Australia’s largest ever crime sting shows messages Aussie drug lords sent

Texts released after Australia’s biggest underworld bust show crime bosses were so convinced their communications were secret on the police-devised ‘AN0M’ app, they brazenly discussed huge shipments of drugs.

Australian, U.S., and European authorities carried out raids across the world on Tuesday, with 4,000 cops in Australia arresting 224 accused organised crime figures and seizing tonnes of drugs, millions in cash and other contraband and luxury goods in Operation Ironside.

Some of the world’s biggest crooks began using ‘AN0M’ branded phones with encrypted messaging almost three years ago, not realising the app had been secretly created by police and they were reading every word.

The app gained currency in the underworld after being promoted by criminal figures including Australia’s most wanted man, flamboyant ‘Facebook Gangster’ and alleged drug lord Hakan Ayik.

He promoted use of the app and special phones after they were initially circulated among crime figures by police informants.

The Australian Federal Police have urged Ayik, who was thought to be in his ancestral home of Turkey, to turn himself in as many criminals would hold him responsible for the widespread usage of the police-monitored app.

His former mate and ex-Comancheros bikie leader Mark Buddle, who was last said to be in Iraq, was also considered to have had his criminal enterprises smashed by the raids.

‘He would have been on the network and a lot of his dealings would have been captured,’ a senior unnamed NSW police officer said about Buddle to the Daily Telegraph. 

So convinced were criminals they that the encrypted messages were beyond the reach of law enforcement that they openly organised and discussed criminal activities.

For instance, two Australian associates discussing a cocaine smuggling operation on January 4, 2020 exchanged the following messages:

‘Think he got it in,’ one told the other, before the second responded: ‘You’re dreaming. You reckon. What he offer it to you for’.

The first person then sent a photo of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine with batman stickers on the packaging.

Two months later, on March 23 last year, an Australian user and an unknown person exchanged messages about the price of cocaine.

‘Ok sweet, I got a small job that popped up for the building block. There is 2kg put inside the French diplomatic sealed envelopes out of Bogota (Colombia),’ the third Australian wrote.

The message continued, saying the Colombian distributors would take 50 per cent of the profit while four others would split the remaining half.

The same Australian then informed the unknown person that the drug drop could happen weekly, before sending three photos of cocaine and French diplomatic pouches.

Further messages, released by the US Department of Justice, show crime figures discussing a shipment of drugs which were to allegedly be thrown from a ship and then picked up at sea. 

‘I have a cargo ship with captain on side too they want to throw over (the) load as they leave,’ the AN0M message read. 

‘So once tug boats release the pilot boat guides him out to sea. Once pilot boat leaves we (message) saying throw then they’ll throw right away. Can you do this? If so, what is your fee?’

The associate responded, saying: ‘Yes they can definitely catch it. They charge 20% door fee’.

‘How many kg can they do per time? What are the cost of goods? When can we start?’ 

The app – which required installation on mobile phones stripped of other capabilities – became increasingly popular among organised crime figures as it was spruiked by their associates, according to AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw.

While surveillance of the ‘AN0M’ communication platform culminated in Tuesday’s raids, it had led to the arrest of more than 220 Australian organised crime figures going back to 2018. 

Offenders are linked variously to the Australian-based Italian mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian crime syndicates and Albanian organised crime.

The communications found on the platform revealed 21 murder plots, gun distribution activity and mass drug trafficking, Australian Federal Police say.

The AFP also said on Tuesday it had seized 3.7 tonnes of drugs, more than 100 weapons and almost $45 million in cash as part of the operation since 2018.

‘We allege they are members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, Australian Mafia, Asian crime syndicates and serious and organised crime groups. We allege they’ve been trafficking illicit drugs into Australia at an industrial scale,’ Commissioner Kershaw said.

‘Australian law enforcement has been arresting and charging alleged offenders and we have prevented tonnes of drugs from coming onshore.

‘We’ve arrested the alleged kingmakers behind these crimes, prevented mass shootings in suburbs, frustrated organised crime by seizing ill-gotten wealth.

