Latest news with #OperationIronside
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Use honeytraps to catch migrant smugglers, says Tony Blair's think-tank
Honeytrap stings and hacking should be deployed as part of a new strategy to combat people smuggling gangs, the Tony Blair Institute has said. The think-tank proposed a new alliance of countries modelled on the Five Eyes intelligence agency, between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, to target serious organised crime gangs to counter the way they now largely operated across borders and states. The Institute said this new Five Eyes-style alliance should launch a 'tech-powered offensive', where investigators would hack and infiltrate the communications channels of the organised crime gangs, as well as set up honeypot stings. It would use artificial intelligence (AI) models to generate multiple 'fake' profiles of migrants to garner intelligence on people smugglers' operations and disrupt their plans so 'that they don't know who they can trust'. Similar tactics have been deployed by private sector fraud investigators, where technology has been used to create 'AI grannies', who lure crime gangs into spending time and resources trying to elicit funds online from these fake accounts. The tactics are similar to Operation Ironside, where the FBI, Dutch and Swedish police developed and distributed a messaging app called ANOM, which criminals believed to be secure. Criminals, unaware they were being monitored, used the app to communicate, plan and coordinate illegal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and even murder plots. The millions of messages intercepted led to the arrest of more than 800 criminals and the seizure of millions of pounds worth of drugs, weapons, and cash. 'Criminals don't respect borders' Alexander Iosad, director of government innovation policy at the Institute, said: 'Organised crime has evolved. We are no longer facing mob bosses and gangsters, but agile, global businesses built for speed, scale and profit. 'To stop this, you don't go after low-level operatives while the rest of the organisation covers up and adapts. You take out its entire ability to operate; you sanction the leaders and enablers, you remove its capital, institutions, methods, technology and supply lines they operate on. 'Criminals don't respect borders, so we must work across them to win. An alliance of countries, united by shared values and a desire to stop these modern mafias, can create international blackout zones, ceasing their operations and their impact on our communities entirely.' The alliance, modelled on the intelligence agency grouping of the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, would also include top-tier countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. The report said that the alliance could also use AI to 'map networks, track illicit finance, and intervene quickly, enhancing disruption without needing to share sensitive personal data across jurisdictions'. It proposed that this should be accompanied by an expansion of the sanctions announced last month by Foreign Secretary David Lammy targeted at two dozen people smugglers. 'These sanctions would freeze assets and block access to financial systems, education, and residency for criminals and their dependents,' it said. 'Service providers who enable organised crime, such as banks and law firms, would also face fines and suspensions.' Previous proposals by the Institute for new counter-terror style powers for police to take on organised crime have been incorporated into Sir Keir Starmer's new borders bill. The plan has been backed by Sir Stephen Kavanagh, former executive director of police services at Interpol. He said: 'It is time for a new mindset: one that treats data and computing power as strategic assets, accepts disruption as vital tools, and is willing to experiment with new institutional models that break with convention.'
ABC News
11-06-2025
- ABC News
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.
Sunday World
09-06-2025
- Sunday World
Irishman allegedly tried to assist wanted drug dealer escape Australia
Stephen Roche spent almost four months behind bars The Irish man is accused of helping Hussein Chamas (pictured) to escape An Irishman who allegedly tried to assist a wanted drug dealer escape Australia has been released on bail. Stephen Francis Roche was arrested in January after it was alleged he travelled 4,700km across Oz with the fugitive hidden in his campervan. He was charged before the courts in February. The Irish man is accused of helping Hussein Chamas (pictured) to escape News in 90 Seconds - 09 June 2025 Last week, he was released from jail on bail after spending 123 days on remand at Darwin Correctional Centre. Roche's barrister Richard Bryson told a court in Darwin that his 46-year-old client was at risk of being 'prejudiced' by his time behind bars, NT News reports. He added that Roche's daughter was living in Queensland, and that his brother would be providing him with financial support as he returned to the community. The prosecution did not oppose bail, but Judge Sally Ozolins imposed strict conditions, including a curfew and daily check-ins at the Darwin Police Station. Roche is also barred from applying for a passport and cannot own more than one mobile phone or SIM card. He is unable to use any encrypted devices or applications. Stephen Roche is accused of driving Hussein Chamas, a wanted fugitive who escaped from a rehabilitation clinic in New South Wales, more than 4,600km to the Northern Territory. Chamas was in the facility on bail after he was charged with illegally possessing a firearm, drug trafficking, and conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. He allegedly showed fake court documents to security guards at the facility before he fled in the van with Roche on January 8th. He was arrested 18 days later aboard a yacht in the Arafura Sea. Australian Federal Police allege the 35-year-old is a member of a syndicate which was behind the importation of drugs into Australia. A man suspected to be fugitive Hussein Chamas is arrested on board the yacht The syndicate was busted as part of Operation Ironside, an international police sting that intercepted millions of messages sent through the supposedly secure smartphone-based proprietary messaging app Anom. Chamas was charged with drug offences and breaching a firearms prohibition order in July 2023 and placed in rehab after he was arrested at Sydney Airport. The AFP were alerted of his escape on January 15, and a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on January 20. Chamas was arrested after a member of the public alerted Australian Border Force (ABF) officers that a man was seen flashing a torch to a yacht at East Woody Beach in Nhulunbuy. ABF and Australian Federal Police officers who had been conducting covert surveillance on the vessel watched as the yacht's crew were also seen flashing a torch back to the man. AFP officers intercepted the yacht, and Chamas, who was identified as a passenger, was taken into custody under the NSW arrest warrant. Two crew members of the yacht, Thomas Goertz (51) from Germany, and Jade Sui Ying Ormiston (42) from the UK, were also charged but later released on bail. Stephen Roche is due before the court again for a hearing on July 22nd.
