Metropolitan Police have dismantled a major organized crime operation after surveillance work and encrypted platform analysis led officers to an Essex residence containing 33 kilograms of illegal narcotics and nearly £180,000 in cash, resulting in prison terms for two defendants who funded foreign vacations and designer purchases through years of criminal enterprise.
Kingston Crown Court sentenced Samuel De Vere-Hunt, 30, of School Road, Kelvedon Hatch, to 12 years imprisonment Friday following guilty pleas to 12 charges spanning money laundering, drug supply conspiracy, and possession offenses. His partner Rosie Wise, 25, of the same address, received a suspended sentence of one year and nine months after pleading guilty to Class A drug supply involvement and possessing criminal property.
The investigation centered on decrypting communications from EncroChat, a platform favored by organized criminals for its modified mobile devices and encrypted messaging capabilities. European law enforcement agencies penetrated the network in 2020, exposing communications previously believed secure from detection.
Metropolitan Police Specialist Crime Developing Threats Team officers analyzed thousands of messages attributed to handles “Modernfeet” and “Immaculatetractor,” revealing extensive cash movement and bulk drug transactions between March and June 2020. During that three-month window alone, the unidentified user facilitated £3.5 million in currency transfers alongside cannabis and ketamine deals, establishing them as a trusted network member.
Investigators employed multiple tracking methods including phone data analysis and food delivery records to identify De Vere-Hunt as the handle operator and locate his Brentwood area residence. As officers prepared to execute a search warrant at the Kelvedon Hatch property, they discovered De Vere-Hunt had checked in for international departure, prompting immediate action on the morning of January 9, 2025.
The warrant execution yielded substantial quantities across drug classifications: 15 kilograms of ketamine, 12 kilograms of cannabis, and more than 6 kilograms of Class A substances comprising MDMA and 2C-B. Officers discovered cash exceeding £179,000 distributed throughout the residence.
De Vere-Hunt was apprehended departing the property carrying two boxes containing £160,000 in criminal proceeds. Analysis of his current mobile device revealed a distinct operational period from September 2024 through January 2025, during which he processed an additional £2.8 million in cash and moved over 250 kilograms of ketamine and cannabis. Street valuation of that five-month activity alone reached £6 million.
Financial records showed the pair maintained spending patterns inconsistent with legitimate income sources. Despite De Vere-Hunt’s unemployment status and Wise’s receptionist position paying £13 hourly, the couple funded luxury travel to Portugal, Ibiza, Los Angeles and Mykonos while acquiring high-end possessions including a Rolex timepiece.
PC Bob Rosie, who led the Metropolitan Police investigation, characterized identifying De Vere-Hunt as comparable to locating a needle in a haystack. He credited detective work linking the defendant to dual EncroChat handles and ultimately to the Essex location housing the substantial drug cache.
Rosie emphasized data-driven approaches to organized crime prosecution, asserting criminals face certain identification, tracking and court proceedings. He connected network dismantlement directly to reducing street violence and exploitation associated with drug distribution, noting multiple additional offenders were identified through this investigation and prosecuted.
The case represents one component of Metropolitan Police efforts against serious organized crime, with gangs disrupted more than 21,230 times across London in the previous year—a 63 percent increase over the prior period. Those disruptions encompass seizures alongside arrest, charging and prosecution of criminal actors.
De Vere-Hunt entered guilty pleas at Kingston Crown Court on March 27, 2025, to two conspiracy counts involving criminal property concealment, two counts of Class B drug supply involvement, seven possession with intent to supply counts across Class A and B drugs, and one count of criminal property possession.
Wise initially entered not guilty pleas to Class A drug supply involvement and criminal property possession at the same court on March 27, 2025. After prosecutors served additional evidence from her mobile device, she changed her plea to guilty at Kingston Crown Court on June 25, 2025.
The EncroChat platform operated as a specialized communications service allowing organized criminals to coordinate drug supply, violent crime and broader criminal activities through devices stripped of standard features and equipped with encrypted messaging. Users believed the system impenetrable to law enforcement monitoring until European agencies compromised the platform’s security.
Sentencing documentation and investigation findings establish that over multiple years, the defendants’ criminal proceeds funded consumption patterns and asset acquisition far exceeding what their stated employment circumstances could support, with luxury international travel and premium goods purchases providing visible indicators of illicit income sources that investigators used to build their case alongside the digital evidence and physical seizures.
