"Mobile phones purchased from the black market served one hidden function behind the calculator app: sending encrypted messages and photos." Law enforcement officials identified these encrypted phones used by organized crime groups in 18 countries, which were hacked and exposed one after the other.
Gang leader Hakan Akyürek mentioned that organized crime figures worldwide have relied on these devices for years to coordinate international drug shipments, coordinate arms and explosives trafficking, and discuss murder contracts. The gangs trusted the security of the devices to the extent that they often laid out their plans in clear language, specifying particular smuggling ships and landing points, rather than in code.
However, unbeknownst to them, the entire network was actually a sophisticated "sting" operation run by the FBI in coordination with Australian police. On Tuesday, global law enforcement officials revealed the unprecedented scope of the three-year operation, stating they intercepted over 20 million messages in 45 languages and arrested at least 800 individuals, mostly in the past two days, across more than a dozen countries. U.S. court documents indicate that authorities opened a "deluge" of international investigations into drug trafficking, money laundering, and "high-level public corruption."
Europol, the European police agency, described these efforts as "one of the largest and most sophisticated law enforcement operations to date against encrypted criminal activities." The fallout from the revelation of these gangs continues, with it emerging that the leader of one of the gangs inadvertently assisted officials in breaking into encrypted messages on the phones of his criminal associates.
An Australian man of Turkish descent, wanted by authorities for heroin trafficking, unknowingly helped the FBI arrest hundreds of criminals by using an encrypted messaging app. Undercover agents managed to hack the encrypted phones that Joseph Hakan Akyürek (42), who had been on the run for a decade, recommended to his other criminal partners.
The crime leader, who has been on Australia's wanted list since 2010, successfully distributed this specialized encrypted network to his peers, allowing law enforcement agencies to deliver a significant blow to organized crime. Organized crime networks purchased the app (ANOM), which was thought to be a secure and encrypted messaging application, but was developed with the involvement of U.S. officials.
Members of organized crime used this app to manage illegal drug trafficking, money laundering, and other serious and violent crimes. In Australia, over 200 people were arrested, according to officials. Swedish authorities stated that police arrested 155 individuals on suspicion of serious crimes and saved 10 people from murder. The operation also targeted Italian organized crime and international drug trafficking organizations, leading to hundreds of other arrests across Europe.
