A MAN has been charged with drugs offences following an investigation into the sale of drugs on a messaging service.
Iain Harper, 30, of East Ward Mews, Colchester was originally arrested by police officers in March and has now been charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
He was due to appear at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on June 14 and has been remanded in custody ahead of a court appearance at a later date.
The arrest came as part of an investigation into the sale of drugs - particularly on secure messaging service EncroChat - in the north of the county.
The intelligence gleaned through the arrest was then shared via Europol to national law enforcement agencies.
The investigation itself is linked to Op Venetic – a major police operation designed to crack the bespoke and encrypted global communication service.
EncroChat was a secure mobile phone instant messaging service with 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 in the UK.
Since 2016, international law enforcement agencies have worked together to target EncroChat and agencies in France and the Netherlands have infiltrated the platform.
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