Operation Ironside: AFP seize luxury Rolex, cars and cash with guns from AN0M web of arrests
An Aladdin’s Cave of treasure including a $450,000 Rolex, Lamborghinis and $4.9m in cash are just some of what Operation Ironside found.
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An Aladdin’s Cave of treasure, including a $450,000 diamond-encrusted Rolex, several Lamborghinis, $4.9 million cash hidden in a garden shed and $1 million concealed in a backyard swimming pool filter are among items police say they seized from alleged crime figures during this week’s Operation Ironside raids.
Police crashed through the doors of alleged bikies, money-launderers and drug traffickers, seizing millions of dollars’ worth of luxury items that police claim were funded by the proceeds of crime.
A $50,000 diamond ring, Louis Vuitton luggage, an expansive sneaker collector and $50,000 in cash stored in a hotel room in a recyclable bottle-shop bag were also seized by police.
In Melbourne, a collectors-item 1967 Shelby Mustang worth more than $200,000, which had been lovingly stored in a humidity-controlled tent inside a garage, was unceremoniously hauled away on a flat-bed truck by police, as was a 1988 HSV Walkinshaw Commodore.
A similar Commodore is currently advertised for sale for $1 million.
And worse is to come for those who have lost their baubles, with police revealing they have spent the past few weeks “secretly’’ applying to the courts to seize their houses and bank accounts.
Commander Stephen Fry from the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce said organised crime existed purely for the purposes of generating illicit profits, and crime figures found it painful to lose their ill-gotten gains.
“Serious organised criminals know that going to prison is sometimes part of what the business is about,’’ Comm Fry said.
“But when the assets get taken away from them, that hurts them. They’re not happy.
“During the Operation Ironside resolution a few days ago one prominent crime figure was served a court-issued proceeds of crime restraining order.
“The AFP officers were explaining to him … they were civil court orders and were not a criminal arrest warrant or about going to jail. To which he replied: ‘this is worse than going to jail, you’re going to take my houses’.”
More than 4000 police across Australia were involved in the raids, which followed an elaborate sting operation using a Trojan horse encrypted messaging device and platform called AN0M.
While organised crime figures thought it was a secure encrypted app, it was in fact being controlled by the FBI and monitored by the Australian Federal Police, who worked out how to intercept the messages and copied them in real-time from their headquarters in Canberra.
The sheer scale of the money generated from organised crime has shocked the nation, with AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw revealing this week that one chapter alone of an outlaw motorcycle gang was making $20 million profit a month from “peddling drugs.’’
Stefan Jerga, the AFP’s national manager of assets confiscation, said state and territory police were involved in seizing the assets alongside the AFP.
“Through Operation Ironside we have attacked criminal wealth by seizing more than $50 million in cash … as well as luxury vehicles, motorcycles, cryptocurrency, designer watches and other property,’’ he said.
“The designer bling is always interesting, but there are also some classic and timeless assets that we seized where you stop for a moment and think that if this passion to own and preserve something so beautiful was channelled into positive and law-abiding behaviours, rather than poisoning our community with violence and illicit drugs, we would be a stronger and more content community.
“For example, we seized this week a 1967 Shelby Mustang, stored in a climate-controlled, humidified bubble. I couldn’t but help wonder how (much) better off we would all be if that crime figure channelled that passion towards community good.’’
Police also searched a rural property near Cessnock in NSW and seized $4.9 million hidden behind a false wall in a Colour-bond shed.
Police claimed they found 49 bundles of approximately $100,000 each hidden in the shed. They also seized two motorcycles, two vehicles and a number of designer handbags.
They also located what was believed to be an encrypted communications device, recently burned in a fire. The discovery on Wednesday came the day after News Corp revealed the elaborate AN0M sting, which had allowed police to read in real-time the 25 million messages sent via the AN0M platform and devices.
A 51-year-old man was charged.
In Western Australia, police searching a home allegedly found $1 million in cash stashed in a sealed plastic bag and concealed in a backyard swimming pool filter.
“Some sharp-eyed investigators have noticed a wrench or tool nearby the pool filter that looked a bit out of place and that led to a further examination and they found the cash,’’ Comm Fry said.
The AFP and state and territory police conducted the raids across Australia, and will take action against the owners of the allegedly dirty money under federal and state laws.
In Queensland, $50,000 cash was seized from a person staying at the luxury W Hotel in Brisbane’s CBD, while a Vespa and Mercedes sports car were seized from Mermaid Waters.
In NSW, a rainbow Rolex made from white gold and diamonds was seized. Similar watches are selling online, second-hand, for $480,000. It’s believed to be one of two seized in Australia, with the watches costing as much as a house showing the sheer scale of the profits organised crime was making.
Mr Jerga said on another search, investigators gathering up dirty money stashed around a house lifted up a couch, and discovered more bundles of cash underneath.
“The crook said ‘I didn’t even know they were there’,’’ Mr Jerga said.
He said often the crime figures would volunteer to investigators where their assets were and the wealth they had accumulated.
But he said the real damage to the criminal network’s assets was still to come, with AFP and other law enforcement working behind the scenes to target crooks’ bank accounts and properties.
Criminal and civil legislation was being used to target different assets, and police expected some of the proceedings to run for up to five years through the courts.
Mr Jerga said “while the community have seen this week very public images of cash and other property being seized by the AFP and our domestic and international partners,’’ the task force was already a step ahead of the crooks.
“They (the task force) have been using our proceeds of crime laws to full effect, including making applications before courts across Australia to secretly restrain the assets of criminal groups without their prior knowledge, including their houses and bank accounts,’’ he said.
“In Operation Ironside, the work of our asset confiscation teams is just beginning, and as always we will be relentless in taking the assets of organised crime.
“An honest day’s wage still matters. Our longstanding social compact and values absolutely remain our compass as a community and nation, and the AFP and our partners will be relentless every day to preserve those values, including by targeting criminal wealth and assets.’’
Do you know more? Email us at crimeinvestigations@news.com.au
Originally published as Operation Ironside: AFP seize luxury Rolex, cars and cash with guns from AN0M web of arrests
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