In a rather cheesy incident, a photo of a block of cheese shared online led to the arrest of a drug dealer who was eventually sentenced to 13 years in prison. It so happened the dealer shared an image of a block of cheese in his hand on an encrypted networking platform frequented by drug dealers. The block of M&S Stilton cheese was produced in Leicestershire in the United States. So how did the photo of a block of cheese lead to the arrest of a drug dealer?
It seems that Merseyside Police had already infiltrated the secret encro-chat. The drug dealer, named Carl Stewart, 39, used the chat regularly to supply large amounts of Class A and B drugs to customers. Using the handle ‘Toffeeforce’, Stewart was dealing in several drugs like cocaine, heroin, MDMA and ketamine. It was all going well for Stewart until he decided to share the image of the cheese block on the platform.
The vigilant Merseyside cops were quick to find the photo and analyse it. The cops were able to identify Stewart using the fingerprints left by the man on the cheese. Cops analysed and identified the prints on the man’s palm and were able to arrest Stewart, a resident of Gem Street in Liverpool.
Merseyside Police shared the cheese block image that led to Stewart’s undoing on their Facebook page, informing users that Stewart had “pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply heroin, conspiracy to supply MDMA, conspiracy to supply ketamine and transferring criminal property". He has been sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison on Friday.
The cops also outlined in the post that about 60,000 encrochat users have been identified worldwide, with about 10,000 of them in the UK – all involved in coordinating and planning the supply and distribution of drugs and weapons, money laundering and other criminal activity. Arrests are continuing across Merseyside as part of the operation, the post read.
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