The indictment charges 17 alleged distributors of the FBI’s devices and platform. Some users negotiated drug deals via these encrypted messages and sent pictures of drugs, in one instance hundreds of kilograms of cocaine concealed in shipments of pineapples and bananas, and in another instance, in cans of tuna, in order to evade law enforcement. The users, believing their ANOM devices were protected from law enforcement by the shield of impenetrable encryption, openly discussed narcotics concealment methods, shipments of narcotics, money laundering, and in some groups-violent threats, the indictment said. These criminals sold more than 12,000 ANOM encrypted devices and services to more than 300 criminal syndicates operating in more than 100 countries, including Italian organized crime, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and various international drug trafficking organizations, according to court records.ĭuring the course of the investigation, while ANOM’s criminal users unknowingly promoted and communicated on a system operated lawfully by the FBI, agents catalogued more than 27 million messages between users around the world who had their criminal discussions reviewed, recorded, and translated by the FBI, until the platform was taken down yesterday. For the first time, the FBI operated its own encrypted device company, called “ANOM,” which was promoted by criminal groups worldwide. The 500-plus arrests that took place during a worldwide two-day takedown were possible because of a San Diego-based investigation like no other. SAN DIEGO – A wave of hundreds of arrests that began in Australia and stretched across Europe culminated today with the unsealing of a federal grand jury indictment in San Diego charging 17 foreign nationals with distributing thousands of encrypted communication devices to criminal syndicates. Media Relations Director Kelly Thornton (619) 546-9726
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |