WILLEMSTAD - During the pro-forma treatment, it was recently revealed that there are still some requirements pending for the authorities to finalize and submit the final dossier in the so-called CROW investigation.
According to the information, the final dossier will be ready by November 1st, and lawyers will have the opportunity to request additional investigations in December.
The CROW case is an investigation that began when local authorities gained access to information from a server that was hacked in June 2020. The server belonged to the telecommunications company Encrochat/Sky PGP, which provided "digital privacy" services. Investigations within the company concluded that most of Encrochat/Sky PGP's clients had connections to the criminal underworld. This was a sufficient reason for European authorities to investigate, hack, and confiscate private data stored on the servers of Encrochat/Sky PGP.
From the millions of messages sent daily through the mentioned service, various criminal cases in Curaçao were brought to light, including the CROW case, Themis case, and Parrot case. In 2022, the authorities initiated an investigation bearing the name "Crow." The investigation focused on drug import and export through Curaçao’s harbor, where harbor workers were also involved. This investigation led to the arrest of several harbor workers who were suspects in this case. The accused include individuals such as Franklin Benito, Furny Fraai, Robert Raven, Jernel Raven, Sixto Krips, and Sidney Krips.
During pro-forma hearing recently, the lawyer of the accused Franklin Benito, Marije Vaders asked the court to gain access to the digital messages stored on the Sky PGP server. During the hearing, Benito also requested the court to release him from detention, citing the significant impact on his family due to the criminal investigation. However, the court did not grant the request to release him from detention as the charges against Benito are quite severe.