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New
Zealand
police
National
Organized
Crime
Group
Director,
Detective
Superintendent
Greg
Williams
addresses
the
media on
Operation
Trojan
at the
Auckland
Central
Police
headquarters,
in New
Zealand,
Tuesday,
June 8,
2021.
Authorities
in
Australia
and New
Zealand
said
Tuesday
that
they’ve
dealt a
huge
blow
against
organized
crime
after
hundreds
of
criminals
were
tricked
into
using a
messaging
app that
was
being
secretly
run by
the FBI.
(Jed
Bradley/NZ
Herald
via AP) |
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Hi-tech
sting
leads to
global
crackdown
on
organized
crime,
over 800
detained
By Colin
Packham,
and Toby
Sterling
reuters.com
WASHINGTON
DC -
Global
law
enforcement
agencies
hacked
into an
app used
by
criminals
and read
millions
of
encrypted
messages,
leading
to
hundreds
of
arrests
of
organized
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
organized
crime
gangs
were
arrested
and $148
million
in cash
seized
in raids
around
the
world.
Tons of
drugs
were
also
seized,
the
officials
said.
Named
Operation
Trojan
Shield
by the
FBI, it
was one
of the
biggest
infiltrations
and
takeovers
of a
specialized
encrypted
network.
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
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
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.
Criminal
groups
in more
than 100
countries
were
given
the
phones,
an FBI
official
said.
"We have
been in
the back
pockets
of
organized
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.
A total
of 525
charges
have
been
laid but
authorities
expect
more in
the
coming
weeks.
($1 =
1.2893
Australian
dollars)
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