A man believed to have lived a luxury lifestyle funded by alleged crime wrecked a military-grade Encro phone because it could be used to access cryptocurrency account information, a court heard.
40-year-old Aram Sheibani traveled the world buying expensive cars and high quality art from artists like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors said.
They claim he amassed “unexplained wealth” including nearly £ 5 million worth of real estate.
He is being charged in court on crimes such as drug trafficking, tax evasion, and illegally buying property, which he denies.
The Manchester Crown Court jury heard that Mr. Sheibani had two encro phones. Devices that prosecutors have termed “military” and “very difficult to crack, extremely specialized and expensive”.
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Prosecutor Nick Clarke QC alleged the devices were used by “high-level criminals” to “hide criminal activity.”
In April 2019, police went to Mr. Sheibani in Bowden, Trafford to carry out an arrest warrant.
Officers found an Encro phone in a bathroom that “was effectively bent in half and pushed into the U-curve of a toilet.”
The jury was told that Mr. Sheibani “damaged and destroyed” the phone because it “could be used to access cryptocurrency account information.”
The police also found a starting value for the recovery of cryptocurrencies and a code for a Bitcoin wallet in Mr. Sheibani.
It was valued at £ 136,000 at the time and is now said to be worth over £ 1.5 million.
Mr Sheibani reportedly bought this white Bentley for £ 250,000 in cash
(Image: GMP)
The jury was told that there had been a “successful operation” by the police last year that “exploited a security hole”.
That way, law enforcement agencies could get information about where the phones were being used.
A “large number” of suspects were arrested as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Venetic, the jury heard.
Det Sgt. Peter Nuttall of GMP’s Cybercrime Division said he examined 150 Encro chat devices as part of the investigation.
“Without exception, there was serious criminal content on all of these devices,” he said.
He said such content related to “drug trafficking”, “arms supply”, “large-scale money laundering” and “conspiracy to commit murder”.
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Det Sgt Nuttall said, “Without Operation Venetic, we would never have been able to get the content out of them.”
He claimed it was “unnecessary” for Mr. Sheibani to damage the phone “because we wouldn’t have thought of it anyway”.
The official said he was able to access an Encro chat phone in a previous case in 2018 after a suspect was arrested with an unlocked handset.
He said the phone contained Iron Chat, a secure version of instant messaging.
It also included a “Panic Wipe” app with a red button.
“I didn’t press it, I thought if I did it would have wiped the device,” said Det Sgt Nuttall.
He said in his work that he encountered such devices “quite often” in drug conspiracies.
“They have also been seen in various other guises in various serious and organized crime investigations,” he said.
The official said encro chat phones could cost around £ 1,500 to be used for six months.
Mr Sheibani of Delamer Road, Bowdon, Trafford, denies having received dishonest cash transfers; Scam; Forgery; Conversion of criminal property; Possession of criminal property; Conspiracy to deliver controlled drugs (cocaine) and distort the path of justice.
The process continues.