Accused drug trafficker George Katsambas told co-accused AN0M app was ‘bad’

AN0M messages sent in the days before nationwide arrests showed an increasing awareness the app was “bad”, a court has heard.

A rumour about the encrypted AN0M app’s validity spread through criminal ranks days before hundreds were arrested in the nationwide Operation Ironside sting, a court has heard.

The Adelaide Magistrates Court was told during a bail application for George Katsambas – a NSW man arrested on a South Australian warrant – that messages linked him to the bust.

Mr Katsambas, 48, was arrested on unrelated charges at Sydney Airport on May 27, having been granted an exemption to fly to Greece for three weeks for unspecified family reasons.

The flight was scheduled only days after several drivers were arrested in Perth in possession of large quantities of drugs that prosecutors allege was linked to Mr Katsambas.

A Commonwealth prosecutor told the court that messages allegedly sent by Mr Katsambas showed an intention to remain out of Australia.

“Our submission is that regardless of whether he had permission to leave the country for a short time, he had no intention of returning,” the prosecutor said.

“That is evident from the exchange he had with one of his co-accused on that date. That exchange happened after the drivers of the vans were arrested in Western Australia.

“Mr Katsambas says ‘I’m telling everyone I’m going for three months bro’. (His co-accused) replies ‘Yeah for sure bro, bet you don’t’.

“Mr Katsambas responds ‘You’re right’.”

A photo of George Katsambas from about 2004.

Prosecutors allege that later in the conversation, Mr Katsambas wrote “Bro, someone told me today that AN0M is bad”.

Mr Katsambas was released on bail by a NSW Supreme Court judge only to be arrested two weeks later as part of the nationwide Ironside arrests in June this year.

He is accused of trafficking 7kg of methamphetamine marked with the letter “H” to Western Australia.

George Katsambas being led into the Adelaide Magistrates Court where he was facing drug trafficking related charges in February, 2004.

“There were multiple packets heading west, which could be related to Mr Katsambas, either his own or his friends,” the prosecutor said.

Magistrate John Wells heard that prosecutors would allege Mr Katsambas and his co-accused exchanged more than 8000 messages in 78 days, averaging just more than 100 a day.

Michael Abbott QC, for Mr Katsambas, said the evidence linking the messages to his client was tenuous at best.

“I say that there is an incorrect attribution of this material to Mr Katsambas and there is no suggestion he ever had an AN0M phone in his possession,” Mr Abbott said.

“This is all rank hearsay. It means that currently the strength of the prosecution case is weak.

“They say these messages can be attributed to him but in my submission it does not prove that to any requisite degree that Mr Katsambas was involved.”

Prosecutors told the court Mr Katsambas had been convicted in NSW in 2015 for making a false statement on a travel document.

“The circumstances of that offending related to methamphetamine located in his vehicle,” the prosecutor said.

“As part of his bail agreement, he was required to surrender his passport. He made an application for a passport in a false name.”

Mr Wells granted Mr Katsambas home-detention bail to live with a relative in Adelaide provided a cash surety of $5000 was lodged with the court.

Mr Katsambas smiled and gave Mr Abbott a thumbs up via video-link from the Adelaide Remand Centre.

Originally published as Accused drug trafficker George Katsambas told co-accused AN0M app was ‘bad’