Ham Sandwich, Can Of Beer Lead Police To Drug Dealers In UK

Picture of a can of beer and ham sandwich helped police in Lancashire to track down cocaine dealers. The police arrested Richard Wylie, 36, and Richard Whiteside, 55, after the cops examined photos of lunch that had passed between the pair over EncroChat, BBC reported.

The pair were caught after items in photographs were matched into the Whiteside home in Blackpool.

It was part of Operation Venetic, a UK crackdown on EncroChat. Encrochat is a bespoke encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals, it was cracked by police in 2020 following an investigation led by the National Crime Agency and Lancashire Constabulary, along with the rest of UK law enforcement, continues to target those involved.

This is a pretty uninspiring sandwich, correct? 🥪

Wrong! 🚫

This ham sandwich helped to take down a serious and organised crime gang operating and dealing drugs in Lancashire.#OpWarrior #OpVenetic pic.twitter.com/0SuataqHHq

— Lancashire Police (@LancsPolice) July 11, 2023

According to the media outlet, Wylie, of Thornton-Cleveleys, was jailed for six years while Whiteside was given a four-year jail term.

After an investigation by an organised crime team, the officials were able to prove that Wylie and Whiteside were the owners of Encrochat handle Somesnail and Peppershirt, according to a release by Lancashire police.

Pictures of a can of Stella Artois and a ham sandwich shared on the Encrochat phones helped trap the pair after they were matched to Whiteside's address in Blackpool.

Detective Chief Insp James Edmonds in the release said, "Like many other users of EncroChat, the criminals operating in Lancashire will have mistakenly thought that they could traffic drugs with impunity, under the radar of the police - our successes as part of Op Venetic show how wrong they are.

"We continue to work both with the NCA and other forces across the region and the UK to take the fight to criminals and ensure there are no safe spaces in Lancashire for serious and organised criminals, including those who seek to profit from a class A drugs trade which fuels violence and exploitation in our communities."

"This sort of activity is just one aspect of our continued fight to tackle serious and organised crime. I hope this sends a clear message to the public of our determination to rid communities of this sort of criminalisation and to make our streets safer."

Detectives said they still wanted to speak to two other men, aged 40 and 37, as part of the investigation, who were both believed to be abroad.