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U.S. and Australian special agencies have hacked into an application used by criminals and read millions of encrypted messages, leading to hundreds of arrests of suspected organized crime figures in 18 countries, Australian authorities said on Tuesday.
Operation Australian Police Courage and Operation Trojan Shield of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation have detained suspects in Australia, Asia, South America and the Middle East involved in the global drug trade, officials said.
This is one of the biggest intrusions and control of a specialized encrypted network.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation “dealt a heavy blow to organized crime – not only in this country, but one that will reverberate … around the world”.
“This is an important moment in Australian law enforcement history,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
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Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reese Kershaw said police raids in 18 countries had caught hundreds of suspects. Europol and the FBI said on social media that they would hold press conferences later on Tuesday.
Australia said it had arrested 224 people, including members of illegal rock bands, while New Zealand said it had detained 35 people.
As part of the operation planned by the Australian police and the FBI in 2018, US officials took control of the An0m messaging application used by organized crime networks.
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- When an Australian underworld figure began distributing personalized phones containing the app to his associates as a secure means of communication, police began tracking their messages. The gangs thought the system was secure because the phones had no other options – no voice or camera features – and the app was encrypted.
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–“We were in the back pockets of organized crime,” Kershaw told the same media briefing. “All they talk about is drugs, violence, beatings between them, innocent people who will be killed.” The messages were impudent and there was no attempt to hide behind any code, he said.
Kershaw said the Australian underworld figure, who was hiding from the country, “essentially made colleagues” by spreading the phone and being targeted by police. “The sooner he surrenders, the better for him and his family,” he said.
A conspiracy to kill, which authorities learned, included plans to attack a cafe with a machine gun, and the killing of a family of five was planned. Authorities said they had managed to prevent the crimes.
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Executing the largest number of search warrants in Australia in a single day, police seized 104 firearms on Monday, including a military sniper rifle, as well as nearly $ 45 million in cash. About $ 7 million was found in a safe buried under a garden shed in a Sydney suburb.
A total of 525 charges have been filed, but authorities expect more in the coming weeks.
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