Police technology identified a wanted drug dealer after analysing his exposed fingertips in a photo with cheese.
39-year-old Carl Stewart is a man of many things – an Englishman, a drug dealer, but most of all, a cheese aficionado.
Wanted for a history of supplying cocaine, heroin, MDMA, ketamine and transferring criminal property – the big-cheese bad-boy was sentenced to prison for 13 years and six months after uploading a photo of Stilton cheese that included his fingerprints.
Stewart pleaded guilty to all charges against him, after uploading a photo to ‘EncroChat’, a messaging app that drug dealers and criminals use to plan illegal activity.
However, since 2020, Police infiltrated the service, arresting criminals across Europe.
Stewart appeared to be unaware of this, and clumsily uploaded the photo with the Stilton blue cheese and his fingertips exposed. Police analysed his fingerprints and discovered a match.
I guess Carl Stewart is feeling pretty blue right now… https://t.co/WZZL1GNPaF pic.twitter.com/1xHo1BnvB4
— Catriona 💙 (@cgelleed) May 26, 2021
Merseyside Police claimed that over 60,000 people, involved in criminal activity across the globe, have been caught after posting to EncroChat. According to Times, this infiltration is being heralded as one of the biggest organised crime busts in history.
As part of ‘Operation Venetic’, UK police have recently arrested more than 60 people. Three criminals were recently sentenced to long-term prison sentences, with more due for upcoming hearings.
Merseyside Police made it clear that those involved in illegal criminal activity will be held accountable for their actions following their capture of Stewart.
However, Stewart’s case has highlighted the worrying fact that police have incredibly invasive technology at their fingertips (pardon the pun).
More troubling, many have pointed out that this identification technology should be used for more pressing criminal activity instead of medium-sized, cheese-loving drug dealers.
How is it that a single image of a palm holding cheese can help identify a drug dealer…but it is of paramount hardship to analyze and oust all the identities of active duty personnel and criminal among capital rioters captured across social media platforms? #Jan6Commission
— Kesava duth chintala (@KesavaDuth) May 29, 2021
It is commonly known that criminals accumulate ‘fan-girls’ following their arrest and public exposure. Think of the Richard Ramirez and Ted Bundy stans. There’s something about the ‘bad boy’ image that drives some people crazy.
Curiously, this has lead to criminals receiving an onslaught of explicit images sent by their ‘fans’. Stewart, for example, is already getting a dedicated fanbase of stans and fan-girls on the interwebs.
With this in mind, I think these are the only ‘porny’ images Stewart will be craving during his time behind bars:
*breathes heavily*
