Law enforcement agencies say they’ve arrested hundreds of criminals across the world in a three-year operation after police infiltrated an app.
Since 2018, Australian police and the FBI have used the encrypted app, An0m, to keep track of organised crime.
It has led to drug trade arrests in 18 countries across Asia, North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.
Australia’s prime minister called the sting a “watershed” operation that had hit criminal gangs globally.
“[It] has struck a heavy blow against organised crime – not just in this country, but one that will echo around organised crime around the world,” he said in a televised press conference on Tuesday.
Australian police were among the first to reveal the sting, called Operation Ironside, on Tuesday.
The plan had been jointly conceived with the FBI. The US agency and Europol will present their own findings later on Tuesday.
The An0m app had been one of the messaging services popular with organised crime gangs, authorities alleged.