News.com.au
05-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Underworld figure's shock admission about Dural caravan bomb plot
An underworld figure accused of a series of anti-Semitic attacks across Sydney has admitted he was involved in sourcing explosives for the Dural caravan bomb plot. In mid-January, a caravan with explosives and paper with anti-Semitic slurs and a list of Jewish targets was found in Dural in Sydney's northwest. While NSW Premier Chris Minns indicated it may have been a 'potential mass casualty event', the Australian Federal Police later revealed it was a 'fabricated terrorist plot' that was 'concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit'. The plot came months after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks across Sydney, including firebombings, anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed onto homes and synagogues targeted with spray-painted swastikas. Police said they believed Sayet Erhan Akca – an underworld figure who is hiding out in Turkey – played a key role in the hoax anti-Semitic terror plot in an effort to get a reduced sentence and have his bail reinstated should he return to Australia. Akca fled the country in 2023 after being charged with conspiracy to import a commercial amount of illicit dugs as part of Operation Ironside, organised in part by the AFP. Speaking to ABC's Four Corners from his hide-out, Akca admitted he approached the AFP in an attempt to return to Australia on the condition that he would hand stolen explosives over. He claimed he did not purchase the explosives but intercepted them during a black-market sale. 'I was giving them explosives,' he told the outlet. 'I said, 'Look, I've got information on a movement of explosives. I can seize it and I can hand it over'.' NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told NSW parliament there was a 'common source' between the caravan plot and '14 separate incidents' aimed to 'create absolute fear and anxiety in the Jewish community'. 'In exchange for providing information of an imminent threat, they wanted to return to Australia without being sent straight to jail,' he said. However, Akca denied the allegation, claiming it 'doesn't match (his) timeline', and said he didn't orchestrate the caravan plot. In the Four Corners interview, he claimed to have instructed the driver of the caravan to remove the detonator from the explosives. 'My clear instruction was, 'Make sure this is not gonna explode',' he said. Akca also claimed to have no knowledge about the list of Jewish targets inside the vehicle and would have 'taken it out' had he known. 'I'm not in Australia. I don't know who put that in,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney caravan bomb plotter admits key role from Turkish hideout
The suspected mastermind of the Dural caravan fake terror plot admits he sourced the explosives found in the vehicle, but denies involvement in a string of antisemitic attacks police say he orchestrated from overseas. Sayit Erhan Akca says he approached authorities to arrange a 'trade-in', offering up the cache of explosives in exchange for a reduced sentence and to have his bail reinstated if he returned to Australia. Akca fled the country in mid-2023 after being arrested during the Australian Federal Police's Operation Ironside and charged with drug importation and proceeds of crime-related offences. The discovery of the explosives in Sydney's north, along with a list of supposed Jewish targets, triggered panic, with NSW Premier Chris Minns declaring a 'potential mass-casualty event' had been avoided. Almost two months later, the AFP declared there was no risk of such an event and that the plot was concocted by organised crime figures for their own benefit. Akca, who is hiding out in Turkey, said he approached the AFP in December, and claims he was told he could return to Australia if he handed the stolen mining explosives over. This masthead first revealed authorities' suspicions that the caravan was being leveraged by an underworld figure for a reduced sentence. 'I was giving them explosives,' he told the ABC's Four Corners. 'I said, 'Look, I've got information on a movement of explosives. I can seize it and I can hand it over'.' Akca said he didn't purchase the stolen Powergel explosives, but instead intercepted them while they were being transported during a black-market sale.
