Agents ‘infected’ phones to spy on organised crime plans

The suspected creator of a secret app allegedly used by organised crime networks in Australia and beyond to plot murders and drug deals lives with his parents in an unremarkable house in a Sydney suburb.

Jay Je Yoon Jung is one of dozens of people arrested after days of raids on users and providers of the Ghost app, which police hacked into to uncover and prevent a range of criminal activities.

The majority of the arrests were made in NSW, but suspected criminals in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory were caught in the net.

The operation involved approximately 700 Australian Federal Police personnel and was conducted in conjunction with an international task force focused on offshore communications.

Thirty-eight people were arrested across the country, some of whom had been charged months earlier and were re-indicted based on new evidence gathered through the encrypted platform.

The raids, which followed a tip from French authorities in 2021, shut down the global encrypted communications network, researchers said.

Jung, who police say created and maintained the encrypted network, has been charged with a host of offences, including supporting a criminal organisation and dealing in suspected proceeds of crime.

He is also accused of signing up for cryptocurrency wallets under false identities and failing to comply with warrants to review evidence.

The 32-year-old did not file a bail application in court on Wednesday and will remain in custody until the case is heard again in November.

Jung is said to have distributed modified smartphones for approximately $2,350, including a six-month subscription to the encrypted network.

The deal would include regular software updates, which ultimately led to the network’s demise.

“We infected the devices, which gave us access to the content,” AFP deputy commissioner Ian McCartney told reporters on Wednesday.

Jung lived with his parents and had no criminal history, police said.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said officers had to act quickly to prevent Jung from wiping the network before he was arrested on Tuesday.

At that time, there were approximately 376 of these aircraft operating in the country.

Hundreds more are believed to have been used in Sweden, Ireland, Canada and Italy.

According to AFP officials, infiltrating the network prevented 50 deaths and serious injuries.

“At one point we saw an image above the platform of a person with a gun to their head,” said Ms Schofield.

“We had an hour to respond to that threat,” she said, adding that the alleged kidnapping victim was rescued after information was passed on to local police.

Another alleged plot was uncovered, involving the devising of a terrorist plan to convince authorities to drop charges in a separate criminal case.

A Western Australian man who communicated via the platform had his assets seized as being worth almost $2 million, an amount deemed “excessive” compared to his declared income, AFP said.

Since March, dozens of crimes have been prevented, according to police, but it is unknown how many other crimes were planned on the platform, which has been in operation for nearly a decade.

Encrypted communications networks have become a key focus for law enforcement agencies targeting transnational organized crime.

The AFP and FBI previously operated a so-called secure communications platform, AN0M, that criminals used to discuss murder plans and drug and weapons deals.

In 2021, it was revealed that it was a law enforcement operation.

Mr McCartney was confident in the strength of the cases and the admissibility of evidence following previous trials involving information gathered through AN0M. However, he expected further challenges as a result of the latest operation.

“We are going after the top of the city when it comes to organised crime, so they are going to do everything they are entitled to do to tackle these issues,” he said.