An Australian police officer arrests a suspect as part of an operation targeting an encrypted network for organised crime, in this undated image released by the Australian Federal Police on September 18, 2024.
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A 32-year-old computer expert has been arrested in Australia as part of an international police operation on suspicion of being the mastermind behind an encrypted messaging app for organised crime, local police and Europol announced on Wednesday.
Australian Federal Police say the app, known as Ghost, was promoted as “unhackable” and was used by hundreds of suspected criminals in Italy, the Middle East and Asia.
The platform has been dismantled, the European police agency Europol welcomed.
Two years ago, an international police force had managed to penetrate the network and found that its users were negotiating drug dealing and money laundering operations or commissioning murders.
Authorities moved on Tuesday and Wednesday with the arrest of suspected criminals from Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Canada and Australia, including the 32-year-old “brain” of the app.
Europol Executive Director Catherine de Bolle said security forces from nine countries were involved in the international operation.
“Today we have made it clear that, however hidden they may be, criminal networks cannot escape our collective efforts,” he said.
The Ghost app was created nine years ago and could only be accessed through modified smartphones that sold for about A$2,350 (US$1,590).
The price included a six-month subscription to the app and technical support, Australian police said.
The French gendarmerie traced the location of its creator to Australia and joined forces with local police to take down the platform.
Although its creator frequently released software updates, Australian police managed to modify these updates in 2022 and access the content of the devices.
Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said the app’s creator lived in New South Wales at his parents’ home and had no criminal record.
He was motivated by money and was “slightly surprised” when police arrested him on Tuesday, he said.
Police charged him with five counts, including supporting a criminal organization, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.
In total, 51 suspects were arrested: 38 in Australia, 11 in Ireland, one in Canada and one in Italy, belonging to the Sacra Corona Unita mafia group.
In Australia, around 50 attempted murders have been stopped. In one case, investigators intercepted an image of a person with a gun to his head, who was saved in extremis, local police said.
