IOPList.Org

Global crackdown on organized crime after
high-tech U.S.-Australia sting

June 8, 2021
4:44 AM CDT



U.S. and Australian authorities hacked into an app used by criminals to read millions of
encrypted messages, leading to hundreds of arrests of suspected organised crime figures
in 18 countries, Australian officials said on Tuesday.

"Operation Ironside" by Australian police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
ensnared suspects in Australia, Asia, South America and the Middle East involved in the
global narcotics trade, the officials said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation "struck a heavy blow against
organized crime – not just in this country, but one that will echo around organized crime
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 raids in 18 countries netted
hundreds of suspects. Europol and the FBI said on social media they would hold news conferences
later on Tuesday.

Australia said it had arrested 224 people, including members of outlawed motorcycle gangs,
while New Zealand said it had detained 35 people.

The operation, which was conceived by Australian police and the FBI in 2018, saw officials in
the United States take control of the An0m messaging app, which is popular with organized
crime networks.

When an Australian underworld figure began distributing customized 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.

"We have been in the back pockets of organized crime," Kershaw said at the same 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."

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
as well as almost A$45 million ($34.9 million) in cash.

A total of 525 charges have been laid but authorities expect more in the coming weeks.

($1 = 1.2893 Australian dollars)


Following are some details given by officials from Europol, the FBI, Sweden and the Netherlands
on Tuesday about operation Greenlight/Trojan Shield:

* 12,000 devices tracked over three years

* 27 million messages decoded

* 300 crime networks monitored across 100 countries

* 800 arrested across 16 countries in recent days

* 700 house searches

* Drug seizures: 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis, two tons of synthetic drugs
(amphetamine and methamphetamine), 6 tons of synthetic drugs' precursors