The Australian Federal Police have seized a huge sum of $9.3 million in cryptocurrency in a raid conducted recently. This is a huge milestone for them, bringing them one step closer to stopping organized crimes.
The suspect’s data was acquired through digital forensics, which was then used to crack his crypto accounts. With this much money caught in this raid, it is expected that the follow-up investigation is going to yield even more information regarding their criminal network.
Major syndicate mastermind arrested by AFP
On September 17, 2024, the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) led by the Australian Police Force seized a sum of $9.3 million in cryptocurrency. The operation which was code-named Operation Kraken, was conducted in order to apprehend the alleged mastermind behind Ghost. Ghost is one of the top encrypted communication platforms used by various organized crimes, to communicate with its members.
Jay Je Yoon Jung, a 32-year-old man was the main suspect in this case and was arrested following the raid. He was accused of creating an app named Ghost, which the cops believed was “solely dedicated to the criminal world”.
The funds that were seized by the cops during the raid were securely transferred into the cryptocurrency storage of the AFP. It was restrained following the cracking of the suspect’s seed phrase, by a specialist. The AFP acting commander told the media that it doesn’t matter how the money is kept, cash or cryptocurrency, if it is ill-gotten goods, it will be taken away, leaving them with nothing.
After his arrest on 17 September, Jung was charged with 5 major offenses, including fraud and supporting criminal organizations.
Alleged mastermind’s close associate also arrested?
Along with the suspect getting nabbed by the cops on 17th September, a close associate was also arrested. The 47-year-old is believed to be one of the main distributors of the Ghost platform.
A total of 8 mobile phones, 3 laptops, 23 sim cards, encrypted USB sticks, and other devices were found in his home. With this many devices and evidence, the police believe him to be a close associate of the mastermind, Jung.
With 2 devices found in his home being Ghost devices, and the suspect refusing to cooperate with the cops, he was charged with 2 offenses, which may result in him being sent to prison for up to 10 years.
What is Operation Kraken?
Operation Kraken is an investigation put forward by the AFP (Australian Federal Police) to destroy a communication platform used by various crime organizations. The platform, which is called Ghost, was the main communication app that was used to carry out various crimes like putting hits on people, kidnapping and extortion, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and so on.
The AFP employed various methods to infiltrate the platform, in order to secure information and evidence, in order to fully put a stop to the criminal activities.
So far, there have been 46 arrests, 93 search warrants, restrain of $11.09 million in assets, seizure of various weapons, drug traffic prevention, and about $2 million in cash was also seized.
More about the Ghost platform
As the AFP reports, it is claimed Jung was 23, when he first launched the platform. Soon after that, he began building encrypted communication devices. These devices are believed to provide the users with complete privacy.
Jung sold these devices to various people for $2350 apiece. New users are vetted before they are allowed to access the network. The cops believe that there are at least 600 active devices, with 400 of them in Australia alone.
Final remarks
With the organized crimes increasing day by day, this operation was a highly needed one. With a seizure of $9 million in assets, this arrest not only disrupted the communication platform, Ghost but increased the morality of not only the public but also many law enforcement officers.
As per the statement made by the active commander of the AFP, we can expect a lot more similar raids and arrests in the coming months.
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