Adelaide man charged with five counts of participation in criminal organisation for allegedly giving AN0M app to the Comancheros
A 20-year-old Adelaide man has been charged with distributing the AN0M app to Comancheros to help further their illegal activities in the first prosecution of its kind in SA.
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A 20-year-old Adelaide man has become the first SA person charged with directly assisting a criminal organisation by distributing encrypted AN0M phones.
The young man, whose name is suppressed as he faces multiple charges, was charged with five counts of participation in a criminal organisation and six counts of drug trafficking late last year as part of the ongoing Operation Ironside investigation.
His name was suppressed at his first court appearance in December.
A charge sheet released by the Adelaide Magistrates Court alleges the young man was providing the encrypted devices to the Comanchero Motorcycle Club “for the benefit of a criminal organisation”.
The charges are alleged to have occurred over specific dates between December 27, 2020 and May 20, 2021 in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.
The drug trafficking offences relate to the sale of MDMA in Port Adelaide and Woodville South and cocaine in Park Holme, Kensington and, on two occasions, Beaumont.
The trafficking offences are alleged to have occurred between October 20, 2020 and May 20, 2021.
The charge is the first of its kind in the more than 100 Ironside prosecutions underway in South Australia.
Other members of alleged murder plots have been charged with participation in a criminal organisation, though those charges relate to conspiracy with others to commit a major offence.
There are also two SA men, Shane Geoffrey May and a second man whose name is suppressed, who are named in an FBI indictment from the Southern District of California on racketeering charges for helping distribute the AN0M app into Australia.
A decision has been made that no Australians facing US criminal charges stemming from the AN0M app will be extradited until all their matters in Australia are completed.
The AN0M enabled phones were particularly prevalent among the Comanchero in Australia.
Multiple members of the gang in SA have been charged with offences ranging from arson, conspiracy to murder and importing and manufacturing large amounts of methamphetamine after the analysis of millions of messages sent over AN0M.
A test case currently running in the SA Supreme Court is probing the legality of the entire operation and whether any of the messages can be admitted at trial.
Two alleged members of the Comanchero are spearheading the challenge in the test case after retaining top criminal barrister Michael Abbott KC to examine the dozens of warrants and authorisations issued as part of the operation.
A decision on the admissibility of the messages is expected in the coming months with a near inevitable appeal to the full sitting of the Supreme Court and the High Court expected to be launched later this year.
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Originally published as Adelaide man charged with five counts of participation in criminal organisation for allegedly giving AN0M app to the Comancheros
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