Dutch and French police on Tuesday shut down a major encryption service used by criminal gangs, saying it even outrivalled illegal communication tools previously cracked by law enforcement, the EU's judicial agency said.

Dutch and French police on Tuesday shut down a major encryption service used by criminal gangs, saying it even outrivalled illegal communication tools previously cracked by law enforcement, the EU’s judicial agency said.

“Made for criminals by criminals”, police have been able to read messages sent on the MATRIX chat service for the last three months, Eurojust said in a statement.