How Warrenpoint-based gangster broke criminal code of silence
Galway native Michael O'Loughlin was snared after French intelligence hacked the criminals’ secret phone network, EncroChat
Michael O’Loughlin was one of a number of criminals arrested after the EncroChat network was hacked
Notorious criminal Michael O'Loughlin turned his back on his gangland associates and broke ranks, simply by pleading guilty to the many crimes he committed.
He is now behind bars, but O'Loughlin spent the initial Covid lockdown in 2020 carrying out a string of offences as a Europe-wide net closed in.
His conviction lifted the lid on how criminal gangs communicated with each other over a secret phone network.
The key to his arrest came through decrypting mobile phone handsets linked to a platform called EncroChat. Operated from France, EncroChat was used exclusively for drug deals, gun running and plots to kill rivals in turf wars.
Police forces across Europe came upon a wealth of intelligence when they cracked the encrypted network. The use of this information led to one of the biggest ever disruptions of the criminal underworld.
Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Allison Morris, crime correspondent for the Belfast Telegraph. They talk about career criminal Michael O'Loughlin, who says he has turned over a new leaf, and examine the murky world of the messaging system that brought him down.
How Warrenpoint-based gangster broke criminal code of silence
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