Oct 29, 2019 07:00:00

What is MPC, an illegal smartphone rental business operated by Escalade, the largest drug smuggling organization in the UK?

In December 2016, bloggers reporting on criminals such as biker gangs like

Hells Angels and Moroccan drug king were assassinated. The IT news media Motherboard reports on the MPC, an illegal cryptographic smartphone company involved in the assassination plan, and the largest drug trade organization in Scotland and the UK behind the MPC, Escalade .

Inside the Phone Company Secretly Run By Drug Traffickers-VICE
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/wjwbmm/inside-the-phone-company-secretly-run-by-drug-traffickers

In December 2016, blogger Martin Kok, who published a news article about criminals, was killed twice a day. The first time was a hitman with a gun from behind while walking on the street, but it failed.

Below is a video of the first assassination incident that the surveillance camera caught.

Moordpoging Martin Kok gefilmd-YouTube

Mr. Kok was targeted by a man in a black suit walking on the street.

On the left side of the screen, Hitman wearing a hoodie runs behind Mr. Cook and approaches him.

Hitman pulled a handgun near Mr. Cook and aimed at his head.

But Hitman did not shoot for some reason and ran away.

As described above, the first assassination failed, but the second assassination was successful on the same day. Mr. Cook was killed.

Several organizations are believed to have been involved in Mr. Cook's assassination case. One such organization is MPC, which operated an illegal smartphone rental business. MPC is illegally encrypted with high security and confidentiality, such as those with microphone, camera, GPS function deleted, and those that start in encrypted communication mode when pressed while pressing a specific button Lent out a lot of devices. MPC also provided its own infrastructure and its own modified AndroidOS for encrypted communication of these devices. Although there were about 5,000 illegal smartphones lent by MPC, it is considered that the rental fee of the device itself and the continuous usage fee were combined and gained about 6 million pounds (about 840 million yen).

MPC was the official sponsor of Mr. Cook's blog. It is known that MPC staff Christopher Hughes was working with Mr. Cook until just before the assassination, and Mr. Cook is believed to have been 'fitted' by Hughes.

According to Motherboard, behind this MPC is the Gillespie brother of James Gillespie and Barry Gillespie called “The Brothers”. The Gillespie brothers are thought to have been the central figure in an organization called “Escalade” that smuggled heroin from South America to Europe. Escalade is considered to be the top of the drug trade organization in the UK and Scotland. There are only tortures such as shooting and applying bleach to the wound, and violent crimes such as shooting abdomen and face of a football manager with a gun. The Scottish government (PDF file) describes Escalade as 'a highly sophisticated organization with the highest threat level' in its

official document .

Rawpixel

According to information sources, Brother Gillespie originally developed illegal smartphones for use in Escalade, but as development progressed, he found that providing illegal smartphones itself became a large business . MPC has been dismantled face-to-face after being investigated by the police, but Motherboard said that MPC's former employees are still active through their own investigations.

In early 2018, the Dutch police arrested two people suspected of performing an assassination of Mr. Cook. The reason he was assassinated is believed to be because the news he was reporting bought the anger of the Moroccan mafia.

The Scottish police have also released face photos of five people, including Brother Gillespie and Suspect Hughes who had accompanied Mr. Cook just before the assassination, calling for information.

Appeal for Information-Operation Escalade-Police Scotland
https://www.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2019/february/appeal-for-information-operation-escalade