Four criminal gangs in Ireland targeted in massive Europol hack of Ghost encrypted phone platform

LAST UPDATE | 17 hrs ago

AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM of police hackers has targeted four organised crime groups in Ireland in a massive global police operation.

In a significant success for international anti-organised crime policing French Gendarme cyber experts infiltrated the platform known as Ghost.

The system was used to facilitate a wide range of criminal activities, including large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, organising murders and other forms of serious and organised crime. It was particularly popular with international criminal groups because it claimed to have advanced security features. 

Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly has told a press conference in Europol’s headquarters in the Hague that the operation has “dismantled a primary trafficking route” into Ireland. 

He said that 11 arrests have been made and there is likely to be more in the coming months. 

The operation targeted an encrypted communication service used by international drug gangs – the servers were in Iceland and Switzerland, the administrator in Australia. 

The states involved in the Europol backed operation are from France, the US, Australia, Ireland and Canada Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The press conference saw the international coalition of nine countries announce the results of “sophisticated law enforcement action against encrypted communication platform”.

Kelly said in Ireland the main organised crime groups involved in the drugs trade are “transnational” in nature and there is a need to target them with international partners. 

“Encrypted phone communication is indeed a challenge for contemporary policing, but one which we are now making significant inroads into. Ireland had the second largest user base of this particular encrypted platform so the success of this operation is of particular significance to us,” he said. 

Kelly explained that the use of the intelligence garnered off the platform has allowed them target the key people involved in it in Ireland. They have also found encrypted phones and seized €350,000 in money during searches which involved 300 specialist gardaí. 

Twenty-seven laptops, 42 suspected Ghost ECC encrypted devices, and 126 other mobile devices were among the other items seized.

Kelly also said that there was a large crypto currency seizure during the operation in Ireland.  

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“This activity demonstrates our resolve to make Ireland a difficult environment for organized crime to operate. We will continue to use every opportunity technology and resource at our disposal to protect our communities from the harm inflicted by these criminals,” he said. 

In a statement gardaí said Ghost was purchased by users who did not have to provide any personal information.

“The solution used three encryption standards and offered the option to send a message followed by a specific code that results in self-destruction of all messages on the target phone. This allowed criminal networks to communicate securely, evade detection, counter forensic measures, and coordinate their illegal operations across borders.

“Worldwide, several thousands of individuals used the tool, which has its own infrastructure and applications with a network of resellers based in several countries. On a global scale, around a thousand messages are being exchanged each day via Ghost,” the statement said. 

The Journal has reported that the international police forces have been involved in breaching the encrypted communications of a drug trafficking operation.

A large Irish crime grouping has been found to be using those international encrypted communications to run their importation of drugs into the State.

Sources have told The Journal that the new cartel operation does not involve the Kinahan Organised Crime Group but is a different grouping linked to a family that gardaí have been monitoring for months.

It is understood the main gang involved in the operation is a Dublin based group known as The Family.

Yesterday detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau intercepted an articulated truck in the South East of the Country. Following a search of the truck Gardaí recovered 100 kilos of cocaine in a deep concealment.

It is believed the truck was spotted entering a farm and the gardaí moved in.

Cocaine worth an estimated €7,000,000 was seized.

Five men have been arrested, aged in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

They are currently being detained at Garda Stations in the Dublin and Eastern Region.

Four of them are held on drug trafficking legislation and one of them under a detention designed to deal with the organisation of a criminal gang. They can be held for a maximum of seven days. 

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