Specialist detectives targeting Manchester’s most prolific gang members put criminals behind bars for over 1000 years

Greater Manchester Police’s largest operation tackling organised crime groups have made 256 arrests and put some of the UK’s most sophisticated criminals in jail for a combined total of over 1000 years.

Operation Foam is the codename for the ongoing GMP led investigations into the criminals who use encrypted mobile phones – EncroChat devices – to orchestrate their criminal business. Previously, the technology behind these devices made it impossible for police to obtain any data or evidence.

The criminals believed these encrypted devices rendered them untouchable, and over the years, they have sought to facilitate the most heinous crimes.

But in almost three years, Operation Foam has garnered significant results, removing some of Greater Manchester’s most sophisticated criminals from our streets. In that time, we have:

• Made 256 arrests.
• Jailed 111 individuals, for a combined total of 1013 years, with a further 111 awaiting trial.
• Seized over £2.9 million cash. As part of the national Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) a portion of this will be returned to GMP to fund community initiatives.
• Seized over 330kg of class A and B drugs, and 2.6 million class C tablets.
• Removed 42 firearms and 1303 rounds of ammunition from the streets of Greater Manchester.

Operation Foam was launched in March 2020 when police forces across the UK were handed hundreds of thousands of messages from a once encrypted messaging platform by the National Crime Agency, who, as part of Operation Venetic, had infiltrated the largest providers of secure, encrypted communications.

Encrochat was used like a criminal instant messaging service, with messages detailing all sorts of nefarious illegal dealings, and now police had access into the minds and daily lives of the criminals using this platform.

But this wasn’t a simple task, criminals didn’t use their real names, they all went by an alias, known as a handle, meaning detectives had to trawl through thousands of messages and attribute them to criminals across the UK.

Working with the National Crime Agency, European law enforcement partners, colleagues from forces across the UK, and the Crown Prosecution Service, police and partners have secured convictions for some of the UK’s most senior criminals.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, head of Serious Organised Crime at GMP, said: “This breakthrough was monumental and gave us insight into the criminal underworld in a way we’d not had access before.

“Operation Foam is our largest ever operation into organised crime in Manchester, and work continues behind the scenes. We have specialist teams working tirelessly, trawling through messages to attribute handles and devices to criminals across the UK. But our work hasn’t stopped, and we continue to dismantle the countries most sophisticated criminal networks, we are still making regular arrests, with more on the horizon.

“We are unceasing in our efforts to disrupt these criminal networks, and this is just one of hundreds of tactics used by teams across the force to tackle organised crime in our communities.”

Applicants for ARIS funding should apply via Giving back: Investing in our community | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk).