- New Zealand police said that after the FBI had dismantled two other encryption services, it began operating its own encrypted device company called Anom.
Devices with the chat app were distributed in the criminal underworld, reported Australian media.
Officers were able to read millions of messages in "real time" describing murder plots, mass drug import plans and other schemes.
"All they talk about is drugs, violence, hits on each other, innocent people who are going to be murdered, a whole range of things," said Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw in a press conference.
Updating with some more links. Europol's press release boasts 800 arrests:
- This operation, known as OTF Greenlight/Trojan Shield, is one of the largest and most sophisticated law enforcement operations to date in the fight against encrypted criminal activities. A series of large-scale law enforcement actions were executed over the past days across 16 countries resulting in more than 700 house searches, more than 800 arrests and the seizure of over 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 2 tons of synthetic drugs (amphetamine and methamphetamine), 6 tons of synthetic drugs precursors, 250 firearms, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies. Countless spin-off operations will be carried out in the weeks to come. Operation Trojan Shield/Greenlight will enable Europol to further enhance the intelligence picture on organised crime affecting the EU due to the quality of the information gathered. This enhanced intelligence picture will support the continued effort in identifying operating high-value criminal targets on a global scale.
Vice also has a good write-up that explains how this operation came to be:
- In 2018, the FBI arrested Vincent Ramos, the CEO of Phantom Secure, which provided custom, privacy-focused devices to organized criminals. In the wake of that arrest, a confidential human source (CHS) who previously sold phones on behalf of Phantom and another firm called Sky Global, was developing their own encrypted communications product. This CHS then "offered this next generation device, named 'Anom,' to the FBI to use in ongoing and new investigations," the court document reads. While criminals left Phantom, they flocked to other offerings. One of those was Anom; the FBI started what it called Operation Trojan Shield, in which it effectively operated a communications network targeted to criminals and intercepted messages running across it.
Swedish police says there's been 155 arrests so far and they claim to have stopped ten or so murders. We have some big ongoing trials following the Encrochat infiltration, it's going to be interesting to see what will come of this.
The current murder took place on 2 November last year in a quiet residential area by Söderberga allé in western Bromma. The victim, also 22 years old, was shot down by a lone shooter in front of his girlfriend. After three weeks, prosecutor Maria Hävermark and the police investigators had called in the above-mentioned 22-year-old from Tensta. The man was detained in his absence but managed to stay away from the police until the end of February this year, when he could be arrested without drama. After almost two months in custody, however, the evidence was deemed to be insufficient. - In April, therefore, the detention was lifted and the investigation was closed, says Maria Hävermark. Thus, the case looked to be one in the number of unsolved murders in Stockholm. The 22-year-old decided to claim damages from the state for the time being in custody and last week his application was received by the Chancellor of Justice. But just a few days later, early Monday morning, the police raided the man's home again. By then, the FBI material handed over to Sweden had breathed new life into the investigation. - I have resumed the investigation because we received new evidence in the form of chats from the app Anom, says Maria Hävermark. A question that can be expected to have significance in the case is what Swedish police knew and not when the 22-year-old in Bromma was shot to death. It is known that Swedish police were invited to work closely with the FBI, Europol and other foreign authorities in September last year, after the operation against the mobile app Anom revealed several ongoing murder plans in Sweden. As after the French hacking of Encrochat, the Swedish police then put a lot of effort into trying to save lives. - For Sweden, there has been a higher proportion of violent crime that has been communicated via Anom. And in the cases where we have judged that we must intervene immediately, then we have also done so, says intelligence chief Linda H Staaf, who has participated in the international cooperation. What efforts may have been made to prevent the murder in Bromma is currently unknown. Maria Hävermark did not want to give any further comments on Wednesday, this due to "security reasons".Two of those who have so far been requested to be detained are a 22-year-old man from Tensta and a 39-year-old man living in Arvika. The younger of the men is accused of murder while the older is suspected of having helped the perpetrator escape, which is classified as gross protection of criminals.
- He is suspected of extremely serious drug crime during the period January until the day of arrest, says chamber prosecutor Jonas Peterson to Expressen, who was the first to report on the investigation against Johansson. On Thursday evening, SR P4 Kalmar was able to tell that the farm is owned by the former police chief commissioner Göran Lindberg, who was convicted of, among other things, aggravated rape and often called "Kapten Klänning" ["Captain Gown"]. According to SR P4 Kalmar, Göran Lindberg rents out one of the farm's buildings to Kjell Johansson. - He has lived here from time to time for many years and usually hangs out with Göran when he is here, a person in the area tells DN. According to the population register, Kjell Johansson, who has been described as the leader of the "Grodmansligan" ["The frogman gang"] since the 1980s, moved to Göran Lindberg's property as early as 2014. This was the same year he was released from his most recent prison sentence. Göran Lindberg was also released on parole in 2014, after serving a six-year prison sentence for aggravated rape, rape, sex purchase and assault. Unconfirmed information indicates that the men got to know each other when they were both cared for in the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. To residents in the area, however, they must have introduced themselves as "old friends". - The perception I have got is that they knew each other since childhood or maybe study time, says one person. According to DN's sources, the house search in Göran Lindberg's property lasted until the afternoon. - But we did not understand what it was about, says a person who witnessed the police operation. Whether any seizures have been made on the farm or not is not known. DN has failed to reach out to Göran Lindberg, who himself is not the subject of any investigation. Kjell Johansson has repeatedly been convicted of serious drug offenses since the early 1980s. The latest crime, which resulted in 14 years in prison, involved the smuggling of 30 kilos of amphetamine from Germany to Denmark together with a leader of the criminal group Bandidos MC. On Monday, police cars rolled into the courtyard of an agricultural property outside Vimmerby in Småland. The reason was that the American FBI and Swedish police had suspected one of the farm's tenants: the multiple drug convict Kjell Johansson.