Police have urged Hakan Ayik to turn himself in after he was duped into helping bring down an international crime syndicate.

Police have urged Hakan Ayik to turn himself in after he was duped into helping bring down an international crime syndicate.

Much of the activity over the past two days was in NSW where state police officers executed 33 search warrants,arrested 35 people and seized 27 firearms,cash,drugs and luxury vehicles in a major operation.

An image showing messages on the encrypted An0m app,released by the US Department of Justice.

An image showing messages on the encrypted An0m app,released by the US Department of Justice.

An FBI informant developed An0m after the 2018 takedown of a previous platform,Phantom Secure,left a void in the market. The informant gave the FBI access to the app and it was then released to criminal networks,starting in Australia. It surged in popularity over the past two years as other platforms were dismantled and underworld figures took up the devices based on referrals from trusted associates.

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Mr Ayik,who fled Australia in 2010 and renounced his citizenship in 2019,was regarded as one of the two most influential distributors of An0m. He is wanted by NSW Police in relation to massive drug shipments and,on Tuesday,officers said he should be returned to his former home.

“We are working with our Commonwealth partners in relation to returning him to New South Wales to face charges,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said.

“We’ve seen a number of our high-level crooks go to safe havens overseas and escape prosecution,and live a high life and still direct criminal enterprises from overseas,with assistance obviously from onshore.”

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw urged Hakan Ayik to turn himself in.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw urged Hakan Ayik to turn himself in.Credit:Rhett Wyman

The Sydney Morning Herald,TheAgeand60 Minutesrecently discovered Ayik’slocation and new identity in Istanbul and revealed his suspected role as thefounder of the “Aussie Cartel” of organised crime figures wielding major influence over drug importation into Australia from offshore locations.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Tuesday publicly urged Mr Ayik to turn himself in and protect his family because he may now be a target after inadvertently helping set up a vast number of his criminal peers.

“Given the threat probably he faces,he’s best off handing himself in to us as soon as he can,” Commissioner Kershaw said. “He’s essentially set up his own colleagues.”

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Criminals needed to know an underground distributor to obtain an An0m device. They paid about $1700 for the handset and a six-month subscription,and $1250 for every six months after that. The amount was sometimes paid in cryptocurrency.

The app – able to send messages and files and perform some other advanced functions – was concealed within a calculator program on the modified phones,which could not make calls or perform other functions.

Commissioner Kershaw said it was an unprecedented operation that had netted some of Australia’s most dangerous criminals.

“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,” he said.

The Australian Federal Police-led operation arrested hundreds of alleged organised crime members nationwide.

The Australian Federal Police-led operation arrested hundreds of alleged organised crime members nationwide.Credit:AFP

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation was a “heavy blow” against organised crime,which has used encrypted communications to hamper authorities since the rise of the technology in recent years.

“The operation puts Australia at the forefront of the fight against criminals who peddle in misery and,ultimately,it will keep our communities and Australians safe,” Mr Morrison said.

The users,who police say were exclusively using it for criminal activity,trusted the platform and did not use code in their communications. They were brazen and detailed about their activities,sharing their plans for murders and photos of drug shipments.

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Powerful laws introduced by the federal government in 2018 to target encryption enabled Australia’s contribution to the operation. After An0m was brought under FBI control,Australian police technical specialists developed a capability to decrypt and monitor the communications on the platform.

A third country,yet to be identified,also co-operated with the FBI on data storage and review. The public announcement of the operation on Tuesday coincided with the expiration of a court order in effect in that country that enabled their contribution.

An0m users were warned of the platform’s shortcomings in a mysterious blog post earlier this year that wanred “stay away from Anom if you value your privacy and safety”.

“They are compromised,liars and your data is running via USA – passed onto law enforcement and other entities,” wrote the author under the name ‘canyouguess67’ in the March post,which has been removed.

“Authorities could completely infiltrate every user’s devices as well as their operations and,[worst] of all,authorities would have the ability to decrypt and intercept their messages.“

Law enforcement agencies and 9000 officers from across the world became involved in co-ordinated operations linked to the An0m sting.

European Union police agency Europol said there had been 800 arrests worldwide in “one of the largest and most sophisticated law enforcement operations to date in the fight against encrypted criminal activities”.

“Countless spin-off operations will be carried out in the weeks to come,” the agency said in a statement.

FBI criminal investigative division assistant director Calvin Shivers said the operation was a “shining example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement partners from around the world work together and develop state-of-the-art investigative tools to detect,disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organisations”.

From 2019 onwards,intelligence gained from the An0m surveillance was used in Australia to help disrupt criminal activities and make about 100 arrests. State and territory police often carried out the arrests and raids,acting on the federal police tips,even if they did not know its origins in the highly sensitive operation.

The platform was completely shut down on Tuesday morning as authorities went public about the operation.

Police estimate the volume of communication between crime figures on other shadowy platforms,especially Ciphr,is vastly bigger than the 20 million messages accessed globally on An0m. An0m is said to represent about 5 per cent of encrypted communications among criminals.

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