled to the home address of JK and Leah Bennett.
31:56A short time later, JK left the house, travelled to a nearby supermarket where he met with Tyrion Lannister.
32:09They walked off down a narrow pathway in what can best be described as a clandestine meeting.
32:17This provided us with that link between Natalie and Tyrion Lannister.
32:30The chain was complete and the order was put in to strike.
32:40No, do you leave the phones there? You're going to need to leave both phones here.
32:42Uniformed patrols arrived at the scene and arrested Leah Bennett and Natalie Mottram.
32:52They were not as concerned as we might have expected.
32:57You don't need to seize my vote.
32:59Mate, you don't need to seize my vote.
33:01Do you need, listen...
33:02Yeah, I understand what's going on. I know Natalie works with you, whatever, yeah.
33:05There's some observation going on. Can I just have my phone?
33:07Can I just have my phone?
33:09I just feel let down by her actions.
33:13I'm also surprised that somebody of her age and potential chose to throw it all away by doing what she did.
33:21You cannot begin to believe the ramifications involved in this disclosure tonight.
33:26It's like stealing the crown jewels, if you will.
33:28So tell me, why have you done it?
33:30No comment.
33:31Natalie, do you realise the extent of trouble you're in?
33:41I don't think you do.
33:45You've got nothing to say and you're showing no emotion about it at all.
33:49This is your first opportunity to explain yourself.
33:53Is there anything you want to say?
33:54No comment.
33:57I don't know whether this individual really understood the implications of what she did.
34:07But what I do know is the potential repercussions could have been absolutely catastrophic.
34:13Because we all might have lost our access to this information.
34:17So as soon as we deal with this issue, the first people that we tell are the French and the Dutch.
34:25It was really a sense of relief at that point because I knew that whilst criminals carried on using these inquiry chat devices,
34:32the international colleagues were able to really carry on focusing on their operations.
34:36After the murder of Ibrahim, this raises the stakes in the conflict between the group of Piet and the group of A1.
34:54They want revenge.
34:55And that is very difficult because A1, he's in Dubai.
34:57What they then do is they turn the focus to his wife.
35:01They're thinking about kidnapping his kids.
35:03A serious threat is in the air of more violence to come.
35:06A serious threat is in the air of more violence to come.
35:08A serious threat is in the air of more violence to come.
35:14What they then do is they turn the focus to his wife.
35:18They're thinking about kidnapping his kids.
35:20A serious threat is in the air of more violence to come.
35:44We know that there is a group out there who's trying to kidnap and torture innocent people.
35:50This is the point of no return for that group.
35:53If they cross this line, we will intervene.
35:57This is at a point in time where those torture chambers are finished.
36:02Everything is ready for use.
36:14To be continued...
36:44Schlempow thinks that their targets were warned because all of a sudden family members of Ali are gone.
36:55They can't find them anymore.
36:58There can be no chance that innocent victims are actually hurt underneath the eyes of the police.
37:03So we just approach them.
37:06We do victim notifications.
37:07We say, well, we know that somebody is behind you.
37:10You're in harm's way.
37:14Still unaware of the fact that their phone system is being hacked,
37:30they try to figure out who did this.
37:33Of course, immediately you think about how does this compromise the investigation.
37:50And you see that the criminals were getting suspicious.
37:54At that moment, we knew, okay, we need to be sharp now.
37:58Everybody switched on.
37:59Everybody knows it is on.
38:01You cannot make mistakes.
38:02There's not much time.
38:03The first time.
38:17June 1st is one of the crucial moments in the whole operation.
38:27Piet Costa comes back from Spain to the Netherlands
38:30and he has come to sort out what is going on,
38:34why his good friend and associate has been killed.
38:39Piet Costa is at that point one of the most elusive drug traffickers in the Netherlands.
38:45They've been investigating him for years.
38:48And then the police see a meeting between Robin van O, between Hassan M, and between Piet.
39:01They see them walking in the park in The Hague.
39:04When they chat to each other and they say, we need to meet up,
39:08for us it's essential because when they meet up, we're already in place.
