Posted on 05/23/2021 7:30:15 AM PDT by mylife
A block of cheese proved to be the undoing of a man involved in a massive drugs conspiracy.
Carl Stewart used the EncroChat encryption service in a bid to evade detection, adopting the handle "Toffeeforce" to cover his tracks as he supplied large amounts of class A and B drugs.
But after the encryption device was busted by law enforcement agencies, Stewart was identified after sharing an image of a block of cheese in the palm of his hand, from which his fingerprints were analysed.
Stewart, 39, of Gem Street, Vauxhall, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply heroin, conspiracy to supply MDMA, conspiracy to supply ketamine and transferring criminal property.
Today (Friday) he was jailed for 13 years and six months.
Detective Inspector Lee Wilkinson of Merseyside Police said: "Today we have seen another significant sentencing as part of national Operation Venetic, which came about after law enforcement officials in Europe managed to crack the 'EncroChat' service being used by criminals involved in serious and organised crime to carry out their business. "Carl Stewart was involved in supplying large amounts of class A and B drugs, but was caught out by his love of Stilton cheese, after sharing a picture of a block of it in his hand through EncroChat.
"His palm and fingerprints were analysed from this picture and it was established they belonged to Stewart.
(Excerpt) Read more at liverpoolecho.co.uk ...
Cheez it...the cops
At least the ‘rat didn’t hide in Chucky Cheese.
Such a timely post. I’ve been binge watching Startup on Netflix this past week, in which the Darkweb is used to move drugs and engage in other criminal activities. 🤣
Se the dangers of cheese shops contaminated by cheese?
Dang it. You beat me to it.
SciFi author H. Beam Piper, in the 1960s. had published a Para-Time Police story in which the fingerprints of a dead politician were compared to ones captured in a picture of the police officer/actor who was impersonating the politician in order to help the Police investigation. Almost sixty years later, it’s reality, not fiction.
To his credit, it is good cheese.
It ain’t easy bein’ cheesy.
Stewart was identified after sharing an image of a block of cheese in the palm of his hand, from which his fingerprints were analysed.
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Sorry. Not buying this explanation, especially if that is the photo, which is rather low-res. In fact most social media sites automatically reduce the resolution of any photos uploaded because they know people are likely viewing the photos on a small screen, such as their phone, and not on a large monitor.
Phones have incredibly hi res cameras
Le Da-mage de le Fromage!
The photo as posted here (and in the OP article) is at least a few generations/copies/reductions after the original, and appears to have been blurred, probably specifically to obscure the fingerprints. We don't know what the original looked like, but it was almost certainly better than the copy we're looking at here.
That said, the fingerprint identity verifier on modern smartphones doesn't need very much to go on. I'm sure a government computer exists that can extract information from a low-res photo fairly accurately.
A wedge of Stilton, crackers, and a dry rosé; my favorite things while stationed in England, 1973-75.
“Sonnet to a Stilton Cheese” by G.K. Chesterton
Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour
And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby;
England has need of thee, and so have I —
She is a Fen. Far as the eye can scour,
League after grassy league from Lincoln tower
To Stilton in the fields, she is a Fen.
Yet this high cheese, by choice of fenland men,
Like a tall green volcano rose in power.
Plain living and long drinking are no more,
And pure religion reading “Household Words”,
And sturdy manhood sitting still all day
Shrink, like this cheese that crumbles to its core;
While my digestion, like the House of Lords,
The heaviest burdens on herself doth lay.
I read about a serial rapist who always left DNA at the crime scene. Checks in the DNA system always came up blank.
A really smart detective finally asked if there were any close 'hits'.
YES!
Turns out a close 'hit' was his brother who had been jailed for some other felony.
They followed the brother around until they got his DNA from a cigarette butt. BINGO!
They got the identify of their serial rapist.
I used the Darkweb to buy my fully automatic belt-fed Glock revolver assault rifle.
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