South Australia Rounds Up Another 55 Suspects After High Court Backs Encrypted-App Sting

South Australian police arrested 55 people over the weekend following a High Court ruling that intercepted messages could be used as evidence in the latest phase of Operation Ironside, the long-running domestic arm of a global sting operation that penetrated encrypted messaging networks.

Authorities have filed nearly 800 new charges related to drug trafficking, firearms and conspiracy charges, adding to the ongoing Ironside case already targeting financial crimes and money laundering.

Cryptocurrency traced through wallet addresses and associated accounts remains a key part of the investigation, adding to the already approximately A$58 million (approximately US$37.9 million) seizures, according to the 2024 investigation. estimate From the Australian Federal Police.

Operation Ironside is a joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and FBI targeting organized crime networks. It began in 2018 and centered around AN0M, an encrypted messaging app that the FBI secretly controlled until June 2021.

After a High Court ruling in early October, authorities were able to “use” information collected from encrypted apps in their pursuit of criminal networks. ruling Confirmed message could be used in court, ‘paved the way’ [for us] We will move forward with the resolution today,” said Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams. statement to ABC News.

The High Court’s ruling came after two suspects challenged a law that ensures AN0M messages were legally collected by police. The court rejected their claims and allowed investigators to continue using the intercepted communications as evidence in the ongoing criminal case.

Counter-encryption?

The AN0M app was installed on modified mobile phones and sold through criminal intermediaries as an ultra-secure tool.

The phone had no camera, GPS, or browser and appeared to be made for covert use. Due to its streamlined design, the app quickly spread into drug, weapons, and money laundering circles.

Investigators did not intentionally break the encryption protecting AN0M. Instead, they were building a covert system that secretly captured each message before it was encrypted and sent.

The FBI held the master encryption key, allowing messages to be automatically replicated to servers under law enforcement control and shared with the Australian Federal Police.

According to Australian Federal Police data, at least 1,600 devices in Australia were running AN0M, with approximately 19.3 million messages detected across devices during the first two waves of the operation.

Elsewhere in the world, Europol states that criminal use of cryptocurrencies is a crime. Become They are becoming “increasingly sophisticated” and straining police resources.

Operation Ironside’s third wave of successful arrests comes as Australians generally remain distrustful of organized crime cryptocurrencies, despite regulatory progress made by the Albanian government this year.

at least 60% of Australians Don’t trust cryptocurrenciesAccording to , 31% say they are still concerned about fraud. data Compiled by Swyftx.