The ringleader of a drug network smuggled at least 127kg of cocaine into the UK using the Encrochat messaging service that has been burst open by detectives.
Marius Bucys, 43, of Dagenham in London, has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to import Class A drugs.
Bucys is the latest criminal to be busted after cybercrime experts cracked open the Encrochat service and used its data to arrest hundreds of criminals who had, until then, used the app as a near-untraceable means of coordinating drug deals.
European officers blew the app wide open in 2020, and Metropolitan Police detectives used a combination of its data and old-fashioned detective work to snare the drug smuggler – whose drivers used secret compartments to hide their wares.
The Met says Bucys acted as the ringleader in a wider drug network, arranging travel and logistics for the substances to be brought into the UK.
After Encrochat was accessed by police in the Netherlands and France, data was passed to police forces in the UK via the National Crime Agency (NCA) that detectives were able to use to link Bucys to the illicit trade.
Officers also trawled through hundreds of hours of CCTV showing lorry drivers stopping at locations up and down the M25 to pick up the drugs.
When officers raided his address, they found a notebook containing details of the importations.
Hellbound and Down 