47 minSeason 1 • Episode 4
LatestSixty days since the authorities first broke into the criminals' messages, it's approaching the beginning of the end of the EncroChat hack, as the owners become suspicious that they've been compromised. But as each batch of messages that have been given to the UK authorities are analysed, more and more criminality is exposed. Analysts reveal that it's the first time that they've ever come across exportation of drugs from the UK, as they discover half a tonne of ecstasy is bound for Australia.
The incredible inside story of a huge police operation to infiltrate dangerous global crime gangs through their encrypted phone network. Operation Dark Phone : Murder by Text is the inside story the biggest ever joint law enforcement operation against a global network of organised crime groups who believed their encrypted phones were safe. Until a collaboration between international authorities - led in the UK by the National Crime Agency - managed to hack their phones to reveal the astonishing details of their messages. For the first time since the EncroChat network was infiltrated in 2020, the messages sent and the criminals exposed are exclusively revealed in a four part documentary series that tells the story in compelling and shocking detail. For 74 frantic days the authorities could read all the messages and sought to save lives and bring down the gangs, before the criminals realised their data was being captured.
Editing
Messages pop on screen like lethal text bubbles.
Production
Reenactments that actually don't ruin everything.
Writing
Access to real cops AND real crooks, no filter.
Creator
Zac Beattie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The NCA named their operation 'Operation Venetic' after discovering EncroChat users called their phones 'carbon units.'
This case sparked EU-wide debates about whether mass hacking evidence should be admissible in court—some criminals walked free on technicalities.
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