‘We have been in the back pockets of organised crime.’

Details of the communications come after new footage from the most audacious law enforcement operation in Australian history was revealed, showing heavily-armed police kicking in doors, cutting through barriers and scaling high-rise apartments.

Australian police have warned Ayik – dubbed the ‘Facebook gangster’ for the flashy lifestyle he flaunted on social media – is a marked man after unwittingly peddling the ‘trojan horse’ app to his underworld associates.

The AFP have urged Ayik, who they allege still orchestrates huge shipments of methylampthetamine and cocaine into Australia from his base in Turkey, to hand himself in to authorities.

‘Given the threat he faces, he’s best off handing himself into us as soon as he can,’ Commissioner Kershaw said.

‘He was one of the coordinators of this particular device, so he’s essentially set up his own colleagues.’

Police said the covert operation had foiled 21 murder plots – saving the lives of a family of five – and shut down gun distribution and mass drug trafficking rings, with Mafia bosses, bikies and reality TV stars among those arrested.

In a Melbourne court on Tuesday it was revealed how the operation stopped over $1billion of ice and cocaine being smuggled into Australia. 

Among those swept up as part of the clandestine operation was father Mark Joannou, who applied for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday after being charged with his alleged role as an ‘investor’ in the drug ring.

A raid of his Sydenham home in Melbourne’s west allegedly uncovered a loaded firearm and $30,000 cash hidden in his bathroom wall.

About $400,000 was found in the rest of the property, police allege.  

The court heard the 41-year-old used the AN0M app to conspire with the alleged leader of the drug ring to bring in about 1.6 tonnes of ice and cocaine worth an estimated $1billion between April and June this year, the Herald Sun reported.

Investigators alleged Joannou posted on the network as the ‘wolf’ and openly discussed the importation of 400kg of ice from India. 

Police allege he would have pocketed $16,000 profit per kilo. The court also heard how the duo allegedly bragged about going undetected. 

‘Bro, as an example, yeah, we landed twice this past six months,’ Mr Zayneh allegedly wrote on the app.

‘They knew nothing. And we will f**king land three more times, bro. Watch.’

Mr Joannou allegedly replied: ‘Yeah, I know bro. Just stay safe.’

In another alleged deal Mr Zayneh asked Mr Joannou about investing in a drug Los Angeles venture, calling it ‘good opportunity’. 

‘We are working with the cartel,’ the message said.

Four other men – Joe Scordo, Sebastian Bezborodoff, Omar Dib, Robin Reffo – were also charged for their role in the alleged crime syndicate.

All six caught up in the raid now face charges of conspiring to import a large commercial quantity of border controlled drugs, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

Despite the incredible success of the secret sting, Daily Mail Australia can reveal the operation was in jeopardy of being compromised earlier this year – and authorities may have wound it up earlier as a result. 

In late March, an anonymous blogger known only as ‘canyouguess67’ posted an article warning users to keep off ANOM for their ‘own safety’.  

‘STAY AWAY FROM ANOM IF YOU VALUE YOUR PRIVACY AND SAFETY,’ the blogger wrote in an article, which has since been pulled down.

‘THEY ARE COMPROMISED, LIARS AND YOUR DATA IS RUNNING VIA USA.’ 

In what now seems to be a telling clue, the blogger expressed serious concerns about the fact that the AN-M device he had tested ‘was actually in constant contact with Google services’ in both New South Wales, Australia and California.

‘I was quite concerned to see the amount of IP addresses relating to many corporations within the Five Eyes governments (Australia, USA, Canada, UK, NZ who share information with one another),’ he wrote. 

Following a technical analysis, the blogger – correctly – recommended people not use AN0M technology, warning authorities could ‘completely infiltrate every users’ devices (sic) as well as their operations, and worse of all authorities would have the ability to decrypt and intercept messages’.  

In a ironic twist, the unnamed tech blogger warned that they had contacted law enforcement agencies with their concerns. 

