A high-tech operation against global organized crime arrests more than 800 people

Por Colin Packham y Toby Sterling

CANBERRA / AMSTERDAM, Jun 8 (Reuters) – Law enforcement agencies around the world broke into an app used by criminals and accessed millions of encrypted messages, leading to the arrest of hundreds of organized crime members in 18 countries. , authorities reported Tuesday.

The operation carried out by the Australian and European police and by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States led to the arrest of suspects from Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East involved in the global drug trafficking, according to the authorities.

More than 800 suspected gang members were arrested and $ 148 million in cash seized in raids around the world. Tons of drugs were also seized, authorities said.

Christened by the FBI as Operation Trojan Shield (Trojan Shield), it is one of the largest infiltrations and takeovers of a specialized encrypted network.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared that the operation “was a serious blow against organized crime, not only in this country, but will have an echo around the world.”

“This is a watershed moment in the history of law enforcement in Australia,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said 224 people have been arrested in his country, including members of illegal motorcycle gangs, while New Zealand said it had arrested 35 people.

In Europe, authorities said 75 suspects were arrested in Sweden and there were more than 60 detainees in Germany. Forty-nine were arrested in the Netherlands.

The operation, which was conceived by the Australian police and the FBI in 2018, saw US authorities seize control of the An0m messaging app, used by organized crime networks.

When an Australian underworld figure began distributing personalized phones containing the app to his subordinates as a secure means of communication, the police were able to monitor his messages. The gangs believed the system was secure because the phones had no other capabilities – no voice or camera functions were loaded – and the app was encrypted.

Criminal groups from more than 100 countries received the phones, an FBI official said.

“We have been in the pockets of organized crime,” Kershaw said at the news conference. “They only talk about drugs, violence, beatings among themselves, innocent people who are going to be murdered.”

The messages were direct and there was no attempt to hide behind any kind of code, he said.

“It was on view, including ‘we will have a speedboat to meet at this point’, ‘this is the one who is going to do this’, etc.”

MARKED MAN

Kershaw said the Australian underworld figure, who had fled the country, had in practice “exposed his own colleagues” by handing out the phones and was a marked man.

“The sooner he turns himself in the better for him and his family,” he said.

One of the assassination schemes known to authorities included plans to attack a cafeteria with a machine gun, while a family of five was also the target. Authorities said they were able to prevent these attacks.

After executing Australia’s largest number of search warrants in a single day, 104 firearms, including a military-grade sniper rifle, were seized by police on Monday, as well as nearly AU $ 45 million (34.9 million US dollars) in cash. About AU $ 7 million was found in a safe buried under a garden shed in a Sydney suburb.

A total of 525 indictments have been filed, but authorities expect more to be filed in the coming weeks.

($ 1 = Australian dollars 1.2893)

(Additional reporting by Joseph Menn; Written by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Stephen Coates and Philippa Fletcher, translated by Michael Susin)

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