A police-led hacking of the SKY ECC encrypted messaging platform in Europe in 2021 has paved the way for extensive drug-trafficking investigations in Turkey, where authorities identified 4,500 users of the system and linked intercepted messages to several major criminal networks operating inside the country, the BirGün daily reported.
Following the European breach, Turkey requested SKY ECC data from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The information revealed 4,500 users in Turkey, most of them in İstanbul, reinforcing the city’s role as a key transit hub in regional drug-trafficking routes.
European investigators cracked SKY ECC’s encrypted servers in 2021 as part of a multinational operation, gaining access to a vast archive used by organized crime groups. The system contained millions of two-way messages and group messages.
Data extracted from the platform contributed to several major investigations in Europe and Turkey, including cases involving Jos Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos,” considered one of the most powerful drug criminals in Europe; the Comanchero bike gang; and drug lords Abdullah Alp Üstün and Ürfi Çetinkaya. Despite the large number of local users, only a fraction have so far been identified.
The messages also exposed another trafficking network allegedly led by Recep Özyıldız, who is accused of moving heroin from Iran and Iraq through Turkey and on to the Netherlands. Conversations included photographs of drug packages, maps, price lists and payment arrangements.
Prosecutors detailed seven heroin shipments tied to Özyıldız based on SKY ECC communications. In one case on October 9, 2020, messages showed a supplier arriving in İstanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa district with 60 kilograms of heroin, meeting a courier at a pastry shop known as Sarıyer Börekçisi.
In another exchange Özyıldız allegedly wrote: “It’s exactly the color I wanted — let’s send it to the Netherlands.”
Two months later, Dutch police reportedly found packets matching the shipment in the hands of street-level dealers.
The indictment against Özyıldız describes how the network laundered proceeds using coded serial numbers on €10 banknotes, which allowed couriers to identify one another during exchanges. One transaction, a €1.18 million payment, was allegedly delivered to a currency exchange office in İstanbul’s Grand Bazaar, where associates collected the money using the coded note.
Özyıldız was arrested in Turkey in 2024, but many members of the trafficking group are believed to be outside the country. Investigations into SKY ECC users in Turkey are continuing.
Turkey, located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, has long struggled with international drug trafficking. Turkish security forces regularly conduct operations to combat drug abuse and smuggling.
April raids across Europe, Turkey linked to SKY ECC intelligence
Criminal gangs have increasingly used encrypted communication tools, both legal services and underground platforms, to coordinate shipments and financial transactions.
Europol has dismantled major criminal structures using intelligence gathered from Encrochat and ANOM in addition to SKY ECC, describing the platforms as “powerful tools” for investigators because gang leaders and logistics teams rely heavily on them.
A major Europe-wide operation in April showed how intelligence from cracked encrypted platforms such as SKY ECC continues to drive new investigations. Police carried out “unprecedented” raids against four organized crime groups across five countries, arresting 234 suspects, including 225 in Turkey, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
Coordinated under Operation Bulut (Cloud), officers seized more than 21 tons of drugs, including 3.3 million MDMA tablets, along with vehicles and large amounts of cash. Europol officials described the sting as one of the biggest blows to organized crime in recent years.
Europol’s Andy Kraag told AFP at the time that that the operation was possible because of messages obtained from the earlier hacking of SKY ECC and ANOM, calling the intercepted data a continuing “gold mine” that provides actionable intelligence.
Turkey’s interior minister said the dismantled groups were involved in trafficking cocaine from South America to Turkey and Europe, heroin from Iran and Afghanistan, cannabis through the Balkans and ecstasy through European routes as well as money laundering and violent crime.
Kraag said the entire network had been targeted “from the top boss to the low-end street criminal.”
Sky ECC was a subscription-based messaging platform developed by Canadian company Sky Global. It offered end-to-end encryption and was widely used for criminal purposes, including drug trafficking, money laundering and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Although SKY ECC was officially shut down in March 2021, hundreds of millions of encrypted messages remained available, giving insights into the structure, operations and international links of criminal networks and continuing to support investigations across the EU.