A landmark Spanish judgment ruled encrypted Sky ECC messages could not support convictions without access to raw data.
A Spanish court has issued one of the most consequential rulings to date on the use of encrypted-phone data in criminal prosecutions, acquitting all defendants in a major cocaine case and raising serious questions about the future of Sky ECC cases across Europe.
In a 44-page judgment released publicly today, the Audiencia Provincial de Valencia ruled that messages allegedly sent via the Sky ECC encrypted phone network could not, on their own, support convictions. The court found that the defendants’ right to a fair trial had been breached because the defense was denied access to the underlying raw data from which the messages were derived.
That raw material would have included original message files, complete chat histories, and technical records needed to assess whether communications were missing, altered, selectively extracted, or misrepresented. Without that access, the judges concluded, the messages could not be reliably tested as evidence.
The ruling carries implications far beyond Valencia. Across Europe, thousands of defendants have been charged—and many sentenced to lengthy prison terms—on the basis of “chat-only” prosecutions, where encrypted messages obtained from foreign law enforcement agencies were treated as decisive proof. In many of those cases, there were no drug seizures and little or no independent corroborating evidence.
The case stems from a cocaine seizure at the Port of Valencia in August 2020. Customs officers discovered 258 pounds of cocaine concealed inside a shipping container at APM Terminals, one of Europe’s busiest logistics hubs. While authorities had secured the drugs, they initially lacked suspects or evidence linking the shipment to a wider criminal network.
That changed in March 2021, when Spanish investigators received Sky ECC message data from foreign partners. Prosecutors alleged that the messages identified those responsible for the shipment and showed it had originally contained far more cocaine than was ultimately seized.
According to the Sky ECC data, the container should have held more than 2,800 pounds of cocaine—over ten times the amount actually found. The stark mismatch between the physical evidence and the alleged communications would later prove central to the court’s decision.
All defendants were ultimately acquitted.
For years, Sky ECC was widely used by organized crime groups operating across Europe. The Vancouver-based company sold modified smartphones with encrypted messaging software, offering high levels of privacy without vetting customers. Messages were routed through offshore servers and designed to disappear, making the platform attractive to traffickers coordinating shipments, payments, corruption, and logistics.
By March 2021, when authorities in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands gained access to Sky ECC’s infrastructure, the platform had become the world’s largest encrypted messaging service. Millions of messages were extracted and shared with police forces across Europe, rapidly forming the backbone of large-scale prosecutions.
Spain joined those efforts. But in Valencia, the prosecution’s case relied almost entirely on Sky ECC messages supplied as filtered extracts—spreadsheets containing selected chats, translations, summaries, and police interpretations linking encrypted usernames to real individuals.
Spanish investigators never received the original server data, metadata, or forensic records. Defense lawyers spent more than four years requesting this material, arguing it was essential to verify the integrity and completeness of the messages.
“There was nothing else beyond the encrypted messages linking the defendants to what happened,” said Julio Sánchez, lead defense lawyer.
The court agreed. In its ruling, judges drew a clear distinction between intelligence and admissible evidence. While encrypted data may guide investigations, the court said, it cannot form the basis of a conviction unless the defense can fully examine its origin, handling, and authenticity.
Without access to the raw data, the judges found it impossible to verify whether the messages were complete, accurately attributed, selectively presented, or even genuine. Relying on such material, the court said, violated the fundamental right to a fair trial.
The judgment also rejected the notion that European judicial cooperation requires blind acceptance of evidence supplied by another state. Mutual recognition, the court stressed, does not override due process or eliminate the need for a clear chain of custody.
The cocaine seizure itself was not disputed. What the court rejected was the leap from seized drugs to criminal responsibility—a leap based almost entirely on unverifiable digital communications.
Because prosecutors could not independently prove who controlled or coordinated the shipment, the court acquitted all defendants, including Daniel Serrano Ramos, Fernando Moreno Sorni, Quintín Martínez Albalate, and others named in the case. The Sky ECC evidence, judges ruled, was insufficient to overcome the presumption of innocence.
The implications extend well beyond Spain. Courts in other European countries are already moving in a similar direction. In Italy, two courts recently excluded EncroChat evidence in one case and ordered heightened scrutiny of Sky ECC data in another, citing the same lack of access to raw material.
Together, these decisions are expected to trigger a wave of appeals and legal challenges, potentially placing thousands of Sky ECC and EncroChat prosecutions across Europe at risk.
For nearly five years, the takedowns of encrypted phone networks have fueled mass arrests and headline-grabbing convictions. The Valencia ruling shows how fragile those cases become when courts demand transparency, verification, and testable evidence.
In Valencia, the drugs were real. But the encrypted messages were not enough to prove who was responsible—or that the alleged larger shipment ever existed.
Reports are sourced from official documents, law-enforcement updates, and credible investigations.
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