Australian police said Wednesday they have infiltrated Ghost, an encrypted global communications app developed for criminals, leading to dozens of arrests.
The app’s alleged administrator, Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, appeared in a Sydney court Wednesday on charges including supporting a criminal organization and benefitting from proceeds of crime.
Jung did not enter pleas or apply to be released on bail. He will remain behind bars until his case returns to court in November.
Australian police arrested 38 suspects in raids across four states in recent days while law enforcement agencies were also making arrests in Canada, Sweden, Ireland and Italy, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said.
“We allege hundreds of criminals including Italian organized crime, motorcycle gang members, Middle Eastern organized crime and Korean organized crime have used Ghost in Australia and overseas to import illicit drugs and order killings,” McCartney told reporters.
Australian police had prevented 50 people from being killed, kidnapped or seriously hurt by monitoring threats among 125,000 messages and 120 video calls since March, Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said.
“More Australian and international arrests are expected over the coming days,” police said in a statement.
Police allege the Jung developed the app specifically for criminal use in 2017.
Australia joined a Europol-established global taskforce targeting Ghost in 2022, led by the FBI and French Gendarmerie.
The taskforce includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Swedish Police Authority, Dutch National Police, Irish Garda Síochána and the Italian Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Service, with assistance from Icelandic police.
The head of the RCMP’s organized crime program, Supt. Marie Eve Lavallée, said in a statement issued by Australian police that Canada was working “actively and tirelessly to curb international drug trafficking.”
She said the global investigation represented an example of “robust strategies” being used to counter criminal networks.
“The RCMP is pleased to have contributed to the disruption of several criminal operations that put communities at risk. The results announced today demonstrate the effectiveness of the collaboration between our two countries,” she said.
Col. Florian Manet, who heads France’s Home Affairs Ministry National Cyber Command Technical Department, said in the same statement that his officers provided technical resources to the task force over several years that helped decrypt the communications.
McCartney said the French had “provided a foot in the door” for Australian police to decrypt Ghost communications.
Australian police technicians were able to modify software updates regularly pushed out by the administrator, McCartney said.
“In effect, we infected the devices, enabling us to access the content on Australian devices,” McCartney said, adding that the alleged administrator lived in his parents’ Sydney home and had no police record.
Jung was arrested at his home on Tuesday.
Police say Jung used a network of resellers to offer specialized handsets to criminals around the world.
The modified smartphones sold for 2,350 Australian dollars ($1,590) which included a six-month subscription to Ghost and tech support.
—With additional files from Global News