OFFICERS have made seven arrests, seized a huge haul of drugs and recovered more than £200,000 worth of luxury goods after secretly reading criminals' messages.

Over the past two months, Cheshire Police's Serious and Organised Crime Unit has monitored a bespoke encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals, as part of a Europe-wide investigation.

With the offenders none the wiser, Cheshire detectives followed their every move.

And with the intelligence they gathered, police could make seven arrests, intercept five kilos of drugs including cannabis and cocaine, and recover £92,000 in cash.

They also seized designer clothing, jewellery including high value watches, motorbikes, cars, mountain bikes and devices totalling more than £200,000.

Cheshire Police says it was also able to mitigate serious threats made to the lives of those associated with organised crime.

Det Chf Insp Giles Pierce, from Cheshire Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “The activity that has taken place over the last ten weeks will send shock waves through the criminal world.

“I have had a dedicated team monitoring and building the intelligence around this tactic to identify those engaged in some of the highest level of serious and organised crime.

“We have been one step ahead of this criminality and we will remain relentless in our pursuit against those involved in serious and organised to make Cheshire a much safer place.”

Two months ago, the bespoke global service called EncroChat was cracked by international law enforcement.

Since then Cheshire Police has been part of a large-scale investigation led by the National Crime Agency under the codename Operation Venetic.

The operation also involved regional organised crime units and police forces across the country.

The EncroChat had 60,000 users worldwide and around 10,000 users in the UK.

It was being used for coordinating and planning the distribution of illicit commodities, money laundering and plotting to kill rival criminals.

The system was used on phones with pre-loaded apps for instant messaging, the ability to make VOIP calls and a kill code which wipes them remotely.

The phones have no other conventional functionality and cost around £1,500 for a six-month contract.

On Thursday, July 2, the EncroChat servers were shut down by French and Dutch authorities.

David Keane, Cheshire's police and crime commissioner, added: "I would like to commend the work of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit who have been able to infiltrate encrypted devices used by criminals as part of a huge National Crime Agency operation.

“This sends a stark message to anyone thinking of operating in this type of criminality that police in Cheshire are working to disrupt this type of activity and make our communities safer.”

If you believe serious and organised crime is taking place in your area call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or Cheshire Police on 101.