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Encryption software Anom (archive image)
Photo: Australian Federal Police / imago images/ZUMA Press
The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main has brought charges against eleven suspects.
The accusation: gang trafficking in narcotics.
The suspects, aged 24 to 47, are accused of smuggling drugs into Germany using the encryption service Anom.
The suspects are said to have imported cocaine, amphetamine and cannabis from Spain and the Netherlands to Germany between December 2020 and June 2021.
The encryption service Anom was developed by the FBI.
Together with the Australian police, the Americans subverted the encrypted mobile phone market popular with criminals by creating the Anom platform.
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.
Overall, the accused from Frankfurt am Main are suspected of having sold at least 3,000 kilograms of cannabis, 315 kilograms of cocaine, 113 kilograms of amphetamine, 677 liters of amphetamine oil and 13 kilograms of methamphetamine.
The accused are said to have organized themselves in such a way that a fixed structure and distribution of tasks was created.
A 33-year-old accused is said to have been the head of the group and organized deliveries and sales.
During searches in June 2021, more than 560,000 euros in cash and 16 courier vehicles, around 100 kilograms of hashish, 78 kilograms of marijuana, 67 kilograms of amphetamine oil, three kilograms of methamphetamine and 830 grams of cocaine and six semi-automatic self-loading pistols with 631 cartridges were seized.
Eight of the accused are already in custody.
The investigations against other members of the gang - partly also because of other crimes - are ongoing.
The regional court in Frankfurt am Main must now decide whether to open the main proceedings.
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