Sydney man Osameh Elhassen extradited from Colombia to the U.S. on AN0M charges

Osemah Elhassen is now in custody in the U.S. more than four years after the FBI first investigated his role in the distribution of the AN0M app.

A Sydney man arrested as part of the international AN0M sting has been extradited from Colombia to the United States, where he will face charges over his alleged role in distributing the Trojan Horse app.

Local reports out of Colombia detail how Osemah Elhassen was extradited on a Drug Enforcement Agency plane to the U.S. more than four years after the FBI first began investigating his alleged involvement in the AN0M app.

AN0M was the encrypted communication platform at the heart of an international police operation that led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of alleged organised crime syndicates.

Phones with the AN0M app installed were used by thousands of people in Australia who police allege were using the devices to further criminal activities.

The devices were secretly being monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police who, on June 8, 2021, disabled the app and moved to arrest hundreds of people across the globe.

In Australia the crackdown was known as Operation Ironside, in the US as Trojan Shield and in Europe as Greenlight.

Elhassen’s extradition to the U.S. was reportedly signed off on by Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Sydney man Osemah Elhassen who was extradited from Colombia to the U.S.

The AN0M app was created as a Trojan horse to fool those using it to allegedly running criminal networks.

Police sources in Australia confirmed they were aware of Elhassen being handed over to U.S. authorities.

The FBI alleges that Elhassen has been involved in a syndicate a “narcotics trafficking” syndicate operating in Europe, Asia and South America.

Elhassen was allegedly a distributor of the AN0M software and devices.

He was detained in July 2021 in Bogota, where he remained in custody in Colombia until his extradition.

It is now expected that Elhassen will face the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the court in which the FBI filed the initial charges against him.

“Osemah Elhassen is a citizen of Australia who currently resides in Colombia. Elhassen is a distributor of the AN0M network to criminal end-users,” the FBI’s indictment from 2021 reads.

Elhassen and the 16 other individuals named on that indictment are facing racketeering charges, which can carry a prison term of up to 20 years.

A growing number of defendants, all based in NSW, have now joined a class action lawsuit, pooling their collective wealth in an attempt to have evidence from the police sting thrown out of court.

The AN0M accused are also seeking to challenge whether the AN0M platform that intercepted the messages was covered under the warrant used by police to legally jus­tify the investigation.