A Luton man has gone on trial alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to supply thousands of pounds worth of cocaine using EncroChat phones.
Fizan Khan who is 25, is said to have taken possession of a kilo of cocaine on May 3, 2020, and within hours had driven with it to Leicester, it was claimed.
At the start of his trial at Luton Crown Court, the jury heard how Mr Khan, of Beechwood Road in Luton, and his fellow conspirators had used expensive EncroChat phones, believing that the messages and communications that passed between them would never be seen by the authorities.
Prosecutor James Norman said the phones used an encrypted messaging system that meant no one else would ever be able to read the content. It was why, he said, the phones had been favoured by criminals in the past.
But, said Mr Norman, all that changed last year when French Police were able to hack into the network and retrieve thousands of messages that had been sent between criminals worldwide. The court heard data relating to criminal activities in the UK was passed to the National Crime Agency who then passed it on to a number of police forces.
The prosecutor told the jury that in relation to the case they were about to hear, the data was passed to Bedfordshire Police who carried out an investigation.
Mr Norman said it was the prosecution’s case that four EncroChat devices were involved in the events of May 3, 2020 and one of them was used by the defendant, Mr Khan.
Mr Khan pleads not guilty to a single charge of conspiring with others to supply a class A drug between April 1 and June 30, 2020.
The prosecutor said one of the four EncroChat phones had the user name or handle ‘trustylord’ and he said: “The prosecution say trustylord was Fizan Khan.”
Mr Norman said that by studying the data they had been provided with, Bedfordshire detectives could see that in April of 2020, trustylord was discussing through the encrypted messaging system, the buying of a kilo of cocaine.
He said the data showed how, in communications, trustylord said he had previously paid out ‘38.5’ for a kilo of the drug which, said Mr Norman, meant £38,500.
The prosecutor said the messages also showed trustylord discussing when the payment for the cocaine would have to be made and how he planned to take the cocaine to Leicester.
Mr Norman said the data sent to the Police revealed three other EncroChat phone users were involved in the arrangements to supply Mr Khan with drugs and they had the user names or handles: ‘uralspeat’, ‘highmuffin’ and ‘moralhunter’.
The court was told the defendant took delivery of the cocaine on May 3, 2020, in the Luton area. The court was told another man involved in the conspiracy, Faisal Yaqoob who had an EncroChat phone with the handle ‘highmuffin’, delivered the kilo of cocaine to Mr Khan that evening.
The prosecutor said the jury would hear that cell site evidence would show that both men’s conventional phones placed them in the same area at the same time as the drugs were handed over.
He said that further cell site evidence would also show that 60 percent of the messaging involving the trustylord device had used a phone mast ‘very close’ to Mr Khan’s home in Beechwood Road.
On May 3, 2020, Mr Norman said the defendant’s EncroChat phone and his conventional phone could be placed by cell site evidence in the same areas at the the same time.
That evening, he said, both the defendant’s EncroChat phone and his conventional mobile could be plotted moving northwards up the M1 heading towards Leicester.
The car he was using that evening was also captured on ANPR in Leicester.
The jury then heard how, on June 18, 2020, police went to the defendant’s home where he was arrested and the property searched. Mr Norman said police found two amounts of cash totalling £1240 and, in a safe, they recovered 3.36 grams of cocaine and a single wrap of the drug.
Also found was a white powder in a sealed bag which turned out to Benzocaine. The prosecutor said the substance was used by those involved in drug dealing as a cutting agent.
Mr Norman said in the defendant’s car officers discovered a set of digital scales which, when examined, was found to have traces of cocaine on it.
In his first interview Mr Khan denied any wrong doing, but on June 29, 2020, he provided a written statement in which he said he accepted responsibility for the drugs found at his home which he said was for his own personal use.
Mr Norman finished his opening of the case to the jury by telling them the issue in the trial was whether Mr Khan was trustylord and had participated in the conspiracy to supply a kilo of cocaine in May 3, 2020.
The jury was told Faisal Yaqoob has previously pleaded guilty to his part in the conspiracy and that was why he wasn’t in the dock on trial with Mr Khan.
The prosecutor said another man alleged to have been involved in the conspiracy is to go on trial at a later date.
Case proceeding.
