AFP intel aids global crackdown
The Australian Federal Police is helping hunt down Italian organised crime syndicates in Europe, with intelligence gathered through the Trojan horse app AN0M.
The Australian Federal Police is helping hunt down Italian organised crime syndicates in Europe, with intelligence gathered through the Trojan horse app AN0M handed to authorities targeting mafia groups overseas.
AFP Assistant Commissioner crime command Nigel Ryan confirmed police had provided 54 intelligence briefs to international law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation and prosecution of several high-level criminals.
Police refused to say in which countries targets of the intelligence were residing but it’s thought several European police forces that worked closely with the AFP in the original Operation Ironside busts in June 2021 were working off AFP intelligence.
Europol and the FBI both confirmed last year that Italian organised crime figures were among the more than 800 people arrested globally when the AN0M busts went down.
That number has since grown to more than 1000, including 383 people in Australia.
“The AFP has developed 54 target packages for our international partners who are using this intelligence to take further action against alleged offenders in their own countries,’’ Mr Ryan said. “This global takedown in organised crime was enabled because of the dedication of the AFP, the FBI and our key partners.’’
More than 12,000 AN0M devices were in use when police pulled the plug on the covert sting operation, with the majority in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Serbia.
More than 300 devices were also active in Italy.
The AFP used two “influencers’’ to spruik the devices to their alleged underworld associates.
One was Hakan Ayik, the Australian drug kingpin and Comanchero bikie associate who is now hiding out in Turkey.
The other was a man in Australia whom police allege is a member of an Italian organised crime family. He is before the courts on significant charges and his details are not able to be reported.
The AFP has embarked on a renewed push to target Italian organised crime in Australia, particularly the Calabrian mafia, or ’Ndrangheta, who are responsible for more than 70 per cent of the global supply of cocaine, and who are washing billions of dollars in illegal wealth through the economy every year.
Under the coverage of mass Italian migration to Australia, the mafia has become so entrenched in the Australian community that people don’t know their neighbours are involved in organised crime.
Mr Ryan on Tuesday said the ’Ndrangheta had been operating in Australia since the 1920s, staying off law enforcement’s radar by living “modest lives in modest houses’.’
They had successfully concealed their illicit wealth by funneling money through legitimate construction, catering and agricultural businesses.
“They had intentionally kept a low profile and avoided shows of wealth or power as they quietly laundered their profits through their seemingly legitimate businesses.
“It’s entirely possible that people can be living next door to members of the ’Ndrangheta without knowing,’’ Mr Ryan said.
The AFP first signalled in December it would be targeting Italian organised crime and the people who enabled its drug-smuggling and money-laundering, including allegedly corrupt officials, aviation and port workers, lawyers and accountants, as part of phase two of Operation Ironside. Police identified 160 immediate targets in Australia.
Mr Ryan confirmed that drug overlord Ayik, who has since changed his name to Joseph Reis, remained a top priority target, along with former Sydney man Mark Buddle,
A dual Turkish-Australian citizen from Sydney, Ayik last year renounced his Australian citizenship while hiding out in Turkey, as Turkish authorities are reluctant to extradite their citizens.
Bikie heavyweight Buddle is thought to be hiding out in Cyprus and setting himself up as a global leader of the Comanchero motorcycle gang.
“They’re still on our radar, they are still No 1,’’ Mr Ryan said of Ayik and Buddle. “Obviously a lot of the issues we have in Australia are born of the fact that a lot of our targets are offshore and they’re attacking Australia from offshore.
“Those people are still our priority targets and hopefully we can have them continually destabilised, as they are now.’’
The Italian organised crime groups in Australia are working closely with outlaw motorcycle gangs, with bikies distributing drugs across the country, collecting money and providing the enforcement and violence required to keep discipline.
The mafia figures sit behind the bikies and let them carry out the dirty work, and assume the risk.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that police had identified 51 Italian organised crime clans operating in Australia, of which at least 14 were ’Ndrangheta clans.
“The Italians have been able to fly under the radar for many, many years,’’ Mr Ryan said.
“They are flooding Australia with illicit drugs. They are pulling the strings of Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs who are behind some of the most significant violence in our communities.
“Multimillion dollars a day are being laundered in Australia on behalf of illicit drug syndicates that try to conceal their source of wealth.’’
The AFP is analysing more than 28 million messages sent on the encrypted AN0M platform by members of the underworld, who wrongly believed it was safe from the eyes of law enforcement. In fact, it was being run and monitored by the AFP and FBI, giving police specific information about who was behind some of the nation’s largest drug hauls.
Of messages obtained by police, Mr Ryan said most “involved Italian organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs, particularly the Comanchero.’’
They revealed the mafia had a significant footprint in South Australia and several regional areas, including Griffiths in NSW.
“This is really a warning to Italian organised crime that they are on our radar,’’ Mr Ryan said, adding the AFP was “re-prioritising’’ its investigations to focus on money-laundering.
“The AFP is working with Italian, US, Spanish and Brazilian authorities to begin severing the significant power of the ’Ndrangheta,’’ he said.
“This next phase will be long and challenging, but the AFP is up to the challenge. And we need to be.
“If we don’t cut off the head and tail of organised crime, we face living in a very different Australia.
“I want to underscore that the AFP targets criminal syndicates – not countries, or ethnic groups.
“The ’Ndrangheta is a criminal syndicate … responsible for serious crime across the world.’’
