Crypto mobile cocaine trial: verdict expected – salzburg.ORF.at
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At the Salzburg regional court on Tuesday against a Serb who is said to have used an encrypted mobile phone for drug trafficking.
As reported, these crypto cell phones were distributed to the underworld worldwide by American investigators in order to dig them up. But at the same time, it does not make the identification of the user very easy. The core question is who was the cocaine wholesaler, nicknamed “Bizmark”, who earned around 200,000 euros in the city of Salzburg.
Despite the seemingly secure encryption, the drug dealers did not communicate with their real names. The 32-year-old defendant has denied being “Bizmark” since the trial began six weeks ago. The fact that the man used such a device at all is highly suspicious and one of the decisive factors for the public prosecutor’s office. Because probably only a criminal would do that. And probably only a cocaine dealer, has 30 grams, 34,000 euros in cash, and a money counting machine at home, argues the public prosecutor.
If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison
The Serb will only have used the crypto phone for his own private purchase of small amounts of drugs. The defendant asserts that he was not in Salzburg when “Bizmark” bought the large quantities.
The American FBI, which distributed these crypto phones to criminals around the world and was able to read everything, and Austrian police investigators, on the other hand, are quite sure that it was the suspect – for example, there are indications of the Serb’s place of residence in the state capital. On Tuesday, the mobile phone data evaluation will be checked again in court with police investigators and computer experts. Then the verdict could be pronounced. If convicted, the Serb faces up to 15 years in prison.