The blog, named ‘ANOMEXPOSED’, had since been taken down but it was still publicly available via Google on Tuesday. 

It is unclear whether the tech expert’s concerns reached the ears of the Federal Police or played a role in the project being sensationally unveiled today. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the AFP operation, known as Operation Ironside, had struck a ‘heavy blow’ against organised crime.

‘The operation puts Australia at the forefront of the fight against criminals who peddle in human misery and ultimately, it will keep our communities and Australians safe,’ he said on Tuesday.  

‘Illicit drug use ruins lives and fuels organised crime.’

AFP Commissioner Kershaw said federal agents had been in the ‘back pockets’ of criminals through the encryption app.

The idea, Mr Kershaw said, came over a ‘couple of beers’ between officers and FBI agents years back.  

‘The FBI had the lead on this. We provided the technical capability to decrypt those messages,’ he said. 

‘Some of the best ideas come over a couple of beers.’ 

Ninja Warrior 2017 contestant Sopiea Kong was among those arrested. The 33-year-old was charged last week following a raid at a Kangaroo Point home, where police allegedly seized 154g of meth. 

Kong, who was also allegedly in possession of $2,030 cash and a revolver, was granted bail and will appear in court on June 28.

Former Bachelorette star Samuel Minkin, who appeared on Becky and Elly Miles’ season of the dating show, was charged with possessing a large commercial quantity of cannabis after police stopped a van in Byron Bay last month. 

Former Bandito bikie Benjamin Joseph Thornton, 31, was arrested after police seized two mobile phones and a small quantity of cocaine. He was denied bail and will reappear in court next week. 

What is ANoM? 

On its glitzy website, the ‘AN0M’ phone looks like any new tech innovation with sleek black lines, ‘invite only’ exclusivity and a pledge to ‘enforce your right to privacy’.

But its best feature – and for most of its users, the worst – wasn’t promoted in its marketing material. 

The phone, which supposedly allowed encrypted communications safe from the eyes of the law, was actually a cunning trap laid for a who’s who of organised crime. 

The Australian Federal Police on Tuesday revealed a breathtaking three-year tech ploy which led to 4,000 police executing 525 search warrants.   

Senior bikies and mafia figures were tricked into buying hi-tech phones that would supposedly let them message one another, free of police snooping. 

But the AN0M phones were actually designed by the FBI and allowed Australian police to read the texts of organised crime figures.  

Police watched in real time as alleged crooks spilled their secrets to one another on their own app. 

Crooks even paid six-monthly subscription fees to the police – the money only being used against them by funding law enforcement actions.  

How did it all work? 

Users could buy phone handsets costing between $1,500 and $2,500 from what has been described as underground distributors. 

The phones were stripped down – they couldn’t even make calls, access the internet or send emails. 

What did do was send encrypted messages, photos and videos, using a foreign SIM card to apparently avoid Australian data snooping laws. 

Crooks could buy a six month subscription to use the app – the funds raised unknowingly redirected to the police. 

The app was accessed by entering a PIN number into the phone’s calculator, the stuff of spy dramas. 

AN0M’s website, which was only deleted about 10am on Tuesday, made the technology sound impenetrable.   

The company was apparently based in famously neutral Switzerland and boasted of ‘military grade encrypt and sanitise’. 

For its encryption, it claimed to use ‘OMEMO Double Ratchet Algorithm … independently audited by Dutch security research group Radically Open Security’.  

That may have been an in-joke – as all the supposedly self-destructing messages sent on the app was radically open to the Australian Federal Police to read.     

Police have been coy about just how Australian mafia and bikie figures first came across the devices. 

That is likely to remain a secret, as it involves police informants.  

But what is clear is that the ‘business’ began to grow of its own accord beginning in about October 2018. 

Criminal ‘influencers’, including Ayik, eventually became so enthralled by the technology they distributed the devices around the world. 

But it is clear that AN0M is no secret anymore – with its details splashed across the world’s news sites and hundreds of cases before the courts, many no doubt unaware that someone was sounding the alarm about the app months ago.