Current HUGE AFP Sting - 200 organised crime arrests

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Kurve said:
This particular one Kumar, I've read is a cleanskin and the situation he's now in having done two years jail already, now handed over to the US makes me feel real uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

so is the US pulling a swifty and getting their agent man back home, or hoping to try him for a stronger sentence than we can offer to leverage any other info he has, or an outside chance, has he shifted a phone to a/some people that the US views as a terrorist?

what I don't like is this Kumar bloke is apparently a clean skin, with only minor traffic issues on his record, yet he knows enough dodgy types and be well enough connected he can shift the anon phones, and be trusted to set them up? seems odd to me.
 
Krusty Crab said:
so is the US pulling a swifty and getting their agent man back home, or hoping to try him for a stronger sentence than we can offer to leverage any other info he has, or an outside chance, has he shifted a phone to a/some people that the US views as a terrorist?
Click to expand...
Might be nothing more than US authorities wanting to use his trial/conviction in a promotional campaign to deter others from assisting with narcotic crimes in the US.

Particularly those assisting with the tech/digital side of things.
 

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If he's up on RICO charges he's stuffed they have something ridiculous like a 97 per cent conviction rate ...they will be hoping he squeals to implicate people up the ladder to get a reduced sentence.
 
Krusty Crab said:
what I don't like is this Kumar bloke is apparently a clean skin, with only minor traffic issues on his record, yet he knows enough dodgy types and be well enough connected he can shift the anon phones, and be trusted to set them up? seems odd to me.
Click to expand...

I don't know much about the rest of them but Kumar as a cleanskin might have a defence if entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit. (via wiki)

What's 'inducement'? Money?

I'm not sure he necessarily has to be closely connected to dodgy types, all he'd have to have done is tell a few people he's got the phones and let word filter out, wait see who shows up to buy one.

Also wiki:

Sting operations, through which police officers or agents engage in deception to try to catch persons who are committing crimes, raise concerns about possible entrapment.

Looks clearly to be a sting operation.
 
BFew said:
Might be nothing more than US authorities wanting to use his trial/conviction in a promotional campaign to deter others from assisting with narcotic crimes in the US.

Particularly those assisting with the tech/digital side of things.
Click to expand...
Good.
 
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California

SAN DIEGO – A wave of hundreds of arrests that began in Australia and stretched across Europe culminated today with the unsealing of a federal grand jury indictment in San Diego charging 17 foreign nationals with distributing thousands of encrypted communication devices to criminal syndicates.

The 500-plus arrests that took place during a worldwide two-day takedown were possible because of a San Diego-based investigation like no other. For the first time, the FBI operated its own encrypted device company, called “ANOM,” which was promoted by criminal groups worldwide. These criminals sold more than 12,000 ANOM encrypted devices and services to more than 300 criminal syndicates operating in more than 100 countries, including Italian organized crime, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and various international drug trafficking organizations, according to court records.

unsealed_trojan_shield_search_warrant_21mj1948.pdf

unsealed_trojan_shield_indictment_21cr1623-jls.pdf

www.justice.gov

FBI’s Encrypted Phone Platform Infiltrated Hundreds of Criminal Syndicates; Result is Massive Worldwide Takedown

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov

Chameleon75 provided a link to these docs earlier in the thread.
 
Last edited:
Ballarat Bob said:
If he's up on RICO charges he's stuffed they have something ridiculous like a 97 per cent conviction rate ...they will be hoping he squeals to implicate people up the ladder to get a reduced sentence.
Click to expand...

The indictment charges 17 alleged distributors of the FBI’s devices and platform. They are charged with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), pertaining to their alleged involvement in marketing and distributing thousands of encrypted communication devices to transnational criminal organizations worldwide.

www.justice.gov

FBI’s Encrypted Phone Platform Infiltrated Hundreds of Criminal Syndicates; Result is Massive Worldwide Takedown

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
 
This is interesting. Kumar might be one that had the authority to wipe the devices on request.

The indictment alleges the defendants knew the devices they distributed were being used exclusively by criminals to coordinate drug trafficking and money laundering, including in the U.S. The defendants personally fielded “wipe requests” from users when devices fell into the hands of law enforcement.

www.justice.gov

FBI’s Encrypted Phone Platform Infiltrated Hundreds of Criminal Syndicates; Result is Massive Worldwide Takedown

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
 
The challenge.

Dozens of accused criminals are testing the admissibility of evidence obtained during one of the world's biggest police stings.

