MORE than 800 alleged criminals were arrested across the world after being tricked into using the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) run encrypted messaging app, ANOM, officials said.
In a joint operation, conducted by Australia and the FBI, devices with an encrypted chat app were covertly distributed among the criminal underworld via informants.
This allowed police to monitor their chats about drug smuggling, money laundering and even murder plots.
Targets included drug gangs and people with links to the mafia.
The operation, conducted across more than a dozen countries, led to the seizure of eight tonnes of cocaine, 250 guns and more than £34 million in various currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said the operation had "struck a heavy blow against organised crime" around the world.
The idea for the operation emerged after two other encrypted platforms were taken down by law enforcement agencies, leaving criminal gangs searching for a new communication channel.
"You had to know a criminal to get hold of one of these customised phones. The phones couldn't ring or email. You could only communicate with someone on the same platform," the Australian police explained.
Australian fugitive and alleged drug trafficker Hakan Ayik became key to the sting, having recommended the app to criminal allies after being given a handset by undercover officers, police said.
Around 12,000 encrypted devices were used by 300 criminal syndicates in more than 100 countries, and officers were able to read millions of messages in "real time".
Some 9,000 police officers around the world were involved in this sting.
Calvin Shivers of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division said the operation had enabled police agencies to "turn the tables on criminal organisations".
In Australia, 224 people were arrested including members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, mafia groups, Asian crime syndicates, and other serious crime groups.
Australian police have also seized three tonnes of drugs, cash and assets worth £25m, and acted on 20 "threats to kill", potentially saving the lives of a "significant number of innocent bystanders".
New Zealand police said 35 people in the country were arrested, and about £1.9m of assets were seized.
"We believe the termination of these operations will have a significant impact on New Zealand's organised crime scene," National Organised Crime Group director detective superintendent Greg Williams said.
