Gangsters set to have their phones seized by police under new organised crime laws

Gangsters are set to have their phones and other tech seized by police under tough new organised crime laws in Victoria.

Gangsters will face having their phones and encrypted ­devices seized under sweeping new Victorian organised crime laws.

Serious crime prevention ­orders (SCPOs) coming into force in two months will give police and the courts unprecedented powers to stop criminals from using multiple phones or encrypted devices.

Phones and encrypted devices will be seized by police.

Smart phones and encrypted technology have for years been an increasingly crucial tool of the trade for organised crime players wanting to thwart ­investigators.

The push to sever their communications is part of a raft of measures able to be imposed on those made the subject of SCPOs, which would be sought by police through the courts.

Middle Eastern organised crime figures and bikies are among those who rely on encrypted platforms to do their business in secret.

Local and foreign-based crime bosses are commissioning crimes back in Melbourne via the apps and they are a key business element of many drug traffickers.

Victorian soldiers for exiled crime boss Kazem Hamad have allegedly been given their orders via those channels.

Soldiers for crime boss Kazem Hamad have allegedly been given their orders via encrypted platforms. Picture: Supplied

Mongol enforcer Joshua Eddy, convicted last year of high-level cocaine and meth trafficking, conducted his business through them until he was busted in 2021.

Antonietta Mannella, the girlfriend of jailed drug lord George Marrogi, used a number of mobiles and encrypted messaging services to liaise with her lover’s minions.

An encrypted device was found next to the body of organised crime figure Daniel “Shot Caller” O’Shea when he was murdered in 2019.

Comanchero Robert Ale was convicted of charges relating to using ­encrypted messaging to communicate with bikie mates in breach of bail conditions.

A drug deal that left four people dead from overdose in Broadmeadows last year is ­suspected of having been carried out with a CBD trafficker on the Signal app.

A number of hard-to-crack platforms have been created over the years for the primary purpose of being used by criminals.

One of them, Ghost, was allegedly created by a Sydney mastermind and was in widespread use until it was dismantled after a major investigation by the AFP last year, resulting in 50 arrests and the seizure of $25m in assets.

Other conditions for those on SCPOs would include the potential to restrict the travel of those on orders and banning them from visiting particular places.

There will be scope to prohibit subjects from having firearms and to specify the amount of cash they can have.

A limit can be placed on the number of financial accounts in a recipients’ name and they can be directed to use no aliases.

Restrictions could be placed on which business activities they can carry out.

“Any criminals who think they can dodge the law with multiple phones can think again,” Police Minister Anthony Carbines said.

“These new orders are another way we’re helping police adapt to the changing landscape of organised crime.”

Serious crime prevention orders will come into force from August 25 and can be applied to people convicted of specific types of offences or who have been involved in serious criminal activity after the age of 18.

Originally published as Gangsters set to have their phones seized by police under new organised crime laws