Frankfurt am Main: Anom crypto cell phones – investigators catch 140 suspected criminals

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Encryption Software Anom

Photo: Australian Federal Police / ZUMA Press / IMAGO

German investigators have taken stock of an international police operation focused on FBI-infiltrated crypto cell phones.

In Germany, 140 arrest warrants have been executed, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office.

Thanks to an informant, the FBI developed the encryption service Anom.

Unlike other investigative agencies, the FBI no longer cracked crypto cell phones, it quickly spread them to the underworld itself.

Criminals all over the world discussed drug deals, contract killings and arms deals on supposedly tap-proof mobile phones.

They didn't know who was really behind Anom.

Authorities from several countries cooperated to catch suspected criminals around the world.

According to the BKA, five drug laboratories, one and a half tons of synthetic drugs, 1.3 tons of cannabis and kilos of heroin and cocaine were confiscated in Germany alone.

55 firearms, 2400 rounds of ammunition and more than 1.8 million euros in assets were secured.

The investigations have been running since March 2021. The investigation complex is based on data on around 2,700 users with a connection to Germany, which the US investigators sent to the Federal Republic.

The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main had already brought charges against eleven suspects in the complex in May.

They are accused of gang drug trafficking.

The suspects are said to have imported cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis from Spain and the Netherlands to Germany between December 2020 and June 2021.

jpz/AFP