Operation Ironside leads to 1000 arrests, tightens net on drug crims
Two years on from the gangland-shaking AN0M app bust, investigators are working through millions of messages that may yet ensnare more top-level organised crime figures.
Police & Courts
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A total of 6.6 tonnes of drugs have been seized in Australia by police since the gangland-shaking AN0M app bust of two years ago.
Investigators attached to operation Ironside are continuing to work through millions of messages they intercepted, leaving open the prospect of more arrests and high-level charges against organised crime figures.
Fresh Australian Federal Police figures show 73 Victorians have so far been charged by detectives attached to Ironside, which hit the Comanchero bikie gang and senior Mafia figures particularly hard.
About 1.3 tonnes of drugs have been seized in Victoria as part of the sprawling international inquiry, which first came to public light in June 2021.
Ironside’s work in Victoria has also restrained a $20.3m hunk of the $55.6m in cash confiscated nationwide.
There have been 37 guns and weapons seized during 318 warrants in Victoria.
The national figures reveal 128 firearms and other weapons taken in 780 warrants.
Ironside was a three-year operation by the AFP and the FBI, who secretly developed an encrypted platform known as AN0M that let them decrypt and read communications.
Many of the communications uncovered – nationwide and globally – included alleged plots to kill, mass drug trafficking and gun distribution.
Last month, 39 Victorian men charged as part of the global sting appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where the case was heard for the first time.
Among those awaiting court proceedings is senior Comanchero bikie Mark Buddle, charged over alleged involvement in a transnational crime syndicate. Gang sergeant-at-arms Christian Taumefolau was also charged.
A number of huge seizures were made in Victoria. Six months before the operation became public knowledge, intelligence from Ironside led to the discovery of $5.5m in cash hidden in secret compartments of a truck at South Melbourne.
Its driver, Adelaide truckie Michele Donato, was tracked from South Australia to Victoria.
Former yoga teacher Kayla Rezuk and her boyfriend were arrested after $7.7m was seized in raids on homes at Port Melbourne and Brunswick West.
Internationally, 53 tonnes of drugs were seized, plus cash and crypto worth US$58m.
Almost 1000 suspects have been arrested across the globe.
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