ANOM: Hundreds arrested in 'staggering' global crime sting

The FBI's Calvin Shivers said results were "staggering" from the global sting involving encrypted phones

Police arrested more than 800 people worldwide in a huge global sting involving encrypted phones that were secretly planted by the FBI, law enforcement agencies said Tuesday.

Cops in 16 countries were able to read the messages of underworld figures as they plotted drug deals, arms transfers and gangland hits on the compromised ANOM devices.

The sting, jointly conceived by Australia and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, prevented around 150 murders, foiled several large-scale narcotics shipments and led to seizures of 250 weapons and $48 million in currency, they added.

Using a network of unaware distributors, the FBI placed thousands of the ANOM devices into the hands of over 300 criminal syndicates in over 100 countries, who believed their messages could never be seen by law enforcement.

One cocaine trafficker texted another photographs to prove he could ship the drug from Bogota using the French embassy's protected diplomatic pouch, two kilograms at a time.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday that the operation had "struck a heavy blow against organised crime -- not just in this country, but one that will echo around organised crime around the world".

The operation took off in the past two years as police disrupted other encrypted phone networks used by criminals, Phantom Secure, EncroChat and SkyGlobal.

An affadavit filed in San Diego, California court described how the FBI forced a person involved in Phantom Secure to produce a "next generation" encrypted messaging device that gave the FBI a master key into the encryption technology. 

This enabled them to turn the tables on criminals whose use of encryption apps and devices have increasingly stymied criminal investigations.

The messages also exposed official corruption and other crimes.

Australia said more than 200 people had been charged already. Sweden arrested 155 people, including five in Spain.  

Germany detained 70 suspects, the Netherlands 49, and New Zealand 35 in the operation.

US authorities indicted 17 foreign nationals, some known drug traffickers, who played key roles in distributing and popularizing the ANOM handsets to others who trusted their expertise.

- 'People came to us' -

The devices were marketed as "designed by criminals for criminals" and sold for about $2,000 each, with a $1,300-$2,100 user fee every six months.

Criminal "influencers" were recruited to push them, including an Australian fugitive drug boss on the run in Turkey.

But they gave police a huge amount of information on users: their identities, links to financial accounts, and their networks.

But the cover appeared to be blown in March 2021 when a blogger detailed ANOM security flaws and claimed it was a scam linked to Australia, the United States and other members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network. The post was later deleted.

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Originally published as ANOM: Hundreds arrested in 'staggering' global crime sting