A landmark committal hearing for more than 50 people is being held in a Sydney court this week, with the group challenging the crucial source of evidence used by investigators involved in Operation Ironside, the AN0M app.

www.abc.net.au

Why accused criminals are challenging evidence from one of the world's biggest police stings

A committal hearing for more than 50 people is taking place in a Sydney court this week, with the group challenging the AFP's use of the AN0M app as a crucial source of evidence in a major sting.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Kurve said:
This is interesting. Kumar might be one that had the authority to wipe the devices on request.

The indictment alleges the defendants knew the devices they distributed were being used exclusively by criminals to coordinate drug trafficking and money laundering, including in the U.S. The defendants personally fielded “wipe requests” from users when devices fell into the hands of law enforcement.

www.justice.gov

FBI’s Encrypted Phone Platform Infiltrated Hundreds of Criminal Syndicates; Result is Massive Worldwide Takedown

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Click to expand...
What was Kumar: 'Distributor', 'Administrator', and/or 'influencer' of ANOM?

If, as reported, Kumar was only a distributor, (and not an administrator, or performing any of the administrator role), then he likely wouldn't have had any authority or means to wipe the devices on request.

However, Kumar might have assisted/facilitated ANOM customers (possibly just with education and advice/instructions) to set up a wipe code to allow them to wipe the device from the lockscreen, and/or configure the phone to automatically wipe if left offline for a specific period of time

See below for info (courtesy of google) on "wiping" ANOM phones, from a Vice tech journo that claimed to have got hold of one to analyse in July 2021.

www.vice.com

We Got the Phone the FBI Secretly Sold to Criminals

'Anom’ phones used in an FBI honeypot are mysteriously showing up on the secondary market. We bought one.
www.vice.com www.vice.com

'We Got the Phone the FBI Secretly Sold to Criminals'
By Joseph Cox​

09 July 2021, 1:50am
Anom’ phones used in an FBI honeypot are mysteriously showing up on the secondary market. We bought one.
'...
The status bar at the top of the screen includes a shortcut for what appears to be a wipe feature on the phone, with an icon showing a piece of paper going through a shredder. Users can also set up a "wipe code," which will wipe the device from the lockscreen, and configure the phone to automatically wipe if left offline for a specific period of time, according to the phone's settings reviewed by Motherboard.

Encrypted phone companies typically offer similar data destruction capabilities, and at least in some cases companies have remotely wiped phones while they're in authorities' possession, hindering investigations. The Department of Justice has charged multiple people who allegedly worked for Anom in part for obstructing law enforcement by using this wipe feature
...
Those staff included "administrators" who were able to set up new subscriptions for customers, remove accounts, and remotely wipe the devices. As well as removing the microphone and camera functionality, some firms in the encrypted phone space can remove data from a device in case it is seized by law enforcement. The indictment says that Anom staff obstructed law enforcement by carrying out such wipes.

The workers also included "influencers", which the indictment says were "well-known crime figures who wield significant power and influence over other criminal associates. These influencers have also built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise in the hardened encrypted device field and use that power, knowledge, and expertise to promote, market, and encourage others to use specific hardened encrypted devices."

"Distributors" provide technical support for customers, send money back up to the parent company, and manage "agents," who in turn are on the ground meeting and engaging with customers of the phones. These staff all remained anonymous even to one another in order to try and evade law enforcement, the document reads.
...'

www.vice.com

DOJ Charges Criminal ‘Influencers’ Who Worked for FBI’s Honeypot Phone Company

The defendants thought they worked for Anom, an encrypted phone company marketed to criminals. But the FBI was in control, and now the DOJ is charging them.
www.vice.com www.vice.com

'DOJ Charges Criminal ‘Influencers’ Who Worked for FBI’s Honeypot Phone Company'​

'09 June 2021, 4:11am'

'...
Those staff included "administrators" who were able to set up new subscriptions for customers, remove accounts, and remotely wipe the devices. As well as removing the microphone and camera functionality, some firms in the encrypted phone space can remove data from a device in case it is seized by law enforcement. The indictment says that Anom staff obstructed law enforcement by carrying out such wipes.
...
The defendants, some of which are international fugitives, include people in Turkey, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Colombia, and Thailand. The DOJ is charging them under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law traditionally used to target mafia bosses, but which the DOJ has recently used to prosecute encrypted phone companies that deliberately sold devices to criminals.

"Anom has generated the Defendants millions of dollars in profit by facilitating the criminal activity of transnational criminal organizations and protecting these organizations from law enforcement," the indictment against 17 individuals reads.'

'Edwin Harmendra Kumar, who is allegedly a distributor of the network to criminal end users.'
 
'Millions of texts sent through the app, which could only communicate with other AN0M devices, were allegedly copied and fed back to servers monitored by the authorities for three years.

Additional information, including geolocation data, was also added to the duplicated messages as the users pressed send, but not to the original texts, the court heard on Monday.

During the committal hearing, before Magistrate Robert Williams, the group of alleged bikies and criminals' lawyers will explore whether that evidence was legally intercepted.'

'It follows a similar challenge heard before the Supreme Court of South Australia.

In that jurisdiction, Justice Adam Kimber ultimately ruled that AN0M was legally run by police.'

www.abc.net.au

Why accused criminals are challenging evidence from one of the world's biggest police stings

A committal hearing for more than 50 people is taking place in a Sydney court this week, with the group challenging the AFP's use of the AN0M app as a crucial source of evidence in a major sting.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 

The US and Sweden have put a bounty on the head of alleged AN0M gangster Maximilian Rivkin​


A $7.6m bounty has been placed on the head of a fugitive Swedish gangster who targeted Australia’s drug market and is a key lieutenant of Australia’s most wanted man, Hakan Ayik.
News of the reward offered for the arrest of Maximilian Rivkin comes as another of the 17 men indicted over the encrypted app AN0M, Seyyed Hossein Hosseini, is extradited to the US, taking to five the number of international alleged gangsters now facing the US justice system on racketeering charges.

The app, which was pushed by the likes of Australian drug kingpin Hakan Ayik, was marketed as a secure way to avoid law enforcement, but was in fact a Trojan horse app being run and monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police. While 17 people were indicted over running the criminal enterprise behind the app, more than 1300 people were charged globally with a number of crimes as a result of the sting.
 

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Kurve said:
The challenge.

Dozens of accused criminals are testing the admissibility of evidence obtained during one of the world's biggest police stings.

A landmark committal hearing for more than 50 people is being held in a Sydney court this week, with the group challenging the crucial source of evidence used by investigators involved in Operation Ironside, the AN0M app.

www.abc.net.au

Why accused criminals are challenging evidence from one of the world's biggest police stings

A committal hearing for more than 50 people is taking place in a Sydney court this week, with the group challenging the AFP's use of the AN0M app as a crucial source of evidence in a major sting.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...

The matter continues:

'The case against Edwin Harmendra Kumar, being heard in the US, has revealed fascinating details of the inner workings of Operation Ironside, the police sting of the century, built around the encrypted app AN0M.

Mr Kumar, who was extradited from Sydney to the US earlier this year to face racketeering (RICO) charges, is seeking details of all users and all messages sent via the devices prosecutors say he provided or serviced.'

'He is also seeking any reports of drug transactions allegedly involving him directly, or any end-user who allegedly used a device he had distributed or serviced.

“In the government’s view, Mr Kumar’s role in the RICO conspiracy was to distribute the AN0M devices to end-users, manage and receive subscription fees, and provide technical support,’’ an application by his lawyers state.'



'In a related case, Mr Kumar and two co-accused are demanding the US Department of Justice name the European country which secretly helped the FBI and the Australian Federal Police intercept more than 28 million messages sent on the AN0M app.'


This matter has a long way to go with an, as yet, 3rd unnamed country involved.
 
Ayik has had a few mentions in this thread.

Turkish officials have arrested Australian Hakan Ayik alongside 36 others allegedly involved in an international organised crime ring.

www.abc.net.au

Turkish authorities say they have arrested alleged Australian drug trafficker Hakan Ayik

The Australian Federal Police says it is aware of the Turkish arrest and acknowledged officials for "undertaking one of the most significant operations" of transnational organised criminals.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Kurve said:
Ayik has had a few mentions in this thread.

Turkish officials have arrested Australian Hakan Ayik alongside 36 others allegedly involved in an international organised crime ring.

www.abc.net.au

Turkish authorities say they have arrested alleged Australian drug trafficker Hakan Ayik

The Australian Federal Police says it is aware of the Turkish arrest and acknowledged officials for "undertaking one of the most significant operations" of transnational organised criminals.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...


Stick him a Turkish jail for 35 + years. He'll enjoy that.
 
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