Edwin Kumar deported back to Sydney after US sentencing for AN0M bugged phone sting
A tech whiz caught up in what the Australian Federal Police (AFP) dubbed the biggest organised crime sting in its history has avoided prison in the United States and is back free in Sydney.
Edwin Harmendra Kumar avoided spending more time in a California jail cell after facing a San Diego court in March.
Court records state he was sentenced to a four-year jail term to be followed by three years' supervised release, though was deported having already spent three years in custody.
Little has been known about what happened to Kumar, who was one of two Australian nationals extradited three years ago to the United States over the distribution of the specialised AN0M devices used to facilitate crimes.
Kumar, from Kogarah in Sydney's south, was also one of dozens of arrested in the AFP's Operation Ironside in 2022.
The joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and AFP investigation involved planting the mobile devices into organised crime networks.
In reality, the AFP was able to watch live as crime figures organised drug importations, kidnappings and murders.
Kumar was enlisted as a one of several 'distributors' of AN0M, tasked with taking subscription payments and providing technical support to criminals.
According to court documents he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering in February — a charge reserved for members of organised crime networks regardless of what role they played.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, Kumar was caught in messages bragging about bringing kilograms of cocaine from Belgium to Australia on fishing boats.
He has never been charged or convicted of any drug offences in relation to Operation Ironside.
When contacted this week, Kumar's American lawyer Victor Sherman said he told the judge "it was time to go home" for the former Sutherland Shire computer master.
The original indictment naming Kumar in the case revealed criminals were being charged $1,700 for six months' access to the the AFP-bugged service in Australia.
In total, the syndicate Kumar was a part of netted $15 million from distributing the devices into the criminal underworld, court documents state.
Kumar was extradited to the US in 2023 where he was charged with racketeering and faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in an American prison.
He was originally named in the indictment alongside Australia's most wanted man Hakan Ayik, who remains in custody in Türkiye for leading a transnational drug empire.
Part of the case against Kumar was that he was part of the enterprise led by Mr Ayik that saw them unwittingly run and distribute the messaging platform infiltrated by police.
Law enforcement had dubbed Mr Ayik and other Australia drug dealers caught up in the sting as an "Aussie cartel" at the time.
The other Australian arrested at the time Osemah Elhassen, was picked up from his base in Colombia and extradited to America in May 2023.
He was jailed for five years in a San Diego court in November 2024.
The FBI claimed the investigation thwarted 150 murders, saw them seize more than 12 tonnes of cocaine and took 300 firearms off the streets.
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