Filenews 10 June 2021 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
The name of Cyprus is involved in the huge operation of Europol, FBI and other agencies organized the day before yesterday on a global scale against organised crime.
It had become possible for the various agencies to access the messages exchanged by thousands of members of criminal groups, which is why in the raid in 18 countries, more than 800 organised crime gang members were arrested, while more than 32 tonnes of drugs, 250 weapons, 55 luxury cars, and $148 million were seized. cash and cryptocurrencies.
How is our country involved? According to information published in the Australian media, the authorities used as a "Trojan Horse" an Australian named Haqan Ayik, 42, of Turkish origin, who was the one selling the special phone circuits through which they exchanged messages and photographs. Ayik is wanted by Australian authorities as a prime suspect in the importation of a large quantity of drugs in 2010.
He, according to reports, was then in Hong Kong, from where he managed to escape via Cyprus to Turkey. In Cyprus, in fact, he was arrested after the international arrest warrant issued by the Australian authorities was executed, but he was temporarily released on bail, resulting in him fleeing to Turkey through the occupied areas, where he is believed to be the manager of the Kings Cross hotel in Istanbul.
Ayik, a former member of the Comancheros gang, was considered a major drug trafficker, who enjoyed the respect of many organised crime officials from different circuits internationally. Unwittingly, Ayik became the "Trojan Horse" of the prosecuting authorities.
The Australian authorities, in fact, believe that his life may be in danger, as, even unintentionally, it has cost many criminals a lot of money and a lot of adventures with Justice. For this reason, the Australian Police invited him to surrender to the nearest Australian embassy.
As for the operation called "Trojan shield", this is described as a model of cooperation between the Security Authorities at international level, and the idea of setting it up "fell" on the table during a leisurely meeting of Australian and American federal police officers drinking beers. The FBI, according to official court documents, acquired the digital encryption platform, called ANoM, in 2018 from an informant-villain. The former drug dealer was known in crime circles as a supplier of such technological means, and came to an agreement with the FBI in order to reduce his sentence.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) provided the technology and know-how to decrypt and store every message, in real time, when sent, its chief, Reece Kershaw, explained at a press conference.
At the end of 2018, the two prosecuting agencies conducted a second test of "tampered" technology in Australia.
This app was placed on primary mobile phones, from which you could not make calls, except to send text messages or photos through the ANoM, which, as Calvin Shivers explained, from the FBI, provided a "treasure trove" of information. For example, photos of hundreds of tons of cocaine hidden in fruit boxes, or hundreds of pounds of cocaine, which were hidden in other canned goods.
In other words, it was a technology that functioned as a "Trojan horse" by monitoring the communications of organised crime officials, hence, after all, the code name Trojan Shield, given to the company at international level.
This application, slowly began to become popular in the circles of the underworld, It is estimated that about 12,000 phones were distributed around the world, as some influential executives used it, and indeed, in order to activate a corresponding phone, it would have to give you the code an initiated strain.
Hundreds of search and arrest warrants were executed throughout Australia during the operation, with simultaneous raids by law enforcement in the US and Europe. More than 21 projects were thwarted, and criminal networks working with major Drug Trafficking Rings from South America, major criminal gangs of the Asian mafia, also known as Triads, and smuggling rings in the Middle East and Europe were beaten.
Arrests have been made in more than 18 countries, including the US, UK, Germany and New Zealand.
