Top Kickboxers Advertised Encrypted Phones Used by Organized Crime

The camera slowly zooms in on a man wearing an orange Nike tracksuit in a gym. He is holding a mobile phone, staring intently at its screen. On the back of the phone is a sticker: “#EXCLU JARAYA.” The man is Mohammed Jaraya, a top ranking professional kickboxer who goes by the nickname The Destroyer. Jaraya is the #7 lightweight in Glory, the worldwide kickboxing league.

But in this promotional video, he is playing a different role: that of an ambassador for Exclu, the brand of custom mobile phone he is holding. Dutch police and European partners recently hacked and shut down Exclu as part of a wide spanning investigation into organized crime. Authorities arrested the alleged owners too.

The Exclu promotional video provides some insight into how Exclu marketed its products: a macho aesthetic, black BMW SUVs, and multiple professional fighters demoing Exclu’s phones. 

At one point, the camera shows a contact list from an Exclu phone, with one of the contacts reading “Hamicha.” Hamicha is the nickname of Mohamed Mezouari, the #1 welterweight in Glory, and who also appears in the Exclu video In another part of the video, fighters are seen training while wearing white hoodies branded with the Exclu logo and website. Another contact on the phone is using a Guy Fawkes mask as a profile picture.

Do you know anything else about Exclu? Were you a user or administrator of the service? We’d love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Jaraya appears to have been up to much more than just boxing. At the end of January, Dutch media reported Jaraya was arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of drug trafficking, weapons, and money laundering offenses. In February,  Dutch authorities said they had been reading the messages of Exclu’s 3,000 users for the past five months.

He was also involved in a conflict over a stolen batch of cocaine and has faced physical threats. Attackers threw a grenade and shot weapons at a butcher shop Jaraya’s father previously owned, and then another grenade at a gym Jaraya trained at, the Dutch reports said. Jaraya then fled to Dubai, they write.

Neelke Kok, PR manager for Glory, said the company was not aware of the link between these fighters and Exclu before Motherboard showed it the video.

“We were not aware of the personal decisions our fighters make on promoting these brands and the sponsorships they’ve accepted. We will further investigate this and take a closer look on all partnerships that were made in the past,” Kok wrote. “When this video was made, in 2020, it did not violate our standards and terms. We’d like to add that the shut down does not mean that these fighters had any knowledge or understanding of the illegal activities of this company, and also that Hamicha was just one amongst various other celebrities and influencers hired and paid by the company to promote their product.”

Kok added, “We’re keeping an eye on it.”

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