39:12If there was any doubt whether these guys were working on something together,
39:19these images prove that they really knew each other, that they were meeting each other.
39:24So this is really the point that everything comes together.
39:28It's a huge moment because at that point, besides being able to prosecute him for smuggling,
39:33they also are able to connect him to the torture chamber.
39:38The police, they had the messages.
39:41They find the location where the torture chambers were.
39:44And now, this physical meeting gives you the confidence that you have the right people.
39:50So at that moment, there is a decision,
39:52okay, we have enough evidence now, and we'll just arrest everybody that we see.
39:57It's the final step of this operation.
40:00During the intervention day, I went with one of the teams.
40:29And that's an exciting moment.
40:39You simultaneously do a clearing on the warehouse, and you also do house searches.
40:48And you always plan it in the dawn, in the early morning.
40:51I was asleep, but I was well awake.
40:59I couldn't do anything.
41:00I heard helicopters.
41:03I was in believe 12 men, and I had weapons on my gear, so there was no possibility to be able to do it.
41:09The Dutch police arrested Piet Costa, Robin van O.
41:39...and around ten of their associates.
41:43Robin is now in this conspiracy of this torture chamber.
41:48And if he gets convicted, he might be looking at something like 15 years.
41:54My health is the last 4-5 months after going out.
42:09I came to the hospital and they found out that I have a stage 4 of cancer.
42:17But I hope that I will be better now I'm still fit and I hope that I can
42:29prove that the Open Minister is wrong.
42:38Yes, they are parked there, perfect.
42:41And then they go that way.
42:44The video, yes, we do the reconstruction.
42:48The reconstruction will help us.
42:52I can prove that I'm not a Slampo or not.
42:58This is what I mean.
43:00Can you see how many people are in the car?
43:03No.
43:04So, your argument is, if the phone is travelling wherever I am,
43:09it doesn't mean I'm the one using it, correct?
43:12Yes.
43:14There are more people in the car.
43:16I've never noticed that they are probably in my neighborhood.
43:20I just said, why would I do that then?
43:22Why do not all the other people are in my neighborhood?
43:26It's not about what you believe, it's about what you can prove.
43:30Every story has multiple truths.
43:38Robin van O is denying that he sent all those messages.
43:42So, it's up to the judge now to see what they think is the most convincing argument.
43:48And I, I lie there not over.
43:51I didn't know.
43:52I didn't know.
43:53I didn't know.
43:54I didn't know.
43:55So, did they find it somewhere else?
43:57No.
43:58No.
43:59No.
44:00Because the phone with the person who used it, the phone was not on the phone.
44:04That makes it very different.
44:05Is that correct?
44:07Yes.
44:08Perfect.
44:09Yes.
44:10I'd rather be a cat than a 100 years old.
44:16I'd rather be a cat than a 100 years old.
44:21I'd never run away.
44:23And I'd never be afraid.
44:25But I'm not a medaginac criminal.
44:34Robin presents himself as a civilized smart guy.
44:38And then, of course, that doesn't make him easy to read.
44:43But with what I've read in the file so far,
44:48it's going to be really difficult for him to convince a judge that he's not slimpo.
45:01We're now able to see a level of criminality we didn't know about.
45:05There's nothing about them that screams smuggling huge amounts of Class A drugs.
45:10They thought they were like the Don Corleone's of the smuggling world.
45:14It's the first time I've ever come across an exportation of drugs from the UK.
45:18It was just under half a ton of ecstasy.
45:22A kilo would get you four times more in Australia than the UK.
45:27But EncroChat, we're starting to notice something was amiss.
45:30I get the call to say that EncroChat know that it's been compromised.
45:35You were advised to power off and physically dispose of your device immediately.
45:40We had to move really quickly.
45:42We had to move really quickly.
45:46Police!
45:47Police!
45:48Get out of here!
45:49Get out of here!
45:50Get out of here!
45:51Get over here!
45:56I'll let's go and get up!
45:58I disgrace you, Mr. Kamala.
46:04We got out of here!
46:06We have to move.
46:07Get do it!
46:12Let's go!
46:13Transcription by CastingWords
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