Full story at the link ... https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/ ... aad5bc324bHakan Ayik had no idea what he was getting himself into.
The 42-year-old Australian drug kingpin with links to the Comanchero bikies and Asian triads thought he was doing a favour to criminal associates when he passed along an encrypted communications app.
What he did not know was that he had fallen head first into a trap set by Australian Federal Police officers and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ayik had been handed a device from undercover agents who told him it was the perfect way to communicate with criminal associates and arrange drug imports without detection. Their conversations were untraceable, he was told.
In reality, the FBI and the AFP would be watching every conversation.
Ayik, who was the first person given access to the app named AN0M, did what police had hoped he would do. He passed it on to every underworld figure he knew and provided police with access to 25 million messages regarding criminal plots.
On Tuesday, when news broke that police had carried out the southern hemisphere’s biggest ever crime bust, Ayik’s name was front and centre.
It will be whispered among networks around the world, authorities say, given the 42-year-old is the “principal distributor of the AN0M handset”.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said Ayik, who has been living in Turkey, was a marked man and should turn himself into authorities.
“Given the threat he faces, he’s best off handing himself into us as soon as he can,” Commissioner Kershaw said.
“He was one of the coordinators of this particular device, so he’s essentially set up his own colleagues.”
The Daily Telegraph, which broke the story, reports that Ayik was a Sydney bikie associate who fled overseas in 2010 to avoid police arresting him in relation to a $230 million heroin importation.
He was arrested in Cyprus but escaped and was last seen in Turkey. An Interpol red notice for his arrest remains active.
The AFP on Tuesday announced that 4000 officers raided properties across the country and 200 offenders were charged. More than $45m in assets and cash were seized.
Officers sized 27 firearms – including two Glock pistols and a 50-calibre sniper rifle – as well as luxury vehicles including a Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren and Bentley.
I had an disagreement with a foolish member here once who called me islamophobic for pointing out that most bikies nowadays are Middle Eastern. Well in NSW anyway as I can't speak for other states. It's not islamophobic dufus it's FACT.
This operation was ingenious Lol.
