Hi-tech sting leads to global crackdown on organised crime, over 800
detained
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[June 08, 2021]
By Colin Packham and Toby Sterling
CANBERRA/
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Global law
enforcement agencies hacked into an app used by criminals and read
millions of encrypted messages, leading to hundreds of arrests of organised crime figures in 18 countries, officials said on Tuesday.
The operation by Australian and European police and the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation ensnared suspects in Australia, Asia, Europe,
South America and the Middle East involved in the global narcotics
trade, the officials said.
Over 800 suspected members of organised crime gangs were arrested and
$148 million in cash seized in raids around the world. Tons of drugs
were also seized, the officials said.
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Named Operation Trojan Shield by the FBI, it was one of the biggest
infiltrations and takeovers of a specialised encrypted network.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation "struck a
heavy blow against organised crime – not just in this country, but one
that will echo ... around the world".
"This is a watershed moment in Australian law enforcement history,"
Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said police there
had arrested 224 people, including members of outlawed motorcycle gangs,
while New Zealand said it had detained 35 people.
In Europe, officials said 75 Swedish suspects were arrested and over 60
detained in Germany. Forty nine were arrested in Holland.
The operation was conceived by Australian police and the FBI in 2018,
under which officials in the United States took control of the An0m
messaging app used by organised crime networks.
When an Australian underworld figure began distributing customised
phones containing the app to his associates as a secure means to
communicate, police could monitor their messages. The gangs believed the
system was secure because the phones did not have any other capabilities
- no voice or camera functions were loaded - and the app was encrypted.
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Criminal groups in more than 100 countries were given
the phones, an FBI official said.
"We have been in the back pockets of organised crime," Kershaw said
at the media briefing. "All they talk about is drugs, violence, hits
on each other, innocent people who are going to be murdered."
The messages were brazen and there was no attempt to hide behind any
kind of code, he said.
"It was there to be seen, including 'we’ll have a speedboat meet you
at this point', 'this is who will do this' and so on."
MARKED MAN
Kershaw said the Australian underworld figure, who had absconded
from the country, had "essentially set up his own colleagues" by
distributing the phones and was a marked man.
"The sooner he hands himself in, the better for him and his family,"
he said.
One murder plot that authorities got to know of involved plans to
attack a cafe with a machine gun, while a family of five was also
targeted. Authorities said they were able to prevent these attacks.
Executing Australia's largest number of search warrants in one day,
police on Monday seized 104 firearms, including a military-grade
sniper rifle, as well as almost A$45 million ($34.9 million) in
cash. Around A$7 million was found in one safe buried beneath a
garden shed in a Sydney suburb.
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A total of 525 charges have been laid but authorities expect more in
the coming weeks.
($1 = 1.2893 Australian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Joseph Menn; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan;
Editing by Stephen Coates and Philippa Fletcher)
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